Buff Blades
With the fixing of bugs like Ring of Free Action+Defensive Spin and Improved Haste+Offensive Spin there is very little way to see a Blade as even remotely comparable to a Fighter/Mage anymore.
I'm well aware that the game isn't supposed to be balanced but Blade was appealing to most for its unique fighting qualities that were worthwhile in comparison to other options. As it stands once Improved Haste is available it probably isn't even worthwhile ever actually using Offensive Spin (4 APR with max damage and +2 att/dam is maybe less damage than 6 APR).
Options might be something like:
15th: Improved Offensive Spin: same as Offensive Spin but doubles APR instead.
13th: Improved Defensive Spin: same as Defensive Spin but with 50% movement penalty instead.
Epic Offensive Spin (HLA): same as Offensive Spin but gets APR close to max instead.
Epic Defensive Spin (HLA): same as Defensive Spin but ... something epic?
Or fixing with OP gear or something.
I'm well aware that the game isn't supposed to be balanced but Blade was appealing to most for its unique fighting qualities that were worthwhile in comparison to other options. As it stands once Improved Haste is available it probably isn't even worthwhile ever actually using Offensive Spin (4 APR with max damage and +2 att/dam is maybe less damage than 6 APR).
Options might be something like:
15th: Improved Offensive Spin: same as Offensive Spin but doubles APR instead.
13th: Improved Defensive Spin: same as Defensive Spin but with 50% movement penalty instead.
Epic Offensive Spin (HLA): same as Offensive Spin but gets APR close to max instead.
Epic Defensive Spin (HLA): same as Defensive Spin but ... something epic?
Or fixing with OP gear or something.
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I guess Blade does get Lore bonuses, though, so at least there's that?
EDIT: I guess some other classes probably face similar circumstances, too....
Iirc, it's 4 attacks/round for Offensive Spin and 6 for Improved Haste.
4*5.5=22 bonus damage
Is 22 bonus damage likely to be more damage than what is granted by 2 additional attacks? Unlikely.
3 APR with Improved Haste goes to 6 APR. If you do more than 11 damage/hit then Improved Haste will be better.
Regarding long term; Improved Haste lasts 3 rounds+1 round/level or 84 seconds when you first get it on a level 11 mage. When a bard first gets it at level 16 it will last 94 seconds. By level 20 you can cast it up to 3 times/day which is approaching 5 minutes of improved haste gore.
Importantly, these observations give very little reason to play a blade in the first place. A vanilla bard, skald or jester all become quite competitive in damage terms as soon as improved haste becomes available.
Alright, you are starting to win me over but to basically make Ospin boost APR as much as imp haste seems a bit overkill. Since bards never get more than base 1 APR (why?) I think it would be far more feasible for the proposed imp Ospin to simply add 2 APR rather than 1 and it would be much less OP that way. Epic O/Dspin would be impossible as it would likely have to be offered to all bard kits (I know of no kit specific restrictions on HLA's) and would probably be too much anyway. I do kind of like the sound of imp Dspin though. Of course Dspin stacks with imp haste so that may be a bit too nasty. Maybe toss in some save bonuses or other ways of magic defense instead?
I'm suggesting double APR (which only increases APR from 4 to 6 instead of your suggested 4 to 5) as it should give an extra offhand attack (bringing the total to 4 mainhand and 2 offhand) which isn't as powerful as 5 mainhand/1 offhand.
A simpler approach to HLA's would be to replace improved bard song with whirlwind attack just for Blades. This is a feature of a few mods which fits the kit nicely by giving a nice perk and removing the ability to overcome the only significant disadvantage of the kit.
Giving 50% movement penalty on an Improved Defensive Spin just restores the ability to its previous function. Perhaps being immune to (improved) haste while using Defensive Spin would be appropriate though.
Those were qualities that made the kit interesting to play for someone who wanted to play a bard that could fight well ... and what other reason is there to play a blade?
There are times where he or she likes to play RPGs where he or she can be superman or supergirl. Sometimes he or she likes a challenge or to roleplay as he or she sees fit as a lesser being or a flawed hero or just more of a challenge.
They're not the most powerful class, but are powerful enough and *fun*, which is more important in my book. Also they make me think of Kvothe in Patrick Rothuss' great "Name of the Wind" series of books...
Kvothe rocks.