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.