I have a left-field nostalgic case study to share :D
This might be interesting for the old school bst's anyone else probably won't care at all.
I came across "Huntin' for Games" youtube video about Job suggestions in the old Brady guide for FFXI.
Specifically of-course I paid attention to the Beastmaster information in the Brady guide.
Brady guide is kinda hilarious in most tips and information.
This mmo was such uncharted territory nobody really knew how to play it.
The tips for bst weren't actually terrible. Though it is kinda ironic seeing the recommendation for warrior as a support job right next to white mage as a support job.
It just goes to show that aside from "solo'er" beastmaster's role was never defined.
However, what stuck out to me was the recommendation for Bard as a support job.
No one EVER used brd for support job that I remember. its so weak compared to the main job, your skill is poor, you only get singing instead of singing + instrument, and brd is the most party-dependent job while bst has historically been the most party-phobic job.
The only correlation they seemed to have is that they both have need for Charisma. Then I thought more about it, and paid attention to what level brd gets what songs at...
and it started making more sense. alot more sense.
Then I had to try it out. so I leveled brd up to support job level of 59 and skilled it up on my only character that does not have a level 99 bst. I had fun getting good low level chr+ gear for bst.
Then I went old-school solo, no trusts, no FoV, no GoV just charm and fight. Unfortunately I could not pause the exp bonuses from Rhapsodies for my test... so I level too fast
(though ofcourse I could on a private server)
But wow, bst/brd is so well balanced.
1. The extra CHR is noticeable for charm success.
2. Brd songs cost no mp (I leveled bst as Galka before the stat adjustments and /whm never had enough mp to be useful at until level 75)
3. Bard songs don't get interrupted by normal hits. just when you move or get silenced/stunned/etc. So w/out fast cast and maybe the mob turns torward me, I still get the song off.
4. Bard gets a lot of useful songs in early levels: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11; and they are really useful!
Defense, Attack, Regen, Requiem: Dot, Accuracy, Light Threnody
The most useful for Bst is Army's Paeon. Who remembers solo-leveling before Fields of Valor buffs?
having even a low 1hp/tic regen is HUGE for bst solo'ing. Its a pain to stop and rest. /whm did not fix this, it only prolonged your battle time by a little. but when /brd you dont' have to. you can send pet to fight while you recover hp and find a new pet at same time. You can kite so much better when you need to.
Attack, defense, and accuracy bonuses are just a little bit, but available early and useful when you need them.
Light Threnody: lower targets light resistance... well Charm is light elemental. so threnody would be nice, if you can land it, for those hard to charm mobs at higher levels you want to familiar (slimes!)
I'm still trying it out, and its nostalgic and fun. but I don't know anyone who played bst/brd back in the day,
for bst solo, low level its quite fantastic. and for early bst parties it would have been incredibly welcome. the bst/mage would LOVE a ballad. 1mp/tic is plenty of help at those levels and for those needs. Even in the levels 60+ a refresh for solo/lowman pet setups is fantastic for the backline support.
I don't remember seeing anyone play this combo back then. I did play around w/ brd/bst but only for early levels on brd and not that much. and I didn't understand the mechanics hardly at all back then and didn't have the insight to recognize what a good thing it was.
Just thought I'd share. The Brady Guide actually had a good suggestion with this one which.. I think everyone ignored. and its rather fun
I don't think it would compete with Bst/dnc at some point, but it is a very viable option.
Hope someone finds this interesting.