Buff Bards or Riot

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

I think the bigger issue - one that was already discussed in the DPS Roles section - is that for too long, we physical ranged DPS have been shoehorned into being "Support" as well as DPS, and thus given baked-in deficiencies. The game has simply outgrown such constraints. Please see here:

BRD (and MCH; please assume the former mostly applies to the latter as well) have a mobile advantage due to being able to move and attack at the same time.
Physical Ranged DPS (PRDPS from this point on) do not have an advantage of movement simply due to dealing lower damage by design, and by further reductions when providing party support - yet another thing we do by design. As such, our advantage is a moot point. We simply trade what could be efficiency for what we perceive as utility.

PRDPS are able to evade damage better due to fighting at range, thus don't deserve to deal damage on par with melees.
Plumes. Landslides. Mistral Shriek. Divebombs. Tethers. Random single target party member attacks. Being a ranged DPS in Turn 7. Turn 11. Rage of Bahamut. . . The battlefield is neither as big or as safe as one might believe, even at range. And inversely, I've found myself moving just as much as PRDPS supposedly do in Turn 11, as a Dragoon. Lest we forget Monks pretty much HAVE to stay on the move for their positionals and essential mechanic evasion. So this idea is largely untrue due to instance/battle design. Plus, how many times have I had to Swiftcast-raise-evade incoming AoE-Cure/Medica/Regen as healer?

PRDPS also support the party, so why should they deal damage on par with other classes/jobs?
Apocatastasis. Eye for an Eye. Virus. Dragoons can buff piercing attacks, Paladins can Cover. Warriors and Ninjas can buff slash attacks. Goad. Battle Litany. Dat Assize tho. . . EVERYONE brings some kind of synergy to the party now, support wise. Support is not exclusive to the PRDPS. We just simply are defined by it, and thus limited by it. Hell, the Bard's literal Limit Break was not that of a DPS til now. This does not need to be so. Support and DPS are not exclusive of each other, not when everyone can do it. Don't make PRDPS trade one for the other. Don't bake it into us to do so.

I could go on, but fact is, as the game has evolved, and other jobs have to meet the current challenge, we have not. We continue to be placed in the Special Snowflake role, only to then realize we AREN'T special at all. So why then are our governing rules so different then? Minuet & Barrel give us a taste of the caster life, and yes, it's a heavy adjustment. But only here do our baked in deficiencies suddenly become a naked shame. In fairness, no, I do not believe we need to deal damage on par with casters simply for being in a casting stance. But if auto attacks really count for so much of our already-low DPS, then we're really being given a crap hand there to have them disabled, no?

This isn't me saying "Get rid of Minuet/Barrel!" or "Let us keep moving still!" or "If we have casting times, let us deal caster damage!". This IS me simply saying, "Square Enix, stop holding us back in the name of 'Support'." If your intent is to make any and all classes viable in content by large, stop low-balling the PRDPS and justifying it with the idea of party support. EVERYONE supports the party, whether they're taking the hits, dealing the damage, healing the damage, or blowing things up extravagantly. I might play a lyre or control a turret, but when it comes down to it, the weapon in my hand is my primary "support" to my party. Stop jamming my weapon.