I had a long post planned.

Instead I'll just say this. In the MMO biz there is a saying that perception is reality. This means that a nerf is a better tool for balancing than a buff, at least in terms of reducing general forum noise.

Look at it this way, if you nerf one class you then have to deal with the mindless droning of the members of this class who are pissed that they won't have their uber power skill anymore. Buff a class and you now have every other class in the game pissed that they all just got nerfed. Not, of course, that they actually got nerfed, but because they perceive their class as being less effective than the newly buffed class.

This annoys me. That is all.