Hmm, the only thing with 'Bard' in it is a level 65ish dungeon of the Stormblood expansion called Bardem's Mettle, and that was not too much trouble when I ran it.

Are you sure it wasn't Binding Coil of Bahamut you were doing? As that was the level 50 raid (and the Second and Final Coils as well), that was once the 'end game' for FFXIV. It's nice to hear you were treated kindly. It shows our community is actually very compassionate, despite what is often said.

If you want something like a 'world chat', go to Ul'dah as on Balmung that is the 'hub' for RPers and just people that want to talk, and thus you'll find people chatting randomly in /shout (there are other places too like that such as Kugane and Eulmore but they're higher level that you wouldn't have access to at the moment). It's why finding friends to play with or just talk to is so important in this game, so I'd suggest looking for a social FC or ls to join as they'd be more likely to just want to chat about stuff.

Anyway, keep enjoying Eorzea!