Quote Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor View Post
Yes. And you accomplish that by addressing why Physical Range are always valued over Casters. Nerfing BRD is irrelevant in that discussion.
Agreed. And as I already said, Grimoire-M's idea seems to fit that the best: ranged will have Goad and Mana Goad, Melee will have Goad, and Casters will have Mana Goad; this would fix a lot on its own.
I'm not even against the idea of a small DPS loss hence my speculation BRD won't get the full 5% back when Piercing, hopefully, dies.
Glad we agree.
But it isn't going to change the raid scene due to MCH's current gameplay being almost universally hated.
It will at least change the climate to not be 1/5DPS are Bards.
You balance all five jobs by looking at what separates them. And that is currently how much better Refresh is than Mana Shift. If that isn't addressed, nerfing BRD by 1-2-5% won't make a lick of difference.
How much better refresh is than mana shift, in addition to the ease one can weave through mechanics when uptime isn't even close to an issue where casters and melee have to measure where and when they stand to get the best uptime on the boss, absolutely bonkers burst potential, passive 2% crit buff on the whole party and increased DHit from B. Voice and increased flat damage from Foe's, a 30 second long mitigation tool that requires no target.

Then why did BRD command a similar lead in Deltascape?
Because Bard has been that good through the whole expansion. Bard's commanded a lead over every other DPS this whole expansion, I'd wager. Or are you insinuating that Bard wasn't the bread and butter back in Deltascape?
Or back in Heavensward, where MCH was flat out considered better at various points? MCH has been dead last since its release. I also never said MCH wouldn't be more popular, I said it's popularity would abruptly soar—especially not to the estimations put forth.
Its popularity wouldn't soar, you're right. But Bard right now is so good that 1 in every 5 dps uploads, of every DPS job, is a Bard. Maybe Bard doesn't need to be so good and powerful that it is the static-maker.