So excited for this!
More to follow...
I enjoyed your guide, and agree with most of the ranking(s) you gave to the various class features, archetypes, and such. Even where I found myself disagreeing with one of your rankings, I could see your reasoning in the "what you lose" section... for example; I, personally, very much enjoy the Arcane Duelist, but from a broader perspective, I can objectively agree with how you ranked it.
VMC Cavalier is something I am glad you mentioned... I really like picking up Tactician on any Bard archetype that gives up Inspire Courage. At least they can hand out teamwork feats. And adding Tactician to a Dwarven Scholar really compliments their War Chant performance. Order of the Dragon for its Aid Allies/Aid Another business goes excellent with Arcane Strike/Gloves of Arcane Striking on literally any Bard/anyone. Order of the Staff's Spell Aid goes great with the Magician's Dweomercraft performance. Order of the Blossom's Sneak Attack is a splendid addition to the Sandman's Sneak Attack. Order of the Cockatrice's Braggart on a Negotiator with their Hard Bargainer is absolutely fabulous, and you can use Advanced Rogue Talents to pick up Opportunist around the same time you get Steal Glory. Yeah, VMC Cavalier is a great mention.
It is probably not worth putting in a guide, but the Agent of the Grave prestige class is great for the Dirge Bard. Sure, your Bardic Performance takes a hit, but if you want to play with Necromancy the trade is well worth it. There's a Ghoul Dirge Bard 8 in the Monster Codex called the Masked Murderer that is really fun to advance to Dirge Bard 10/Agent of the Grave 5 if you want the perfect example of how well Dirge Bard and Agent of the Grave go together.
Some of the equipment you listed are things I needed to know about, so thank you for that. For anyone using Flagbearer/Banner of Ancient Kings, I recommend a Whipwood Longspear with the Impervious enchantment if you for one second think your weapon might ever be Sundered. And the feats you listed are feats I generally agree with. I like that you brought up Noble Scion of War to put Initiative on Charisma.
stuff to mention (might add more later)
- be mindful of protection from good\evil\chaos\law spells and effects, a lot of the bard's spells and some abilities can be negated with it (suggestion etc), point one for being true N (that and you can date every1 :).
in this one AP we had, the GM was supper frustrated to find out an enemy controller bard was practically nullified by our circle of protection from good.
- perfect tuning fork cost 600 gp (300 to craft), a 1 time use item, but it let you haste the action to start a performance from standard to move or move to swift.
also worth to mention:
the Chronicler of worlds as an int based bard get to dump cha and only focus on int. this will lead into higher knowledge skills in general (and more skill ranks to use), and as you mentioned in your guide knowledge is very important.
also his take on 'versatile performance' uses linguistics which mean with max ranks in it and a very high int score your bard will know more languages then he will actually use (you get a language for every rank and for higher int). great for more then language depended spells (my gm kept asking, 'do you guys speak X or Y'. it's nice to be able to do so without spells and magical aid).
the Hoaxer get to craft cursed magical items in his abilities (some gm won't just let you make cursed items, even though by raw anyone who can make magic item can make a cursed version of them), and honestly dust of sneezing & choking is OP and can be made cheap by cursing 'Dust of Tracelessness' (125 gp for crafting a dose), same for carnivorous jar with a cursed true color dye (craft for 25 gp) and you also get the class ability to force others to use it...
There are some more fun VMC options that can be useful to a Bard, in general, and some that really go with specific archetypes...
VMC Cleric gives you Aura, which opens up Sacred Summons to any Bards playing with summoning (like a Flame Dancer-Firesinger using Fire Music). It also gives Charisma-based Channel, which can really add to something like an Arcane Healer.
VMC Sorcerer opens up Bloodline Powers, and most everything is Charisma-based. Lots of good options in there... Arcane Bloodline on a Magician, Harrow Bloodline on a Fortune-Teller... good stuff.
VMC Oracle is very similar to VMC Sorcerer, with lots of options, most of which are Charisma-based.
VMC Rogue can be fun, especially on something like an Archeologist or Sandman Bard.
VMC Druid/Ranger works with several of the more nature-themed archetypes.
VMC Inquisitor works well with Dwarven Scholars.
VMC Fighter works with anyone interested in fighting... there are several archetypes that have scaling armor proficiencies (like Arcane Duelist) that could use Armor Training... having Bravery opens up cool Bravery feats like Inspiring Bravery, Social Bravery, and Improved Bravery... not that VMC is known for having an abundance of feats. Lol.