I have become kind of a DOT hater as well mostly because xiv doesn't handle them well at all. I do miss how procs scaled in AOE, but that can be achieved though means that aren't DOTs like making a portion of your procs be tied to weapon skills delivered that way you get a proc chance for every enemy hit by Ladonsbite for example. On top of that, Iron Jaws just feels out of place on BRD, its animations are neither music nor archery related. If BRD really needs timers to manage, then I feel like making song upkeep a bit more of an active process would be more bard-like than DOT management.

What I really want are walking casts that PVP BRD currently has. The main GCD Powerful Shot has a cast time, but you can still move while casting albeit at a slower speed. To me, this mechanic fixes a lot of thematic issues that come with having a bow-wielding bard. While it isn't BLM levels of casting, it's still casting so BRD's personal damage output can be increased so can be balanced, and designed like it is a caster, and provide better game feel to players wanting to play archer/ranger. Walking casts also open up the bard gameplay as well by broadening the tempo range in its rotation. GCDs with cast times can provide the slowest APM, instant GCDs can be middle speed, hastened GCDS can be faster, and oGCDs can be the fastest. Song buffs can also provide a personal haste buff so that playing a song can be more viscerally felt by the BRD player themselves. Relatively speaking, BRD could be the PCT of phys ranged where yes, it still has raid buffs, and utility, but it is treated more like a DPS. Let DNC be the synergy DPS, and let BRD be more independent.

I also want more instances of multi hit attacks like Barrage. To me this is also another mechanic that marries bard gameplay, and archery gameplay. Where a bard will amplify the attack power of their allies with music, an archer can amplify their own attacks through abilities like Barrage -- take a smell attack, and turn it into a big one.