On on hand people continually call for nerfs (and they receive them), but on the other hand YouTube channels are saturated with lengthy fights of Eldar eventually losing out - watching Indrid's Faction Wars, they have an abysmal win ratio (particularly against Space Marines and/or Chaos).
I'm no expert, but I believe these seemingly contradictory issues stem from a disparity between Eldar Tier 1 and Tier 3.
People often complain about Rangers and Banshees in particular. Rangers (with Pathfinder Gear and Kinetic Pulse) are a proper pain to deal with in T1, especially when multiple squads continually knock down entire squads, or pick off models from way out of sight range.
Banshees and their Power Melee weapon is also horrifying; a 350req squad with a combined 135 Power_melee DPS, and melee skill to rival Raptors, Assault Marines, and Sluggas. If you've played Chaos/Eldar match up, I'm sure even 'the pros' have found themselves frustrated by losing their CSM in an opening engagement, seemingly disappearing in no time.
However, come Tier 3, eldar just can't stand up to the other armies. Seer Council and the Avatar provide some durability, and D-cannons do occassionally land a good Singularity, but overall other faction T3 armies will tend to just roll right over Eldar (in my experience).
Now; I'm not an expert. At all. But it's a free forum, and I think it seems obvious that the faction has issues - issues that are not solely the fault of player mismanagement (like getting a D-cannon when you just needed Fire Dragons).
I won't assume to have a solution to the issue (I'm too much a noob for that), but here's an open thread to try to work out a solution.
(A few private ideas on my part, feel free to critisize/flame)
Make Banshees use regular melee damage, and restrict the Power_melee to the Aspect upgrade(s). It won't really be a nerf in the long run, as people always get Aspects any way, but it means that you must at least invest the 20 power before they will counter other T1 melee specialists (who tend to cost 30-40 power to field).
EDIT:
I'll try to summarize some of the below suggestions.
- People are very split on the Avatar. Some feel it's too clunky, and doesn't fit the bill for Eldar. Others think it's perfectly fine
- It has been suggested to move either Dark Reapers or Fire Dragons to T3. Fire Dragons would receive a health buff (so they could frontline with Avatar/Seer Council), Dark Reapers would have improved range and/or suppression/morale-damage-on-hit.
- People like to call eachother stupid over disagreements on balance of the Eldar Faction...