Quote Originally Posted by zcrash970 View Post
You are testing the abilities of a class before the level cap? I hope not. That would be silly.
This is another stupid introduction on SEs part to mechanic changing situations. WM is terrible while you level. It only gets to be maybe on-par at 56, and even then, you're sacrificing your mobility to be a turret with significantly higher chances of dropping your DPS. They apparently like the idea to introduce a new game-changing ability that will initially make you feel weaker as you level to unlock the intended abilities that require it. It's like how they introduced songs to the game. Your very first song you get? Requiem. What did most of us do after learning it? Cast it, aggro a ton of nearby mobs, then die/wipe the group. Essentially, it initially scares you off from the idea of using songs in dungeons/combat. BRILLIANT way to get people to learn... add an ability that unnecessarily aggros everything around it as their very first introduction to party utility.

The need to balance 5 cooldowns, possibly dance between long cast time stances (casting WM > turning it off > repeat), and manage song necessity while simultaneously losing your DPS output (since you need to stop your DPS to cast these songs AND take the damage reduction from it), makes the job somewhat overwhelming with substandard payoff. Remove the only attractive aspect of the job that differentiated it from others (mobility), while not only keeping damage reduction effects, but adding more means for harm to performance for wanting to play in a way that they've had you do for years. It's like they're trying to introduce the idea of the support role, while also claiming the support role does not exist in this game.

While I personally don't mind the idea of being a turret, I do mind the poor direction they've given the job. The idea that BRD will almost never outperform other equally skilled/geared DPS isn't a new one, but still having the job be among the lowest (alongside MCH) while introducing more variables that can reduce your performance for your role (DPS... there are no support jobs, according to Yoshi-P) is just stupid planning. BRD being lower potential DPS is fine, but it's starting to get out of hand. It really would be funny though if they decide to nerf Sidewinder because it can bring out a big number for once, as it's something BRD has never had before.