Bards in 3.4 endgame?

[Viete]

How are they?, hows they're DPS?
are they desired/useful in current content??
pro/cons in the current game?

[Chevronone]

Ill keep it short.

I dps at or better than most melee.

I'm assuming by current content you mean savage, they are pretty much required. You won't find a raid group without a bard or machinist.

Bard vs MCH, both have their perks and drawbacks. If played correctly, they're both invaluable.

Not being able to buff melee or apply damage down (although only 5%) are pretty much the only major drawbacks when comparing to MCH.

[ShaneDawn]

All serious end-game groups have either Machinist or a Bard in them. While Machinist seems to be the more common pick due to Hypercharge and somewhat better parses, Bard is still in a pretty good position overall.

Without a Dragoon, Bard (and Machinist) fall a bit short in DPS when compared to similarly skilled players of other classes. However, Bard brings unique support in terms of songs that vary from the essential MP/TP songs into Magic Damage song and Paean to cleanse your Warrior of his Berserk (or whatever, really, but that's the most common use). With a Dragoon both classes can compete in DPS with similarly skilled players of other classes in most fights.

Generally the Bard dots are quite potent and proc your Bloodletters/Rain of Deaths, so in fights where you can maintain dots on more than one target for an extended period of time you're gonna be having a great time as a Bard.

Pros:
+A guaranteed raid slot for ranged support
+Can fight from ranged
+Able to utilize Feint or stance-dance to cheat cast times->more mobile than BLMs
+Synergy with Dragoons make you strong
+Very strong AoEs with your regular AoEs, multidots and RoD procs.
+Only a Machinist can compete with your support options
+Interesting gameplay in general (imo).
+Strong Mage synergy with the Foe's Requiem
+Warriors will love you if you cleanse their Berserks

Cons:
-Bowmage(?). A lot of people hate the cast times.
-Machinist is slightly more sought-after, although it's not gonna matter unless you want to raid in highest caliber teams.
-Dependent on Dragoons if you want to seriously compete in DPS (in fflogs, for example)
-The drawback with your strong utility is, that you'll lose a huge chunk of your effective deeps if you have to sing during unoptimal times.

I keep talking about Dragoon synergy, but make no mistake though: you can still be a formidable DPS even without one if you're good.

[Llynd]

Actually the Best team composition is to have both ( and no casters then). Bard will buff healer's dps ( sch is a dps tho hihi) and in this case where you have both of them, bard shall be the first dps. They have amazing dps.

[bardaboo]

My bard is i260 cleared a9s with 2200 dps no drg in party

[Krindor]

Bard and the other job they share a party slot with, Machinist are currently very well balanced in terms of total DPS. A normal party setup right now is, Healer x 2, Tank x 2, Caster, Support, Melee, Melee. Where Bard and Machinist fall into the support category.

As mentioned earlier in terms of total DPS, that is party + personal DPS, they're equal. BRD excels in fights <=180 seconds and fights with a lot of downtime, whereas MCH excels in fights >180 seconds and with a lot of uptime, example for where BRD is superior is A11S while MCH is superior in A9S.

To be noted is that the difference is very close even in the areas where they excel and both classes are therefore equally viable and almost every party wants one of them.

[CGMidlander]

Bards are in a good spot