Quote Originally Posted by Raikai View Post
The problem is that the archery aspect is way more proeminent than the bardic aspect. Why the proc arrow couldn't be "Refulgent Song" instead, or something like that? I think it's fine for it to use bow and arrows for the regular rotational attacks, but we needed more stuff involving songs to justify the job's name.

They could keep MCH like it was and just adjust or create new abilities with gunplay in mind, but they actually went for a thematic change and made MCH live up to the job's name and not feel like a gunner with some touches of machinist here and there.
No they couldn't keep machinist how it was. From what few machinists laid it was apparent they needed to have a complete change in how they approached machinist or by the end of Shadowbringers they'd be sitting on a dead job that somehow even less people played. Bard is and has always been one of the most if not the single most popular job in this game. So no, they aren't going to change what they are doing with bard because of that fact. "I want more song based stuff." You have a lot there still needs to be some modicum of balance with realism in the game. A bard out in the wild is gonna get dead real quick. Archery is directly tied to bard to make it more plausible that they can survive the events we as WoL/WoD experience. I'm a die hard fan of this franchise in general and I can honestly say I love the take this Dev team has taken with Bard, it's creative and an interesting take, and the job feels realistic to the world it operates in.

Bards haven't lost any job fantasy. Not in the slightest. Music is still at the core of the job. If anything between Stormblood and Shadowbringers, bard is closer to fulfilling it's truest job fantasy than it has ever been and I fully expect it to remain as one of the most popular classes in this game. Even if during Shadowbringers it takes a slight dip in the popularity because of the shiny new toys Machinist has or Dancer and it's litany of buffs.