I posted a solution back in beta that Had some good responses / feedback. Seems like a good time to bring it up again. Please note that I do not play a brd and have zero problem with their current dps

My solution was to give support character archtypes stances that allowed them to switch between damage dealers or support.

Example: brd stances ( could not be changed on the fly, either locked while inside dungeons or on a significant cooldown. )

The damage stance would leave a bard as is dps wise, eliminate the -20 damage debuff to them and allow them to cast 1 song with 50% of its power.

The support stance would allow the bard to cast/upkeep two songs with a static 20% dps lose.

This allows support characters to fill a dps role in 4 man content 15-50 where support type characters are not needed, and a support or dps role in end game 8-24 man content as the group requires.

This system could carry over to multiple jobs yet to be released and would add that support role dynamic back into the game. Giving this option to current brds would allow them to still play the character how they want.

dps stance allows dps limit break while support stance offers healer limit break