The way I see bard is the in between of Dancer and Machinist. They have more utility than machinist and a bit more damage than dancer. I think the reason we are seeing so many dancers doing more damage than their counterparts is because the complexity of the job is very low. It is very easy to perform dancer at 100% compared to performing bard or machinist at 100%. People should remember skill curves effect damages numbers too. Bards still have Nature's Minne, !Battle Voice!, Warden's Paen, and !Troubadour!. Id say stick with it, square enix will tweek numbers as needed and people will get better after they practice rotations more.