BRD - the most purposefully gimped job in the game.

[Mirage]

Don't forget about haste samba

[Babekeke]

Don't forget about haste samba

100% guaranteed, I always forget about haste samba o.0
Sometimes I'll even use drain samba 2, and still not notice that I now have haste samba lol

[Catsby]

It would be nice if the less useful songs got a boost or if we had an ability to add a 3rd song every so often. Pretty much every fight has you casting some combination of march, minuet and carol. Sometimes I troll my party and give them gavotte and they freak out because they don't recognize it and think it's some debuff.

[Wesa]

It would be nice if the less useful songs got a boost or if we had an ability to add a 3rd song every so often.

The good news is, you do get the ability to add a third song every so often.
The bad news is, it's called "using Daurdabla."

[Glamdring]

The good news is, you do get the ability to add a third song every so often.
The bad news is, it's called "using Daurdabla."

and the upgrade path for it is kinda like a tour of hell

[Babekeke]

And it's Stringed....

[Urat]

And it's Stringed....

This is a bad thing? FYI stringed > Horn when it comes to the derpaderba, there is just as much string skill gear as wind skill, so you end with same macc, except higher 'cause derpaderba hes skill+ on itself as well, and you get string instruments' extended casting ranged.

I don't think I need to be the one to tell you that being able to cast threnodies from 30' instead of 20' away is a godsend to any bard vs enemies with powerful AoE attacks, ironclads, etc. It also makes it easier to land buffs in abyssea when everyone is all over the place, and stick debuffs on kited mobs without fear of it running out of range before you're done casting.

String > Horn, the only reason most people go with horns is 99.9% of songs' instruments are in the horn category. The only good string before derpaderba is Lullaby, and not many people would build an entire string gear set up for just one song.

[Babekeke]

FYI stringed > Horn when it comes to the derpaderba, there is just as much string skill gear as wind skill, so you end with same macc, except higher 'cause derpaderba hes skill+ on itself as well.

Except that the reason that everyone* used to carry Mary's horn instead of Nursemaid's Harp was because WIND IS MORE ACCURATE THAN STRING.

* - Except for those people that carried horn for single lullaby, and harp for horde.

Yes it's "Great for landing buffs while everyone is running all over the place" but you lose the +2 benefit of the horns. It has it's advantages... but it also has it's disadvantages too. IMO not worth the time spent to do the quest (and the time spent to level stringed from 0^^ )

[JiltedValkyrie]

I agree with the OP but not on the same things. Bards have piss-poor soloability for their level. I treat it as a rule of thumb that a Bard, solo, is effectively 10 levels weaker than their actual level. Gear only modestly mitigates the disparity but doesn't reduce it in any really significant way. As a back-line buff job Bard is hard to beat, but you better have your NPC Fellow leveled if you want to strike out on your own anytime soon.

I just tanked A-Ulegeurand zone boss on BRD/NIN since our PLD and NIN both died almost instantly. I had hate from just doing damage and only died when the mob hit about 3% HP remaining. Thankfully the SMN finished it off. BRD has access to a lot of great DD gear.

[Drhatchet]

Horn > Stringed for landing debuffs because wind instruments naturally have higher macc than stringed (a lot more).

The extended aoe range is bad when you have close quarters fights, you want all the melee to have march but you'll give it to the mages too, the range on Stringed is based on your level, skill, and song tier so one song will hit everyone 20' away while the next will only be in the standard 10', I could go on and on why I hate stringed in this game.

Back to the OP: How many other jobs have 620 skill native? Answer: none. You combine instrument + singing when doing skill checks for buffs and resists.