#NerfBRD

[Bourne_Endeavor]

People liking its gameplay wouldn't mean much if it wasn't also one of the best jobs to have in your team. People liked RDM, but once it became more cemented that the job was really only good for progression, it fell off. People liked SAM and BLM, but again, as more and more people realized that they didn't bring the adequate damage to compensate for the fact they're not team players.

It does when you aren't nerfing BRD to a point people wouldn't take it. In fact, BLM is a perfect example of this. Its damage is monstrous, and it's essentially considered equal to SMN yet its popularity didn't move much this tier. Why? It's never been a popular job at any stage due to its gameplay. MCH falls in the same category. A 5% nerf to BRD tomorrow isn't going to put much of a dent in any statistic because a huge issue with MCH is its gameplay. I don't disagree with BRD getting brought down a little—never have this entire time—just with the notion MCH's popularity will suddenly jump start over it when at no point in two expansions has MCH ever been popular.

It was meta because the casters were garbage through most of this expansion. What flavor of garbage did you want, the turret that needs the whole party to adjust to it and doesn't reward the party for strategies that do so (BLM)? A slightly less turret that did less damage than even BRD at certain places (RDM)? Or a jumbled mess of mechanics and spells that the devs kind of barfed up and hoped was good (SMN)? ...or perhaps, Machinist, who not only didn't need to be adjusted to, but was just as mobile as bard, but enhanced bard's burst potential and increased healer damage potential even more?

You just said lots of people dislike SMN yet its currently fourth place amongst the DPS because of meta. Why didn't this apply to MCH? During Deltascape it was widely better than all the Casters yet still the least played job. Once again, my point hasn't been damage related but this idea MCH will suddenly become popular when it's never occurred before.

Notice into Sigmascape, Summoner was what overtook Machinist. Summoner was fixed up a bit and given a gigantic damage upgrade, getting close to being the highest damaging job in the game. As well, whenever Machinist buffs are brought up, it's casters who need to be considered because they're the ones MCH would compete against--not BRD. Which brings us back to...Machinist cannot be buffed, but its competitor apparently cannot be nerfed.

I never said BRD couldn't be nerfed. Don't put words in my mouth. I said, for the third time, it won't abruptly make MCH popular with its current gameplay. I only tagged into this discussion on that premise. Regardless, the issue with BRD is how it scales, which will not be touched until 5.0. Hence why I said earlier they aren't going to just slap a 5% nerf on BRD for six months then readjust everything all over again six months later.

Not every Bard and Machinist has a dragoon. Bard and Machinist easily bring their fair share without Dragoon.

As I stated, the amount of tools they bring only makes sense in the scenario where Dragoon isn't there. Claiming that somehow Bard is deadweight without Dragoon is false. The -dragoon- is dead weight without the Bard, because Ninja, Monk, and Samurai are all better when no Ranged role is in the party.

You've moved the goal post again.

I said if you apply this hypothetical 5% you suggested, BRD is a dead weight job without a DRG. Their rDPS wouldn't make up the enormous loss overall. This isn't the case currently, though why you would run without a DRG on either physical range is anyone's guess. Regardless it's also likely why we won't see any significant changes because I have ever belief Piercing dies come 5.0 and that is how they'll settle MCH/BRD. MCH will be better compensated whereas BRD won't. But this won't happen mid tier.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I hope nothing in the game going forward is buffed to the ridiculous level BRD is now no matter any disadvantages they've seen in the past. At the end of the day BRD is taking up far too much space and the only answers to that fact are ignoring it or bringing it in line with casters and MCH. Since BRDs seem very opposed to losing utility it seems like the best option becomes dps nerfs.

The funny thing is, BRD was never buffed in Stormblood. This all occurred because they foolish don't balance BRD or MCH with a DRG in mind. Therefore, they wouldn't notice the scaling issues since BRD's pDPS without a DRG is quite low, especially because it procs less. While purely speculative on my part, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't really consider how much Litany and other Crit buffs impact the aforementioned scaling. It would explain why they didn't fix it whatsoever when this happened in Heavensward. I suppose they assumed RNG and a 5% piercing nerf would do it? Either way, the only reason they've finally considered removing Piercing outright is due to JP also complaining.

[Kabooa]

You've moved the goal post again.

I said if you apply this hypothetical 5% you suggested, BRD is a dead weight job without a DRG. Their rDPS wouldn't make up the enormous loss overall. This isn't the case currently, though why you would run without a DRG on either physical range is anyone's guess. Regardless it's also likely why we won't see any significant changes because I have ever belief Piercing dies come 5.0 and that is how they'll settle MCH/BRD. MCH will be better compensated whereas BRD won't. But this won't happen mid tier.

Lol.

Okay.

