Quote Originally Posted by Galvuu View Post
Most utility that's not Astro got slightly nerfed, and I'd argue the new Bard is more versatile (the HP troubadour buff is actually quite significant) in its utility.
"No longer being a must pick" is good. No job should be a "must pick". That said, BRD and NIN are still the most picked dps jobs by a mile. It is effectively a "must pick".

I haven't studied the new bard yet (casters first), but I'm sure it's actually quite hard. Bard has always been a rng heavy job (it was in 3.X). That said, it's still in almost every team, vastly overshadows its other counterpart (MCH) and is overall one of the current best dps jobs.
I said that I agreed that Bard should have never been a must pick, but now it's not even a great pick. I want to clarify that again, as I revel in the idea that all jobs are equally as viable and it purely becomes a "what works best with each other" meta where synergy is key.

Most utility that's not Astro got slightly nerfed, and I'd argue the new Bard is more versatile (the HP troubadour buff is actually quite significant) in its utility.
Not sure where you're going with this, can you tell me which utility was nerfed for jobs that aren't MCH/BRD? Dragoon got Dragon Sight, Monk Brotherhood, Red Mage Embolden and Raise, and not to mention all the cross skills that are available (Manashift, Erase, Goad, etc). You no longer need Troubadour (the move you mentioned that gives everyone HP) because there are jobs that can do the same thing, and situationally better. The whole "Bard and Machinist are support," has become lesser of a factor now... and so now we have what, mobility? Black Mage, Summoner, and Red Mage have very good movement options.

And finally, just slight nitpicking

Bard has always been a rng heavy job (it was in 3.X).
Bard wasn't RNG heavy in 3.0, it only had RoD/Bloodletter procs, which were easily manageable after they fixed the server timing issue. The huge problem with bowmage was that they bled damage because of how many oGCDs they managed (that were tacked on due to 3.0's system change). Now we lack oGCDs, but instead have moments where RNG will make multiple actions proc without the time to use them. It's a convoluted mess.