Advice to returning bard?

[Odin_hunter]

Hi,

I just returned to the game after being away for quite some time. I'm thinking of getting heavensward, but the changes to the bard class that I've read about seem unappealing. Do any of the folks who mained as bard pre-heavensward and really liked the play style have any advice regarding possibly switching classes? I really like and am used to the fluid and fast paced style of the pre-hw bard. Is there another class that is somewhat similar or which other bards have found fun to play?

Thanks!

Been a BRD since day one and still loving the class. Play the class, get it to lv60 and you will definitely enjoy it.

[Linadae]

Been a BRD since day one and still loving the class. Play the class, get it to lv60 and you will definitely enjoy it.

Or she will see how clunky and poorly implemented the new bard is and drift off to find another class.

[AskaRay]

Or she will see how clunky and poorly implemented the new bard is and drift off to find another class.

Such negativity.

Anyway about controllers/macros.
I play on the PC with a controller, and personally my BRD has no macros on it. Used to have song macros and I even got rid of them. I use... one full crossbar, one extended crossbar (I have it set up so that LT>RT and RT>LT are the same thing, so only eight additional buttons), and ....about half another crossbar but the buttons are spread around (mostly AOE skills on that bar). I've personally had no issue with buttons, but then again I'm used to switching between the bars quickly.