Using 95th percentile data (As this represents fairly optimized play without perfect conditions / RNG), Bards are sitting at 7200 and Machinist at 7300 on Chaos (Chosen arbitrarily - Chaos has minimal downtime for range jobs, limited transition, single target, ease of access for Parse runs)

Cherry picking a comp of Paladin, Warrior, Scholar, Astro, Ninja, Dragoon, Summoner and filling in the last spot with either Bard or Machinist.

That's 5.2, 5.5, 3.8, 3.8, 7.2, 7.2, 7.7, and then another 7.2 or 7.3.

Grand Total Raid DPS
Bard: 47.6k
Mach: 47.7k

Docking bard by 5% (360)
Bard: 47.2k
Mach: 47.7k

Adding Samurai instead of Dragoon (7.9k vs 7.2)
Bard: 47.9k
Mach: 48.4k

Removing Piercing and Litany: Machinist is around 7%. Bard, due to double dipping crits is probably around 8%. Mach (-600), Bard ( -550)
Bard: 47.35k
Mach: 47.8k

Percentage difference (Bard now with Dragoon vs Bard Nerf without Dragoon)

Edit: Adjusting total RDPS down for Litany using a 7200 Dragoon (450 average. Assuming equal distribution based on damage, then giving bard a bit more favor due to double dipping, -380 from BNDrg)

BDrag: 47.6k
BNDrg: 46.95k

Difference: 1.4%

Edit: Machinist for comaprison

MDrag: 47.7k
MNDrg: 47.3k

Difference: .9%

Difference between BNDrg and MNDrg: .74%

[whiskeybravo]

Grand Total Raid DPS
Bard: 47.6k
Mach: 47.7k

What are we arguing about again?

[Kabooa]

What are we arguing about again?

This entire block is addressing "Nerfed bard is deadweight without dragoon".

Which is patently not true.

Bonus Round: Replacing Bard/Mach with something else.

Previous decided Nerfed-No-Drag Raid Total
Bard: 46.95k
Mach: 47.3k

First we have to remove the value Machinist and Bard bring to the Raid. Using comparable raid logs and estimating their contribution (Bard ~2%, Mach 1.25%) we have

Bard: ~900
Mach: ~591

Total
Bard: 46.05k
Mach: 46.7k

Now, lets replace them both with the current abuser: Black Mage.

Our previous blurb up there established Nerf-No-Drag Bard and No-Drag Mach to be
Bard: 6290
Mach: 6700

An equivalent Black Mage is 8,070, so we'll round up to 8100.
Bard: +1810
Mach: +1400

Adjusting said Black Mage down due to no litany (Due to Sam replacement: - ~70) and No -
Bard Buffs: 7870
Machinist Buffs: 7930

BlamRepBard: 47.63k
BlameRepMach: 48k

Percentage difference - Bard

Bard: 46.95k
Blam: 47.6k

1.4%

Percentage difference - Mach

Mach: 47.3k
Blam: 48k

1.5%

[HyperiusUltima]

Quite a discussion I'm seeing here. What I hope for is that the dev team considers what is being said here since this is constructive debate, and could lead to them thinking up something either great, or...something else. ...I still think the consensus is that the DPS Role has a lot of stigma when it comes to Raid Buffs.

If they want to change it, they need to fix A LOT of things to make every job desirable instead of "Take BRD because it buffs everything".

[Bourne_Endeavor]

This entire block is addressing "Nerfed bard is deadweight without dragoon".

Which is patently not true.

Your estimations are off. Fortunately, we have a site that calculates rDPS, albeit it isn't perfect but it does the job. http://www.xivrdps.com/encounters/nLjybwfQktHXadTV/13

Litany is a wash in terms of pure damage, though it does impact BRD more noticeably due to the proc nature of their job. For the sake of argument's, we'll put that aside and call it a wash. Likewise, we'll half Piercing, subtract 5% from BRD's pDPS and remove Dragon Sight.

MCH: 6,780
BRD: 6,481

That is a substantial difference, especially as BRD would drop even lower due to the aforementioned lowered chance of procs. For comparison sake, SMN's rDPS hovers just shy of 8k. The gap between them and a nerfed, DRG-less BRD is nearly 1,500 rDPS. I'll grant you dead weight may be a bit too strong a term if only because I didn't include MCH. They'd both be surviving on Refresh. Basically, DRG just became even more comfy in its spot. Which is a moot point. It is somewhat ironic though because the whole fighting for one spot argument is equally true on the melee side. NIN/MNK/SAM fight while DRG slots in. And because Trick Attack is Trick Attack, well, it's not much competition for NIN.

Simply put, a lot of balancing issues need to be addressed. Which isn't going to happen pre-expansion.

