After the release of Dark Bard and Dancer being in the state it is, I think it's quite highlighted that Performer is weaker than the both of them. It can't really do it's job of using buff skills and supporting teammates due to the nature of bonus stats getting DR'd so hard and for it's bonus effects being sub par compared to other classes.
I'm going to propose some changes that make this class able to do it's job better while attempting to not overbuff it. There is a high likelihood the combination of all of these might be too strong but I'm simply proposing some changes that might bring it more in line with other classes.
We'll start with it's healing ability. Currently, Performer has the WORST healing by far of any of the bard promotions. Each of the other two classes get an additional healing spell that Performer doesn't get. Dancer gets Rest Beat and Idol Step, and Dark Bard gets second set. Idol Step has a 7 turn cooldown, Second Set has a 6 turn Cooldown, and Cantus also has a six turn cooldown.
We're going to compare to curate here. At the moment, curate can also buff and it's healing spell, Graft, nearly always heals more than the base of just 125 from cantus and can also be made AoE. It also already has a lower CD at 4 turns pre pacifist boon. Due to Cantus having no scaling except bard auras, which are unpleasant to use right now due to how buff stats work outside Dawr, it will nearly always heal much lower than graft on a longer cooldown.
This is somewhat remedied due to the Cantus removing four debuffs when it's healed, but currently Performer gives no ability to heal more than base bard...
Except for a single passive called Music Heals that gives 5 hp regen. This is not really significant in any way to make up for it's lack of healing ability.
Instead of it giving 5 hp regen, I instead propose that it gives 15 HP to every member affected by a base Bard Song only and reduce Cantus's CD by 2 (this part may be too much. 1 or 0 is also probably fine).
This lets you heal 60 in a full aoe per song and gives you a reason to actually stack the extra songs for your Cantus heal since often times the only real stats that do things are Dawr. It's not a massive amount in 1v1s, especially since you'll be spending 3M for 15 heal and mediocre stats, but can add up in team fights were the stats might actually be somewhat useful.
Exceptional Enthusiam doesn't stand up to other buff spells of the same type.
For those who aren't aware or just don't wanna look up the thing, Enthusiasm gives up to 8 WIL and GUI at max rank. These stats are okay and good for people with luminary, but the real meat and potatoes we're focusing on is the extra bonus.
At base max rank, Anthem does 50% of your sound attack up to 3 times. Compare this to Brine Blade, with does 60% of your water attack for **eight turns** so long as you're willing to do a very small investment into talents.
If this just lasted the 3 turns fully or even 4 it'd be fine in my opinion.
Dawr and Cantus extra effects are fine.
Warmonger's Drums are also fine and is one of the key reasons to grab the class right now. If it gave more SWA that'd be dope but definitley overpowered.
Amplified Aria gives 15 evade at max rank for 2 attacks or 3 rounds. It gives 8 SKI and CEl at max. I'd frankly just make it 3 rounds period - but only for the caster, how it is for others is fine. It doesn't really compare well to other evasion buffs like southern wind or distortion or fortune wind and if you're playing evade, this CEL is absolutely going to be demolished by DRs and end up being 2 or 3 at max.
Samba of Strength's SWA is really mediocre. 1/3/5/7/9 would be small but helpful instead of 1-5. Striking Samba could probably just be X rounds instead of only 2 attacks as well since it's a low amount.
Bewitching Medley scales off your scaled GUI for convert chance. Performers have absolutely no reason to build GUI outside of Snake Dancer's medley and frankly it's hard to fit it into a build when you have to build for weapon SWA, LCK and SAN for your passives to make your dancers last longer. Make this SAN instead and it'd make performer's build overlay less crippling and give you an actual shot to convert high level mobs instead of having negative chance.
Let Performer use its coolest skill in La Finita. Confusing enemies in high end content is already incredibly difficult.
Anyways yea. That's pretty much it.
I'm going to propose some changes that make this class able to do it's job better while attempting to not overbuff it. There is a high likelihood the combination of all of these might be too strong but I'm simply proposing some changes that might bring it more in line with other classes.
We'll start with it's healing ability. Currently, Performer has the WORST healing by far of any of the bard promotions. Each of the other two classes get an additional healing spell that Performer doesn't get. Dancer gets Rest Beat and Idol Step, and Dark Bard gets second set. Idol Step has a 7 turn cooldown, Second Set has a 6 turn Cooldown, and Cantus also has a six turn cooldown.
We're going to compare to curate here. At the moment, curate can also buff and it's healing spell, Graft, nearly always heals more than the base of just 125 from cantus and can also be made AoE. It also already has a lower CD at 4 turns pre pacifist boon. Due to Cantus having no scaling except bard auras, which are unpleasant to use right now due to how buff stats work outside Dawr, it will nearly always heal much lower than graft on a longer cooldown.
This is somewhat remedied due to the Cantus removing four debuffs when it's healed, but currently Performer gives no ability to heal more than base bard...
Except for a single passive called Music Heals that gives 5 hp regen. This is not really significant in any way to make up for it's lack of healing ability.
Instead of it giving 5 hp regen, I instead propose that it gives 15 HP to every member affected by a base Bard Song only and reduce Cantus's CD by 2 (this part may be too much. 1 or 0 is also probably fine).
This lets you heal 60 in a full aoe per song and gives you a reason to actually stack the extra songs for your Cantus heal since often times the only real stats that do things are Dawr. It's not a massive amount in 1v1s, especially since you'll be spending 3M for 15 heal and mediocre stats, but can add up in team fights were the stats might actually be somewhat useful.
Exceptional Enthusiam doesn't stand up to other buff spells of the same type.
For those who aren't aware or just don't wanna look up the thing, Enthusiasm gives up to 8 WIL and GUI at max rank. These stats are okay and good for people with luminary, but the real meat and potatoes we're focusing on is the extra bonus.
At base max rank, Anthem does 50% of your sound attack up to 3 times. Compare this to Brine Blade, with does 60% of your water attack for **eight turns** so long as you're willing to do a very small investment into talents.
If this just lasted the 3 turns fully or even 4 it'd be fine in my opinion.
Dawr and Cantus extra effects are fine.
Warmonger's Drums are also fine and is one of the key reasons to grab the class right now. If it gave more SWA that'd be dope but definitley overpowered.
Amplified Aria gives 15 evade at max rank for 2 attacks or 3 rounds. It gives 8 SKI and CEl at max. I'd frankly just make it 3 rounds period - but only for the caster, how it is for others is fine. It doesn't really compare well to other evasion buffs like southern wind or distortion or fortune wind and if you're playing evade, this CEL is absolutely going to be demolished by DRs and end up being 2 or 3 at max.
Samba of Strength's SWA is really mediocre. 1/3/5/7/9 would be small but helpful instead of 1-5. Striking Samba could probably just be X rounds instead of only 2 attacks as well since it's a low amount.
Bewitching Medley scales off your scaled GUI for convert chance. Performers have absolutely no reason to build GUI outside of Snake Dancer's medley and frankly it's hard to fit it into a build when you have to build for weapon SWA, LCK and SAN for your passives to make your dancers last longer. Make this SAN instead and it'd make performer's build overlay less crippling and give you an actual shot to convert high level mobs instead of having negative chance.
Let Performer use its coolest skill in La Finita. Confusing enemies in high end content is already incredibly difficult.
Anyways yea. That's pretty much it.