Bard should have been something like this...

[Shadex]

Game where bards took skill- Everquest
Game where bards look cool - Aion

I suppose 'cool' is kind of subjective. In Aion, cool would not have been the word I would have used to describe male bards....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E606uHz8gss

[ErBear]

Surely if it kinda sucked, then it wasn't the best implementation.

I'm guessing you never played mabinogi, it was the best implementations that I have ever seen, just because it sucked at combat doesn't mean it wasn't fantastic at other things, like, something that is most important in an mmo, the social aspect. Though with mabinogi you could be two classes at once.

[RyujinUzikin]

When I got into this game I wanted a range dps that didn't rely on magic, and Bard was the only one available.

I don't like healing and I don't like tanking, so it's perfect for me.

Honestly, I help so much as support and dps that it surprises me people don't appreciate brds more. It's sad they want us to be fully support and take dps from us.

Geez...

On a side note, we are on the first lv cap, expect us to have more support mechanisms as we reach new lv caps. Stop thinking this is all that bard will ever be.

[RayneBoemir]

The only chance for it to be more like the bards from previous FF games is if it were a healer and even in this case the healing aspect would have to be weak lest other healing classes complain

[Mizore_Canaan]

The entire aesthetic of the bard is...well, bardlike. They'd have to go back and redo the way ALL the armor looks to do that.
Also...now follow me here...
It is a really, really bad idea to change the fundamentals of an entire job/class over a year after the game goes live.
It's been tried before, and it's like trying to change a beehive into a baseball bat.
Bards are the way they are. It's not changing, or at least not as drastically as people in this thread want.

I don't think swapping out 5 job skills and renaming the job counts as drastic, and as I said, this should be done in 3.0 they don't have to change the old stuff that way, its useless by then anyway and it gives people who played then a "hey look" gear set to show of to people who join in after expac

[Squa11_Leonhart]

Ahhh, good memories... I wish one day I had a chance to play another MMO where ppl can sit around a campfire, cooking & singing for each other, enjoying their time as the night pass... There's no other timesinks as much fun as in Mabi <.<

Bards in this game is a joke
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you only say that because you don't know how to play it to its best.

[Danbo05]

Not having cures or raises is even more silly. Even a song raise would be cool.

They do. Its called Bard LB3.

[Dimitrias]

You know, in ffxi Bards and Rangers where 2 different jobs, why couldn't they do the same with FFXIV?

[Lemuria]

I would have loved to see more support utility with Bard songs. Right now we get Foe Requiem, Army's Paeon and Mage's Ballad. Well, and Swiftsong... but no one counts Swiftsong. They're great skills, but very niche. Most good mages can manage their MP fine, bard or not since there's no guarantee you'll have a bard in your party anyway. TP can be beneficial, but it regenerates fairly fast so again, not too often used. Foe Requiem is awesome if you have a mage in your team, and is easily the best one we have as it has no drawbacks to casting it.

I'd like to see some damage buffs for melee, evasion buffs or maybe even a party wide defense buff through songs. There's a lot of scope for Bard which isn't being utilized at present.

[kyuven]

I don't think swapping out 5 job skills and renaming the job counts as drastic, and as I said, this should be done in 3.0 they don't have to change the old stuff that way, its useless by then anyway and it gives people who played then a "hey look" gear set to show of to people who join in after expac

when they're integral to the playing style, yes, yes it's drastic. At that point you may as well keep bards the way they are and just make a new job.