ARC should not be a Bard

[Arcell]

assumptions based on facts. Again... look at action list http://ffxiv.zam.com/en/abilitylist.html?class=7
read them all and tell me it's was not meant to be a pure dps class...

they really wanted it to be something else or it's just bad balance? which is more likely?

You can't use the old skill list to make any arguments anymore. That was Tanaka's vision for Archer, the old vision. Yoshida's taking this game in a different direction. Honestly from the looks of it Archer won't lose anything when using Bard. In fact some of Bards combos link directly from Archer. So essentially you're Archer + party buffs. Nothing here suggests a loss in damage potential. You still pew pew at far away things.