That's true, but I think it needs to be changed. If bards are going to excel at group combat, they should be better at it than mages. Mages, then, should be more of a balance (not the best at group combat and not the best at one-on-one, but also not the worst at either). If mages are more important in group combat, then bards need to be buffed in one-vs-one and mages need to be nerfed in one-vs-one. I guess you have a good point about the druids, I hadn't thought through them very well. I suppose they would have to do work on ecology or druid totems, which would make it a much bigger project.

I think the best way to change a class from being good 1 vs 1 to being good in groups is reducing the internal skill synergy. You can do this in a way that you give super overpowered skills that have no synergy for the group focus, and give weaker, more synergy based skills for the 1 vs 1.

Let the skill shuffle begin!

Just to clarify:
-Speechcraft is a TERTIARY skill. That means choosing it = no Tarot, no Ecology, no Illusions.
-Shattered ego is NOT REQUIRED to use these skills.
-Breakdown DOES NOT insta-kill. It simply makes you unable to do anything for 10 seconds (or however long Inquisition is), meaning you need to also pull off a Requiem/Bardoon/Threnody/Dirge or go for a quick damage kill.
-Applying bromides recovers mood.

Also:
Changed Breakdown and Suicide.

Breakdown requires low mood OR shattered ego.
Suicide requires BOTH.

Mages have already been nerfed in group combat - hailstorm was majorly turned down. We can also be fine, more than druids, out of demesnes - Revan, Xanon, and I do just fine with telepathy alone, though it's usually not enough without a demesne. I'm actually fine with illusions being left for mages as they are.

As for not standing and fighting without a demesne - I usually do, unless you bring others with you (which almost always happens inevitably.)

I suppose that's true enough, since I only fight you when either you're raiding or we are. I'd be interested to try fighting you one-on-one without demesnes, could be fun. Anyway, hailstorm/boulderblast were nerfed, but they were pretty OP to begin with. I would still like to see demesnes specifically nerfed further - I hate that a demesne is the deciding factor in so many contests. Revan, Xanon and you do okay without a demesne, as you said telepathy alone is rarely enough to kill a competent fighter. I think mages should be able to kill someone without their demesne, but they should not be on par with guardians/wiccans in one-on-one fights. They should also be able to use their demesne to help their group, but it should be less effective than the help of a bard.

They way you're going though, it's going to turn into rock-paper-scissors kind of thing. I hate to keep using examples from WoW, but as Mage there, unless I outgear/outskill a rogue by a noticable bit, I'm dead. They are made to kill casters. I realize I'm not around much, so this is hypothetical, but I'd hate to have to run around with friends, or just haul ass if anyone else targets me, because I suck 1v1.

It's one thing to be a support class, and another to be given awesome skills that do absolutely nothing for you, or to make everyone else shine while you just stand there behind them. That's not really that fun.

You cant say you can cloak two.. its SPEECH craft.. you have to talk to them.. what sense is it that you can hide what you tell them that does this?

Second, Breakdown = use songs and debate.. breakdown is OP.. use with perfectfifth and songs..

Having shattered ego make you powerful means village revolts would be bad.. oh hey he is shattered... breakdown.. you can slow them up, use more craft, rebreakdown, or set them up for suicide.

Other than a few things that make it a bit poweful (assuming applying bromides would take sip balance they couldnt sip as well)... I like it.

Wow.. this was my original idea...

In my original mental design it was supposed to be this:

For any affliction to work, the target must be shattered.

There are four "mood affecting pools"... Depression, Euphoria, Animosity and Neutral (but Neutral doesn't do anything, it's just the original state)... In order to afflict with some affliction you have to "influence" them after shattering them. Jokes would cause Euphoria, Taunting would cause Animosity and Mocking would cause Depression...

Animosity opens the use of afflictions that would make it easier for a damage kill(sensitivity and bleeding) and it would give them an Aeon like affliction that slows their drinking capabilites or just slow their drinking balance, but increases the damage output of the target. Depression would opens the use of afflictions that are common for hexers (not stupidity or sleeping), also decreases the damage input of the target, making them tankier. Euphoria opens the use of stunning and stupidity like afflictions and sleeping, also increases their damage output and decreases the damage input, making them both more resistant and more dangerous.

Now here's where it gets interesting... You can start mocking them to a depressive point, but if you start Taunting them you would cure the depression little by little to the point where the target is back to Neutral so you would have to start taunting them more to a higher Animosity state... so you have various ways of killing them and not being overpowering.

The point for this is so the Bard can fill various positions without overpowering them. They will afflict more but it would be harder for them to stop the character from curing. They will stop the target on their place but it would be hard to do anything else. They will weaken their foes so that they can blast the target to death but they will be screwed