Quote Originally Posted by spelley View Post
Melee often have more downtime due to (usually) dealing with more mechanics than ranged (and in Bard's case, being able to move) and having more complex rotations/internal mechanics.
this all comes back down to the optimization i mentioned, almost every mechanic in the game that forces melle off the boss actually has workarounds that mean you lose no dps at all, or very little dps, the few mechanics that force you out entirely will affect everyone, not just the melle.