I think its time BRD get some loving

[DoubleD]

Fully agree OP. The 20% debuff is huge and unreasonable as is that our 135 weapon is about as powerful to any other DPS's 115 weapon they could get from Shiva.

The only people that feel Bards should be further nerf'd, scrutinized and to stay weak are pretty much only the noobs that cannot do anywhere near optimal DPS with their class and put minimal thought into optimizing their gear for the best accuracy/damage output. Unfortunately they are the vocal majority who are butthurt when out dps'd by a bard. (In CF group I usually blow everyone else away even though i'm a bard) Competent DPS don't care if bard get a buff cuz they know they can still easily out-dps them.

When doing T13 for an FC mate that can't get a group and is cool with only 1 treasure chest, did 430 which was highest in the group. But good mnk/nin will push over 500.

A bard will not even come close to the DPS of an equally geared&equally skilled Melee DPS, and still a ways below BLM too.
Key word:equally skilled and geared.
The DPS gap between a very good Mnk/Nin/DRG/BLM and a very good BRD is too wide.

[File2ish]

...as is that our 135 weapon is about as powerful to any other DPS's 115 weapon they could get from Shiva.

I'd argue it's reasonable. Why? Bards can attack while avoiding anything uninterrupted (aside from forced downtime in fights). If the weapon damage from the bows were raised to the same as the rest of the weapons of the same level bard would be completely overpowered. The damage output would be far too good in comparison to other jobs for the current mechanics of the game. Nobody would take any other role into a duty for the sole reason that Bards would be able to DPS just as well as a melee AND be able to output damage while avoiding pretty much everything. I recall early in XIV2.0 when to farm say Garuda EX people would only stack bards because it made everything easier. Now imagine if Bards had the same damage as a Monk.

Also taking into consideration that the other DPS roles need to work harder to maintain a higher DPS and bard is essentially our "support" job, it makes sense that bards have a lower overall DPS output. Monk loses stacks or needs to run away from the enemy to get out of AoE? DPS takes a hit. BLM/SMN need to get out of AoEs? DPS takes a hit because of casting times. DRG/NIN dies? Heh... Sorry, healer humor.