Bard nerf is garbage

[DioK]

I very much do understand the implications this entails, I simply do not believe BRD to be so down the gutter as everyone here seems to believe.

While I can totally see the compromise and general issue with the reduced Nocturne range down to 15y, I feel like it is still very playable - as you said, PS/Pitch reaches max damage at 15y, which is Nocturne's range. So in a situation where you don't get attacked, you can do something like Burst Arrow > move in and Nocturne > move out then Pitch. And in situations you may need to peel with the backstep it will reposition you for that.

What Im trying to say is BRD now similar to DNC is bobbing back and forth, but with other strengths such as access to CC, AOE buffs and an additional defensive party utility.

I find the CC range fair. What I will rather suggest is potency increases or narrowing the scaling for PS/Pitch or other compensation.

Bard is specifically designed to fight from afar. It is NOT equitable with DNC in having to bop back and forth. DNC has extra DR to account for having to play closer than other range; BRD was not given this. DNC has extra mitigation and self-healing to survive fighting closer; BRD was not given this. DNC does not suffer a reduction in damage output for fighting closer; BRD does. Even worse, using Silent Nocturne was part of BRD's burst initiation by proc'ing Pitch Perfect. Now, BRD has a reduction in ability to proc Pitch Perfect, which is an 8000 potency loss. Now, that can only be reliably proc'ed by Warden's Paean. What other class has had an 8000 potency nerf? Plus, the elimination of the damage from Silent Nocturne, which is an additional 2000 potency loss that we used to use in our burst. So, a 10000 potency loss of burst ability? Did a class already struggling to do damage really need an additional 10000 potency loss? Also, part of using Silent Nocturne was to help secure kills; now that bit of support capacity has been taken from bard without bard getting into mortal danger.

Essentially, bard is reduced to mostly being a totem in the back line, providing little participation in the battle. I don’t think SE understood at all how bard works. You can’t design a class to inherently fight from far away and then shackle it to fighting close. Those are conflicting design choices which can only result in an underperforming class. BRD does NOT fight at 15 yalms or less. Its damage is reduced (something no other class suffers from) and it has no survivability at such a range (again, a property no other class suffers from). If they wanted to reduce Silent Nocturne's range, 20 yalms would have been a better compromise, not 15.

[Nubrication]

Bard is specifically designed to fight from afar. It is NOT equitable with DNC in having to bop back and forth. DNC has extra DR to account for having to play closer than other range; BRD was not given this. DNC has extra mitigation and self-healing to survive fighting closer; BRD was not given this. DNC does not suffer a reduction in damage output for fighting closer; BRD does. Even worse, using Silent Nocturne was part of BRD's burst initiation by proc'ing Pitch Perfect. Now, BRD has a reduction in ability to proc Pitch Perfect, which is an 8000 potency loss. Now, that can only be reliably proc'ed by Warden's Paean. What other class has had an 8000 potency nerf? Plus, the elimination of the damage from Silent Nocturne, which is an additional 2000 potency loss that we used to use in our burst. So, a 10000 potency loss of burst ability? Did a class already struggling to do damage really need an additional 10000 potency loss? Also, part of using Silent Nocturne was to help secure kills; now that bit of support capacity has been taken from bard without bard getting into mortal danger.

Essentially, bard is reduced to mostly being a totem in the back line, providing little participation in the battle. I don’t think SE understood at all how bard works. You can’t design a class to inherently fight from far away and then shackle it to fighting close. Those are conflicting design choices which can only result in an underperforming class. BRD does NOT fight at 15 yalms or less. Its damage is reduced (something no other class suffers from) and it has no survivability at such a range (again, a property no other class suffers from). If they wanted to reduce Silent Nocturne's range, 20 yalms would have been a better compromise, not 15.

This exactly! You explained it far better than I did.