Do you guys honestly think there is some kind of Verant plan to screw over
bards?

Come back to reality. Verant is a poorly run company. Their in house
testing is abysmal (if it exists at all, which I have serious doubts of).
Their customer service is embarassing, and their arrogance is the stuff of
kings. They just wrote a really good game.

That being said, they treat everyone like that. Perhaps theres a few more
bard problems since we are the most unusual class in the game. (This goes
back to their lack of testing.)

Why did you expect things to change this time?

Until a viable competitor arrives, this attitude won't hurt them. If
Anarchy Online (which I doubt will be, as its a sci fi setting, which has
always been a smaller market than fantasy.) is this viable competitor then
soon we will see them reaping what they have sown. If not we will have to
wait for horizons/shadowbane/whatever. (All of which are a long way away).

Recent posts from Brad indicate to me, they believe the game has reached its
peak and are preparing for the inevitable shrinking of the population.