So if anyone cares....

For the sake of consistancy all tests run over 10 minutes on FG dummy....T9 buffs (full buff line) all self buffs running, NO Halloween pets:

T9 ranger, UC2, fully buffed, using top end Secrets, T9 1hers, 9.0 epic clicked non stop, NSXI: 2394076 DPS 697 seconds
T10 bard, UC2, fully buffed, using harmonius comp, epic twist, etc T10 1hers, NSXI: 2295288 dps 722 seconds
T9 BST UC2, with 9.0 pet and OWS, both fully buffed, casting vicious ice 4 non stop, T9 fists NSXI: 2379614 dps 741 seconds

Now I dont have a monk with a UC2, so I got a friend who doesnt play much anymore to let me borrow his:

T9 monk with UC2 fully buffed running fists of wu and crab fu non stop, T9 fists NSXI: 3187668 dps 703 seconds

One note I will make: adding in Mistress of Fire on the bard with fire song running added a good chunk of damage....17% more damage from the fire procs overall than the monk got with same buff. Ranger and BST saw roughly same dps add monk did.

Without a doubt MoF can help melee dps, including adding a little more to what little dps a BST, bard or ranger add.

As to bard....hey, do what ya like. Whatevers fun for ya I just know for a fact after parsing my own boxes and boxes on a friend (T5 team) the bard didnt add much. They used to, but when Hunter, then  Hate tweaked em that went byebye. They did for a very brief period do more proc damage than any other class with NS augs, but that went away with a source code change. But the reason they do jack shit for me may be because I run a chanter and shammy with my raid team, and any benefits the bard may add with songs are trumped by similar or superior abilities in those two classes.

Lower tiers the only char I'd replace one of the zerks with is a necro. Zerk dps rocks til way later.

And look....if the bard, ranger and BST make you happy, GREAT! Go for it. Just my backhanded way of pointing out that these three classes are WAY under par with other EZ classes, and need work still....but then they have for a very long time.

Best to learn how badly some of these classes suck early on rather than having to replace them once you hit T9/10....backflagging through T5 is never much fun (I know....I've done it too damned often). And best to have backup classes made NOW who can run in and loot a pet rotting rather than waiting another year for the event again.

Don't listen to chunka on the bard since they can use Fading Memories to clear out singing agro and don't listen to him on the rogue since you can just put the ToFS dagger on them for the proc.

Which works most of the time, until T10, when none of that works. MANY players permaparked their bards, and this is just one of the reasons. Besides, no need to use ToFS dagger for the proc if you have ninja clicky or ninja proc buff clicky on the rogue (mine has both). Even with that, and every other ability in the sun, a rogue with a UW will STILL often steal agro because they get these occasional rounds with max triple backstab, which is a quick 75 mil damage...and unless you are micro managing your rogue it can cause agro shifts that can get ugly....not to mention in T10, where there IS no agro shedding, period. Ninja clicky, bard ability, rogue abilities, FD....none of em work in T10. Ever.

So yeah, dont listen to me. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

War ==== Insane Goblin for the stonewall
Pally ==== Insane Goblin for the stonewall
Necro ==== Chilled Devil since the reactive proc from the pet buff procs on each dot tic
Beast Lord ==== Meh. Dont think any pet can do much for this craptastic class They STILL need work! But if you're married to running this boat anchor, Mistress of Flame
Monk ==== Mistress of Flame
Zerker ==== Angryface if you are fortunate enough to get one....should go here before any other class. Otherwise, Mistress of Flame

2nd Group (3/4 Done with T5)

Ranger ==== see beastlord. Same thing, honestly....these 2 classes are the epitome of "suck" on EZ atm
Cleric ==== Insane Goblin for the stonewall
Chanter ==== Chilled Devil since your chanter should be nuking nonstop after casting Euphoria 2 for the doublecast effect
Rogue ==== A couple schools of thought on this one: Mistress of Flame for obvious reasons, or go with Arcing Devil for the extra HPS (adds more than ANY other pet) or IG for stonewall, since rogues eventually are gods at stealing agro
Bard ==== IG all the way, since if you sing anything at all later this guy will get beat on constantly. While not as crappy as ranger or beastlord, bards here are also pretty meh

After that, get EVERY class you can either IG or Stone Monster because later you might need it. T10 is a bitch and any stonewall helps, especially when first breaking into a tier.

Just my 2 bits.

One thing: if you roll a necro (and I highly encourage you to do so....right now they are my top non UW dps class) MAKE SURE you loot a chilled devil pet for them during Halloween. The secondary proc on cast works per tic from their dots with Death and Epidemic. Other than that..... Mistress of Fire pets for melee help dps a lot...if you can get em then Angryface on zerkers, or mage after (Angryface works only on magic damage, not elemental or poison/disease) and if you get stone or goblin pets that would otherwise rot, make sure every box has one or the other. They can come in handy when breaking into a new area (or in T10).

Double loot just means double the roll. So if an essence has a chance to drop, say 5%, and it fails or succeeds, then the system rolls again. That simple. So in effect, yes, its twice the chance of a drop.

After farming UC upgrades essence hunting is by far your best use of double loot periods....followed perhaps by SLS farming.

I'd play on a pre UW EZ server. I honestly think the UW are one of the biggest problems with the server atm.

So you have....

Warrior
Pally
Cleric
Zerker
Zerker
Monk

I'd run shaman, chanter, necro, rogue, druid and either a mage or a pure melee of your choice with that, or add a second pally to make sure the 2nd group survives later. Then I would be very careful how I set up groups. You want shammy with your UW classes for grudge (its a lot more likely to land in group without micromanaging). You want a zerk in both groups for their group buff disc.. So for me it'd be

Warrior
Pally
Cleric
Zerker
Shammy
Rogue (making rogue 2nd UW is IMO the smartest thing you can do while coming up in the ranks....best return early on)

Zerk
Chanter
Monk
Necro
Druid
2ndpally/other melee/mage

IMO thats the best all around 12, giving best support and solid DPS options in any scenario.

UC, UC2 and UC3 all you can during DL. If you need to break up the monotony, work some PoDrags or T3/4 for essences.

Build a bridge out of em!

For the handful that enjoy it, I'm sure they also enjoy sticking alcohol dipped qtips up their urethra.

Oh, shit! Its Thursday again already??

Heh....I think something went wrong. I became "Loremaster NULL" and everyone else was named NULL

No, I agree, casters are damned strong....just saying more consistency on the pet proc front would help, especially lower to mid tiers.