Quote Originally Posted by DPZ2 View Post
Question 1: Archers in FFXIV 1.0 use a bow. In 1.21, they added jobs -- and Bard was the job that enhanced Archers. Game developers don't usually go out and say "Hey kids! Would you like to be a wielder of bows and arrows and sing as well?"

Question 2: Bards use stringed instruments as they allow for voice and music to be played by one person. Bows are strung, and if you pluck them, they produce a note. Kinda hard to do that with a sword or lance.

Comment 1: 'Traditional fantasy bards' in Lord of the Rings Online used musical instruments, and sang, and were, in general, the worst, most embarassing class to play in the game, unless you turned the sound down.

Aside from Final Fantasy XII, there is no Archer-like class in any Final Fantasy game (not counting games outside the Final Fantasy franschise). So, no 'bow class' to play. At all. Japanese developers don't have to stick to European tropes for either archer or bard. At a guess, when they were looking for a base-class for Bards, they decided against melee weapon classes. And so, we have Bards with bows.

Why not just make bard a healer?