Quote Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor View Post
Currently, there are 43,744 Bards. Thus, you're insinuating a 5% nerf to Bard would make Machinist the second most popular range job in the game. That just isn't going to happen. Even when it was decidedly better than Bard in Heavensward, people simply weren't as keen to play it. Machinist just isn't popular. It never has been even when it was meta.
It is technically already the second most popular ranged job in the game.

My argument is that Bard doing the same if not greater damage than Machinist violates the notion that greater support capability means less personal performance potential.

This argument applies equally to Mages, to Melee DPS, to Tanks, and to Healers.

Why is Bard suddenly special in this regard?