I chose BRD for swift gameplay, if I wanted to cast I would have chosen a Mage.

[Fitzy]

And you never explained how a cast bar butchers the playstyle for bard. You just call it clunky and rant about it. What do you sacrifice other than mobility with it?

Instant hits on mobs? You're still on the GCD so that only matters when you miss a deathblow.
Weaving 2 skills oGCD?
Anything else?

How can you not see how it changes the playstyle, would a dragoon be happy with cast bars for all their skills or a ninja. To basically reiterate it again our playstyle shifted from something that would more closely resemble how a melee class functions but from a ranged point of view and turned us into ghetto black mages instead. Id call that a rather significant change in direction and playstyle.

Your playing what a paladin or warrior based on your character im guessing, how would you feel to have all your pld/war abilities turned into cast timers after 2 years of playing with them.