I have mixed feelings of the notion of Archers turning into Bard... but most of those feelings stem from a deep disappointment of the apparent direction of the Job System. I really dislike the jobs tied to specific classes on a 1:1 ratio, I don't see it as an expansive step.

From a lore perspective the decision confuses me, because we have two bards (that I know of) already in the game and neither project any sense of archery (one actually seems more like a gladiator than anything else.)

I will probably get some flak for this but I think the job system is being rushed into place and very poorly thought through. I am willing to wait and see it in action... but it doesn't seem to do anything to expand on the armoury system or create flexibility, but rather seems to constrict options.

Unfortunately, they've more than likely put too much work into the current system to be able to change much at this point.