Go CHA. The only thing that matters is lull not getting resisted, as wrong lull resisted = dead. I always believed it affects charm. So if it does indeed, thats another reason to go for CHA, but the lull one is the major one. Benefit of other stats not that big (yes, STR is nice, but not that big of an issue later on, same for STA hp bonus).
Melee is indeed not too strong later on as you lack double attack/extra attack (backstab, flying kick etc.) and have lower skill caps for melee skills.
Bard only weapons offer nice dmg/delay ratios and some decent procs, but they don't make up for the lack of double attack. Furthermore, once you get your epic, you'll want to use it all the time and the 16/26 ratio gets worse once you're in Velious - and so does your melee dps.
AoE strafe kiting is boring and for morons (and was fixed on live at some point for good reason). Also it is annoying to anyone else in the zone and bad for the reputation of Bards of Norrath Ltd. So don't do it.
Find a group. Bards are awesome in groups. Everyone loves bards in groups. If needed, you can also charm kite or simply dot kite later on.
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