Bards in Final Fantasy have been a job that have low damage output due to the utility they can provide with their songs. I think as a DPS class in 14, the class needs to revolve around managing songs to improve your party while having enough output of DPS to be somewhat relevant in the party. The balance needs to be how much utility they provide in order to make up for their lack of damage.

I think that while Bard should be more on the utility side, Machinist should be more towards the DPS side with less party utility (perhaps more solo utility, situational improvements, etc).

Remember that this is a Final Fantasy game.. if you want a ranged DPS then perhaps you want a Hunter job, rather than Bard...