I dont get all the Bard hatred..

[Lastelli]

I think the real problem here is that many bards were used to being a very mobile job, but WM changed this. The playstyle changed a lot with WM, whereas the other jobs play the same, even with "expanded" rotations.
Tbh I don't see the problem as well. Bard has now a very good dps and provides valuable utility to the party through songs. I mean, I can understand that some bards preferred the old playstyle, but it's not like bards are weak, in fact they're still almost necessary for progression (if there's no MCH of course).

[Hakuohsama]

All i wanted to say with my Post here is..

When Bard is played correctly and in the right hands they are perfectly fine.
Mby BL has some proc issuses but i gues that can be fixed.

We are far from useless.

[Syll]

That's the Paragon route. The Renegade path will be while you decided you didn't really want to shoot the arrow, instead you really wanted to STAB them with the arrow. New song-stance: you lose all your range and become melee, but everything is back to instant cast.

Would make that swap in a heartbeat.

[RyuDragnier]

I think the complaints mostly stem from the fact that not only does WM change up the skills a bit (short charge time), it's now REALLY easy to tell the bad BRDs from the good ones. I have a feeling most of the complaints are due to a lot of the complainers being the latter.

[Aiselia]

I have a feeling most of the complaints are due to a lot of the complainers being the latter.

Correct.

They're from the good bards who used to actually try to optimize their damage instead of being lazy, but are now forced to watch BL procs go unused and SS procs come crawling in after they've already started casting Straight Shot.

[Gooner_iBluAirJGR]

I think bards are cool but most of the ones I get in random dungeons done use WM (even on aoe trash pulls which boggles my mind) and pull low numbers.

[mb52139]

I've honestly adapted to WM use.. and find it greatly simplifies the bard playstyle, before 3.0... if I played like I do now.. it was me being super lazy. I"m fine with the change now... but still wish they had not. I is blatently obvious that nobody in SE plays/likes the bard class.

[Warlyx]

i dont mind WM , because i wanted a "ranger stance" that added cast times even , i just wanted to DPS! , but looks like even adding casting times we are still at the bottom of the totem pole , and is infuriating , that we still have the lowest WD (-8 ilvl 210 weapons) , casting skills with lame animations (iron jaws? , reaching the quiver casting ....) and after all that we cant reach mage dps even

changing River of blood trait (BL proc) ...and guess SE cant fix Straigh shot! ...so meh....warden paeons needs a change no doubt...remove it and give us a CD that let u move and cast or make the skills instant for 10s D:

[Elyl]

My problem is the changed the WHOLE mechanic of how they play. They have been turned into casters. As far as parsing, prior to WM, I was usually at the top of the parse, with the exception of the players that played their toons correctly. I can probably easily figure out how to play with WM on, but my main question is why would I, when I can go play a BM and hit for more. They play the same now, except BM have a lot less OCD buffs to cast

[ExiaQuanta]

IMO

I think now and days pple will encounter 4 types of BRDs

1. Brds who refuse to accept WM and do Mediocre or higher dps.
2. Brds who uses WM and have no idea what they heck the are doing. To these guys it feels like an obligation to Use (Oh new skill Must use!). These guys will also probably do Mediocre dps or worse.
3. Brds who accepts for what is given and just work with it though they may be against the stance. They have knowledge of how to use the stance and does pretty good dps. probably avg 700-900+ depending on the situation.
4. Brds who adapted to WM and knows 80% of how the fights go, thus allowing them to stance dance with WM, staying in WM longer before taking it off or just knows how to play caster type dps. Again they may or may not like the stance, They could just be mastering 3.0 BRD for the sake of their static. These guys will probably avg 800 - 1000+ dps depending on situation. (This is the ideal BRD Yoshi-p is probably aiming for)

Most likely people will encounter types 2 or 3. type 4s are usually in a static. types 1 will either had re-rolled a class or just wants to play the way they want to play (nothing wrong with that)