Bards, nah
 

I used to like them, but honestly, they're just not great other than having a whole person tied to a character that's a mobile buff totem.

1 - 2 - 3 - (sometime 4) for resistances in whatever group you're in and that's all you do.

Sure you can "pull", sure you can "buff", but all of these things are done far better by other classes.

We don't need extra stats, we already capped.

Like what's the point?

At least rangers are useful for blade pulling in Ntov.

With epic and McVaxius they can add like 60'ish attack to a melee group.
Highest DS with puretone
Max cap MR for tanks who might not have max MR (hp-quest, etc)
Highest mana and hp regen class
Quickest running for zone kites

Plus a whole lot of mid-tier songs to fill in the gap.

That's what i said though, you're literally sacrificing a person to be a mediocre buff totem.

Well OOS stacks with everything and slowing stuff is pretty important.

I can see your angle though.

Eye pull, AE snare if too many adds, can outpull other groups in zone. Debuff with fufil's and oos, particularly useful in the Hole with certain golems. Highsun to strip NPC buffs on spawn. If pulling a caster, delay highsun to interrupt its cast and strip its buffs, then have space to stay oor/los. Mez to interrupt gate/CH in camp. Even if not primary CCer, AE slow/snare helps the enchanter.

Highest regen available which takes pressure off the cleric. If shaman is healing, can mix shield of song in with cantata, allowing them to canni dance at will.

Afaik, resists don't have a cap.

Atk, ds, mana, charm dps, backup cc, melee with epic and pog/tov piercer or melodious truncheons. And previously, snap aggro to tank. If stamina was classic, zings would be towards the top of the list as well.

You can make this argument for most hybrid classes and even a few non hybrids.

Every class aside from warrior and cleric are optional on P99, Bards are jack of all trades, master of none. If you find yourself in a non min-maxed situation and a Bard comes along they can be a great addition to the team. They can also be a huge detriment to the team if they suck or are not active (but that's with anyone I guess - its just more noticeable on Bards I think).

Groups are not always War/Mnk/Rog/Clr/Shm/Enc, there are times when a friendly Bard can slot in just fine (smaller the group the more they shine, same with Necro), not to mention places like Velketors Labyrinth where they can kite 25 mobs and the grp just peels them off for non stop kills and amazing XP.

Besides a few core classes, all the rest are being played much differently than live. 20 years of practice and theory. Bards timing their DA songs to dodge certain aoe's etc.

Even people playing and actually trying with druids are doing some great things compared to Live. Lazy people still make these classes look horrible but they make most things look horrible outside of Norrath.

Edit: Not that the bard is one of "those classes". P99 has pushed some like the ranger and pally further than we ever trusted them for on live. At least in my experience during this era.

You can make this argument for tons of classes, since this argument really only applies to raiding.

Mages are just coth/rod bots
Shamans are buff/slow bots
Enchanters are buff/slow bots
Druids are just for ports/potg, Clerics heal better

So on and so forth.

The entirety of EverQuest’s raid scene is so many classes have an important, but underwhelming job.

Good luck FTEing Gore without a Bard. Have fun clearing Growth, Sky or Fear without a Bard. Have fun killing Yelinak without a Bard. You’re underselling them my man.

Then can't one also argue that you can take down the toughest Raid bosses without a Warriors mitigation (I.E only Knights as the tanks) or Cleric's CH?