Bard should have been something like this...

[Themis]

This was largely a way to get more people to play the class. in XI too many people wanted bards but not enough people wanted to play them. Bards were in XI what the tanks are in this game- the class everyone wanted and no one had or wanted to play. That's no longer the case. The ONLY issue I have is that i'd rather have had 2 more songs rather than the attack and soul voice (which is good but not worth a slot that could have had another distinct song).

I have to say I was a little surprised by the damaging attack in there. Really, I'd have made Swiftsong a Bard song and had RoD be an Archer native skill. And then perhaps remove Swiftsong and replace it with something else.

But I agree with the other points you mention, particularly that we will see more songs added as the level cap increases. There are 5 abilities for a Job, so there could have been, at most 5 songs for Bard. Of course, 1 is replaced with a special boost ability that is useful when it's needed. So 3 out of 4 isn't that bad.

I was also one of those who despised Bard in XI. The idea of just standing around waiting for songs to wear off so I could be useful again... not fun. And the subpar healing side of things was also terrible. Even that was used simply because there was nothing better to do. If I wanted healing, though, I'd have brought a healer.