Only double the percentage of non-anon, non-rp bards on Xegony. Highly
unlikely to be the same thing. You'll never see Kitasi pop up on a /who all
bard on E'ci as I am always /roleplay. Also most of those people logged
onto pvp servers are not engaging in pvp activities most of the time. The
decision to balance anything because of pvp is one of Verant's most
ludicrous ideas. Even if every single one of the people in your example was
engaged in pvp when you took the sample they would still only constitute
less than 7% of the people playing. Since that is 7% out of two possible
choices it is an insignificant amount. 4% out of 14 possible choices on the
other hand is not insignificant by comparison.

Also yes bards may be less than 5% of the population on some servers. But,
since you are taking a sub-part that is virtually guaranteed to be small in
percentage your argument has no weight. If there were an equal number of
every class in the populations then bards would still only number 7.14%
(100/14). Given that fact, even 3% would be a very significant percentage
since they would still number half as many as could be expected all else
being equal.

Statistical analysis guarantees in fact that if a classes percentage falls
below a certain threshold in relation to this equality, then that class is
in fact underpowered or less enjoyable to play. If all the classes were
equally balanced then the percentages of each across such a large base would
be effectively equivalent to 100/14. The unmistakable fact that it is not
is analytical proof that the classes were not balanced in terms of power
level, usefulness, and enjoyability. Apparently someone at Verant finally
realized this which is why we see so many intensive changes recently.

That's why I laugh whenever someone says that bards are overpowered. The
statement is ludicrous on its very face. If that were true, in a game
dominated by the mechanics of level advancement and ability to overpower
foes, then there would be more than the flat (100/14)% bards. There are
not. It is not because bards are some great secret either. Sure a lot of
people don't know all that bards can do, but that is because it takes far,
far more work to play a bard than any other class. Probably why I like
them, they are much more challenging. Anybody can hit autoattack and the
occasional taunt, bash, or kick hotkey.

Kit