Astro Card Proposal

[ForteNightshade]

I'm more inclined to say "because they added dancer". Bard was performing so well in late Stormblood that a form of nerf was expected (Crit scaling, DRG synergy). But it was still very popular in a more casual approach I believe.
If anything, adding a new healer job is a bit worrying for me, because it might lead to another identity gutting for the sake of "balance".

It's a mixture of both. They have a weird obsession with fitting jobs into a specific hole with no rhyme or reason. In this case, only one "support" Physical Range. That being said, it hasn't been performing well even in the casual scene based on unofficial censuses. Naturally, we can't know for certain but this same dated denoted the extreme dislike towards Monk, 5.0 Ninja, healers in general and etc. With all of them changed, it's hardly a stretch to claim Bard isn't popular anymore.

I do share your concerns though. Scholar may end up bench warming because they focused everything on making Sage stand out.

I suggest the overall goal of the development team in regard to classes is to aim for as even a spread as possible. Now a level playing number across all classes is a Utopian condition, whilst also having to contend with the playing styles of different geographical regions.
If the likes of Ast where seen to be at the lower end, then changes could be expected, and that of course is what happened. Similarly, if one or two classes are shown to be outstripping others in terms of player numbers, expect the same.
Now before people jump in, the devs don't always get these adjustments exactly right. I'd expect more adjustments of classes with 6.0 (on top of the announced healer adjustments to accommodate Sage).
Then further tweaks as the new expansion pans out.

As Recon noted, this arguments falls flat because of Monk. They were told throughout Stormblood and even at the media tour itself how disliked the slow on Riddle of Fire was; how people were tired of more Grease Lightning management, and how the kit as a whole hasn't changed since HW. Despite that, they released ShB with literally everything players said they disliked; with Yoshida even commented of all the job changes, they were most proud of Monk. In a mere five weeks, they were forced to remove everything and panic buff it because the playerbase effectively said "nope, we're done." The 5.4 rework happened because despite said buffs, Monk remained the least played DPS by a mile. Even Black Mage was more popular at the Savage level. Which speaks volumes.

Simply put, they were incredibly stubborn and only listened when Monk was basically thrown in the trash. If this were a one time occurrence, you'd see far less pushback and criticism. Sadly, it isn't. Healers are practically begging for more to do besides spam Glare/Malefic/Broil. And I already mentioned several others jobs.