I think its time BRD get some loving

[KitanaiKoneko]

It's not a buff when asking for a debuff to be reduced or removed. A buff is going above and beyond a baseline, a debuff is forcing something below that baseline. All the removal of the debuff or lowering of the consequences for the debuff does is merely bring something back up to the baseline and not boosting it above aka not a buff. Lets not forget the songs themselves buff everyone else above that baseline, there is no reason to debuff the caster/user for giving everyone else that advantage when even without it our DPS would rarely be near the top of the DPS charts for (most) BRD's.

It would not make them more or less mandatory in any sense whatsoever by removal of the debuff as they are brought along not for their DPS overall but for the boost to everyone else's DPS and survivability. If it was for the DPS as a major factor then that spot would not be filled with a BRD with or without that debuff, it is for the songs and as it stands currently the only person who suffers from the songs is the BRD and no-one else because they are being punished for helping everyone else whom they are boosting.

To me anyone who is arguing for the continued debuff is selfish, they benefit from the bards songs yet want to keep punishing the bard for helping and boosting your survivability and DPS. It comes across to me like "help boost and buff us bard but haha, f*** you bard for doing so." I personally am not asking for a buff, I am asking to decrease or remove the debuff, there is a big difference between those two things but the impact of that difference is not on everyone else or the current state of the game, it only really impacts the bard him or herself.

Your first paragraph, what??
When you buff a class you make it stronger. When you nerf a class you make it weaker. Since the damage penalty on paeon/ballad are not removeable while singing, removing the damage penalty is a buff. No amount of fancy talking will change that.

Second/third paragraph, what??
You don't win a fight by magically having a certain amount of DPS. You win a fight by working together as a team. And for some reason every FCoB team brings a Bard. There is no class that is wanted as much as Bard. Warrior and Paladin are nearly equal after their buff in 2.1, Monk, Dragoon, Ninja and Black Mage are all very close when it comes to dps. But why do people bring a bard? Because without a Bard, in the long fights that FCoB has, dps (with the exception of Black Mage) can and most likely will run out of TP, or MP for healers if things get dangerous. Bard's role in the team, no matter how much you may argue that they are not a "support" class since the "support" class doesn't exist, is to support the group. Otherwise they would not have penalties on paeon/ballad and they would do just as much damage as everyone else. And when all the classes do the same dps in 95% of situations, why bother having more than one class to begin with?

No no no no just NO. For gods sake, I dont know what schmuck started saying this but it needs to stop... period. We play a song for casters that increases their damage, that damage is not ours, it is still very much theirs. This is like saying the ballad we play for healers, which allows them to keep the dps alive longer and continue to dps.. so a part of that damage should be ours AMIRIGHT?>???

...

That ~15% bonus damage casters deal during foe's requiem is theirs? But what happens when you stop singing? That ~15% extra damage they were doing suddenly disappears. Sing again and it comes back. You are causing that damage to happen. It is your damage. You performing an action causes that damage to appear.