wow. is Swooping Crane Master 2 always that powerful?

I am still standing behind my buggy display info, because if what you are saying is true then the displayed damage info on CA and weapons is worthless. If debuffing allowed you to hit harder than the displayed "max" hit, that means the displayed info takes into account a mob's mitigation. That being the case what would the baseline be? What i'm starting to think is it has to do with being in offensive stance. Is STR the only factor in determining damage or does "crushing" skill effect damage as well? I've only noticed this while being in Halcyon Blessing stance which as a significant +crushing bonus. It just so happens that Swooping Crane does "crushing" damage. I don't knowj.. .just a thought.

Baseline is that when you look at the damage of a combat art or spell and engage immediately, the damage you do, is what the CA mentioned if you dont use any debuffs on the target. This applies to grouping also, STR buffs will increase the damage a CA displays.

But when you use a hex doll or some other ability to decrease mobs mitigation, the damage a CA does, will increase accordingly, but since you CA description doesn't know which mob you will attack next and whether it has been debuffed or not, it will only show the baseline.

^^^ someone here hit it right on the head......it was mob debuffing....i know because as an assassin(done leveling him) who also plays a brawler the effect is most dramatic with super high dmg arts like assassinate...on adept 3 the max it reads at 420 str (cap str at 60)is 7900ish dmg...yet i have had for 9-10k hits with it on epic mobs....why?? cause we had a Brigand hit their awesome debuff(neg 3k mitigation) right before i hit assassinate ....makes a huge diff

Speaking as a troub someone is getting our buffs mixed with dirge...i can buff str/sta with Raxyls, debuff melee resist with demoralizing processional but Dirge gets the melee skill increase while the dove song line is for preist/casters.

No. Troubs do alot for casters. We do very little for melee other than a small haste buff which I almost never use, and a weak str/sta buff which I almost never use since I'm a caster buffer.
The only thing Troubs get that might seriously effect melee is our AGI/STR Debuff. -88 to both Adept I I believe.

Erm .. normally Dirges are meant to be the offensive bards and troubs the defensive

I find that either type of Bard when offensive tends to get defensive. (=
However, I'd say it's more a matter of Troubs are more focused on BUFFing their allies while Dirges DEBUFF the enemy more. That's very general though since they both do some of each.

Not sure how much of what I'm about to say has been touched on, but the CA damage when examined is compaired to baseline mitigationi of mobs. Any debuffing will increase your damage. Also, the way I chose my bard was based on reading through the bard forums. Troubs buff party more while Dirges debuff more. Also, Troubs do more for casters while Dirges do more for melee.