It's been some time now since the absolute brutal, gut-flaying murder of Bard's Dichotomic Psalm. When TBM was released, it was clearly advertised that the Dicho spell line for each class would be a significant ability akin to defining each class. Initially, this was true for just about every class, including Bards (all be it not exactly the direction expected). The nature of pre-nerf Bard Dicho was interesting; group heal + mana/endurance restore of noticeable amounts, plus a tiny bit of ADPS. Yes, the resource cost of using it was broken, but even if it hadn't been, the ability was still very significant to Bards, as it added an extra layer of utility in both melee AND caster DPS groups. In short, it was fantastic, and definitely fit the promise of being a class-defining ability. Then... the dreaded nerf happened... Bard Dicho was ripped apart limb from limb. The hefty endurance cost was applied as originally intended (which is fine), the ADPS portion was boosted VERY slightly (still insignificant overall), and the heal + mana/endurance restore was reduced to, what, 1/10 or less of what it once was? It was devastating, and basically rendered Dichotomic Psalm useless. A hard fight was fought to, at the very least, boost the ADPS portion of Bard Dicho, to MAYBE make it actually worth using still. But alas, nothing was done to remedy the massacre of the ability. And thus, I, like many other Bards, removed Dichotomic Psalm from their song bars forever... I feel like it's about time to reconsider this situation. As a raiding Bard, I find myself falling further and further behind the curve of other melee-based Hybrids, in both straight DPS as well as ADPS (particularly vs. Beastlords). Don't worry, I'm not about to try and rekindle the whole, "Bards should do more personal DPS", argument (even though they should!), but Dichotomic Psalm absolutely deserves some love, as it has since the epic nerf. I understand (sort of) why the devs believed the amount of health/mana/endurance previously restored by Bard Dicho was too high. That's fine (I guess), no worries there. What really grinds my gears is how completely insignificant the ADPS portion of this ability is. It amounts to virtually nothing, even in a full raid group, especially given how steep the cost is to use it, and double especially since our Vainglorious Shout and Boastful Bellow are now semi-decent DPS additions, even at a respectable endurance cost. So, what I would personally really like to see is for Dichotomic Psalm to be given a BIG boost in the ADPS department. As in, three to five times stronger than it currently is (MINIMUM!). Maybe then it would be worth a slot on my song bar once again. But in it's current state, as it has been since the nerf, it is more or less useless to me and never gets used. Pretty sad considering all the hype that surrounded that aspect of the TBM expansion release and features. #GiveOurDichoBack2018
Fresh seeing this is still a topic years later. When I first saw the dicho's I knew it was epic 3.0 and all the issues that came with epic 2.0
I am probably the only one who think bards should tank a lot better, making them ok group tanks (with group gear), not as good as SK/PALmof course, but putting that plate and shield to good use, and generate a turdload of ae aggro with their songs when they turn old bard aggro on.... Better Bard Dicho? Of course, what is not to like.
Alot of dichos could use some love. Just be glad that yours even post nerf (which was needed) is still useful. You could be running the mage dicho (Wasn't worth it even in tbm)
Define "useful" because no serious raiding bard still uses it and even in groups, it's pretty rare to see. I don't think the argument of "mages don't have a good one so you shouldn't" is very productive for the game. Especially given the current state of mages even without their's being good, mages are in a great spot.
It's funny that bard dicho is so bad considering that beastlord's dicho is top-tier, and will probably persist in being one of the strongest abilities in the game in perpetuity. I added a beastlord to my group primarily for that one ability. It's uncharacteristic for DBG to balance spells that are expansions old, but I think it'd be great if they buffed mage / bard dicho. Also I worked too hard on finding the perfect gifs to not repost this: for posterity: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/bard-dichotomic-psalm.235030/ https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/bard-dicho-changes.235050/page-5 https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...-classes-use-dichotomic-in-group-raid.246171/
I think there was a missunderstanding. I didn't mean to imply mages have a bad one so everyone else should. I said alot of dichos could use an update. Then I said to count yourself lucky that your dicho still does have some usefulness.
Ah, yeah I can understand that and you're probably right - more than just bards could probably use a look. It's just depressing that a class defining aDPS ability isn't useful on a class that is primarily aDPS. I guess I don't notice it with the mage because the point of Dicho was just replaced with AA abilities (FBO right?) and admittedly my mage is just a box so I don't care as much.
Can't see some of the images at work, but for the ones I could see it was pretty spot on. Hope the shaman one involved steroids or something.
May I just throw in to the ring for top prize of utter uselessness, Pally Dicho* *Ok maybe it has some situational use, but 9 out of 10 Paladins (who expressed a preference) don't use it. And it's boring. If the stun was 10 seconds or worked on a named/raid mob or if the heal was like LOH quality maybe it would be more useful (but still boring),. but they aren't.
