What is the point of a bard?

[t0lkien]

I've only ever played a Bard in EQ because it's the most self-sufficient, versatile class in the game. It's useful from the low game to the end-game, and can usually find a way to do anything with enough thought, luck, skill, and persistence. You can always solo - always. Between charm kiting, AoE kiting, Fear kiting, and DoT kiting there is never nothing to do if you can't get a group. If you want to be "powerful" as in top the DPS meters or tank or be the reason a full raid force can't raid (tank, healer, top end CC), then pick another class.

Bards are not easy to play well, and in the endgame tend to be dependent on their epic (which is a game-changer). I've been playing one since 2001 and I'm still learning stuff. They are hard work often, and if you don't want to be tapping keys constantly, investigating the intricacies of server ticks, knowing which song does what, stacks or doesn't stack with what, how to fit in with other classes in a group, and which gear can cover a hole in all the other abilities, they're not going to be fun. I think it's fair to say that on p99 the majority of Bards don't play the class, they play the low HP kiting exploit. The truly specialist Bards shine.

Plus we run significant faster than anything else in the game. This alone makes Bards rockstars.

P.S. In answer to your endgame question though - we are all about resists, mana regen, and some haste (and if you believe Thott -which I don't really - pulling). That is our thing. We are also all about our epic at that point. In Velious we get Occlusion of Sound which, while it may not be technically crucial, is a huge raid boon on highly resistant mobs and can be the difference between success and a wipe. Every class gets pigeon-holed into roles in the endgame. It's how it works. I'm personally thankful we have a vaild role there, because some other classes don't really.