Some of the things mentioned in this discussion are part of my reasons why I'm a bit concerned for the release of Machinist Job.

Not many people take their Job as Bard seriously and a good amount only play Bards because it is a easy DPS to get into. A certainly amount may turn to Machinist for their desire for a easy Range DPS Focused Job to play as once it is released which may leave only a few Bards left in FF14 that actually take the Bard Role at a decent level.

Of course the samething can be said for Machinist since at my best guess is that a good amount of players who may play as Machinist or switch to Machinist in 3.0 won't be using Machinist to their full potential as well and may end up becoming the new Bard Community.