Anyways, I feel l had a really good succinct perspective to pose to those who oppose the concept of meters based on the gameplay effect, but I only half-remember it, and I think the only actual 'opposition' speaking lately is Mag, who obviously represents the massive 'silent majority' (can we get a different representative please?)
I'll let you know when I remember it, but it was definitely something simple approximately in this area:
"If we agree that re-reading the combat log is a good, POSSIBLY the best way to notice certain issues with your style or build or timing of skills, particularly in groups, do we also agree that this is difficult enough for Bards specifically that they would be 'expected' to do so?"
Which follows on in the obvious way. Generally my understanding is that Bards need meters the most, followed by Mages (in complex games), then Healers, then Tanks, and then you just go down the list for the Damage Dealers. Not because DPS is easy specifically, but because they are not tracking as many things at once.
I actually think (just personal opinion) that part of the reason we see lesser numbers of Tanks, Bards, Healers in some games at higher levels, is related to this. The DPS race is not necessarily 'a place for glory' for everyone, but DPS is easier to objectively claim "I did well enough, X thing died in Y time", so they can use trackers much more sparingly. Figure out the build and the enemy and do the thing.
tl;dr do people really think that Bards in a complex game either:
1) Can easily do all their assessment of how to improve and their effectiveness without carefully looking at the combat log
2) Should have to spend much more time than others going through such a combat log manually (while sometimes not having access to other people's DPS numbers or mitigation values anyway, if we're trying to hide as much as possible)
(My Bard is sick so I'm back on duty on her behalf at least).