How will NIN nerfs affect them?

[Dzian]

I keep reading stuff like "NIN has soooo much utility" by people when the5 only reason they are/were in the meta is TA.

More recently perhaps.
In he though they had exclusive use of glad which in many cases was better than a bards apron because it didn't cost any dps. Where apron dropped a bards dps quite significantly. Plus it was rare that multiple party members were to starved at the same time making oaeon even more of a waste.

Shade walker and smokescreen also lot more functional.

Many of the role skills are derived from what a ninja offered a party. That's a good indication of how important they were.