[Dualgunner]

It does when you aren't nerfing BRD to a point people wouldn't take it. In fact, BLM is a perfect example of this. Its damage is monstrous, and it's essentially considered equal to SMN yet its popularity didn't move much this tier. Why? It's never been a popular job at any stage due to its gameplay.

And yet, Black Mages no longer feel like an absolute detriment to their party--which is the point of buffs and nerfs.

MCH falls in the same category. A 5% nerf to BRD tomorrow isn't going to put much of a dent in any statistic because a huge issue with MCH is its gameplay.

But Machinists won't feel like as much of a detriment to their party--are we seeing a theme yet?--and feel more comfortable within their own job in the static.

I don't disagree with BRD getting brought down a little—never have this entire time—just with the notion MCH's popularity will suddenly jump start over it when at no point in two expansions has MCH ever been popular.

Just because it's not going to be a binary "MCH is now the prettiest girl in school" doesn't mean nothing should be done about the rock and a hard place it's in.

You just said lots of people dislike SMN yet its currently fourth place amongst the DPS because of meta. Why didn't this apply to MCH? During Deltascape it was widely better than all the Casters yet still the least played job.

You'll have to forgive me, but evidence to this claim? I never looked at the upload numbers for Delta when it was active, however I still have to hold a healthy amount of skepticism. I know during Sigma it became true, but during Sigma is when Summoner took over.

Once again, my point hasn't been damage related but this idea MCH will suddenly become popular when it's never occurred before.

You're honestly kind of all over the place without a clear point. MCH's popularity is a symptom of it being a badly designed job, but BRD's overpopularity is a symptom of a lot of things, ranging from its simplified design, compatibility with every group type, be that giving everyone else buffs, or everyone else's buffs meaning so much more for Bard because of how its crit scaling and burst works.

I never said BRD couldn't be nerfed. Don't put words in my mouth.

I never said that you did. Don't put words in my mouth. That is, however, the general argument against this thread's proposal, so you'll have to forgive me addressing it in the grander scheme of things.

I said, for the third time, it won't abruptly make MCH popular with its current gameplay. I only tagged into this discussion on that premise.

The rising tide floats all boats. Bard dropping from 21% of all DPS uploads means everybody else's participation rates rise, including Machinist.

Regardless, the issue with BRD is how it scales, which will not be touched until 5.0. Hence why I said earlier they aren't going to just slap a 5% nerf on BRD for six months then readjust everything all over again six months later.

They've done weirder for balance before.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

You'll have to forgive me, but evidence to this claim? I never looked at the upload numbers for Delta when it was active, however I still have to hold a healthy amount of skepticism. I know during Sigma it became true, but during Sigma is when Summoner took over.

Sadly, FFlogs only tracks two weeks. So Deltascape wouldn't be an accurate representation anymore. Even using those numbers though, MCH only barely pulled ahead of BLM, which was in arguably the worst state its ever been in at that point.

You're honestly kind of all over the place without a clear point. MCH's popularity is a symptom of it being a badly designed job, but BRD's overpopularity is a symptom of a lot of things, ranging from its simplified design, compatibility with every group type, be that giving everyone else buffs, or everyone else's buffs meaning so much more for Bard because of how its crit scaling and burst works.

The point is BRD has always been exceedingly popular whereas MCH has never been popular. The only time BRD showed a dip is throughout Heavensward primarily because of cast times. I'll acknowledge its speculative hence why I said I sincerely doubt a nerf of any kind will change the landscape. That will only occur with an overhaul. Look at DRK. It's numbers barely budged despite the buffs it received before Alphascape. People don't like the DA spam. So they just aren't playing it.

They've done weirder for balance before.

Feel free to correct if I'm wrong, but they have never nerfed a job mid-tier by 5% since Heavensward. It has always been buffs or very negligible nerfs. Expecting them to change that stance less than a year before 5.0 is setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Kabooa]

Your estimations are off. Fortunately, we have a site that calculates rDPS, albeit it isn't perfect but it does the job.

Individual logs, especially top 99-100 speed run logs, are disingenuous at best to use. That is why I utilized aggregate data instead. For example, for some reason you skipped this one.

http://www.xivrdps.com/encounters/HQCbDJjpyPf2KzZ1/124

Despite it being one where both bard and machinist are present, and the party cleared faster.

Or this one

http://www.xivrdps.com/encounters/dkLKH4cyTq89ZabF/21

We avoid using specific logs because they inherently favor the viewpoint we're looking for. Aggregate data is less likely to do so. We simply take the most common group compositions, and effectively math from there, while having access to a handy reference for those at the same percentile.

Edit: Also, for your own use later:

https://www.fflogs.com/zone/statisti...&timespan=1000

You set to [Odd Patch] and then to "Entire Tier". Remember the population at large doesn't hit the parse / speed kill section until much later into the tier. So for Deltascape you do 4.1, Sigma you do 4.3.