Devs, I miss old bard....

[SweetPete]

Agreed OP. Honestly they could right now pump Bard's damage up to be right around the same level of where it was during Stormblood, make it a monster again, and I still wouldn't replay the job. I wasn't playing it to be a glorified Ranger, I played it to be a hybrid damage support that felt like the backbone of the party. While I have other issues about the job as it is in terms of some issues it's current rotation and traits cause that need to be ironed out, that loss of job fantasy that was so perfectly well done in Stormblood simply can't be fixed by a flat numbers increase. Hell if I they flat out just reverted Bard to it's level 4.55 version right now but with increased potency to make sure it's damage stayed the same (which still would be the bottom of the barrel in the game), I would go back to it immediately and give up all the things the job 'gained' in ShB.

Honestly, Bard is the least played job right now because they completely mutilated this job in Shb. I’m hopeful in 6.0 that they will listen to the feedback and give us the bard we loved back from SB. I don’t like the job now and been playing machinist myself this expansion and I love it. Just hope bard makes a huge comeback in 6.0 so I can hang up my gun and go back to my bow and songs. I do miss it allot.

[Jirah]

Honestly, Bard is the least played job right now because they completely mutilated this job in Shb. I’m hopeful in 6.0 that they will listen to the feedback and give us the bard we loved back from SB. I don’t like the job now and been playing machinist myself this expansion and I love it. Just hope bard makes a huge comeback in 6.0 so I can hang up my gun and go back to my bow and songs. I do miss it allot.

popularity doesnt mean jack****, I can guarantee the most popular jobs will either fall from grace via stagnation or have even more issues than Bard does, besides Dragoon tbf. If damage and meta is all you care about then your playing your jobs for the wrong reasons. and if its the lack of support what exactly does that entail? They literally have equal parts both as of 5.5. It lost Foes, Straight arrow bar, its role stuff which isnt even unique to BRD, and the switch to flat percent rather than crit based procs which makes sense due to the other changed they did but ultimately it feels the same as SB. But tbh im more sympathetic to this line of thinking, as the other camp of BRD critiques are DNC and MCH fanatics which think the job has too many skills and id never condone the same pitiful treatment MCH and BRD got. but even then the threads have a tendency to follow the loudest cries and overreact like the job is doomed which no job is, not even MNK

But what I like about posts like these are suggestions to make it better, better to read then saying "bowmage is better"

[SpeckledBurd]

Honestly, Bard is the least played job right now because they completely mutilated this job in Shb. I’m hopeful in 6.0 that they will listen to the feedback and give us the bard we loved back from SB. I don’t like the job now and been playing machinist myself this expansion and I love it. Just hope bard makes a huge comeback in 6.0 so I can hang up my gun and go back to my bow and songs. I do miss it allot.

Not that I disagree that Bard is a step down from Stormblood, but the least played job at the moment is actually Monk.