Melee vs instrument for bard

[Loke]

I primarily used weapons all through the 50s. Lull and charm aren't really affected by instruments - at least not to a noticable degree where it made sense to me to switch every time. The mana regen component of songs also isn't affected by instruments. Neither is haste.

Dots are, but I can hardly think of any situations where my group benefitted more from dots than they would have from other songs. HP regen and dmg shields are affected by instruments, but imo it seems like it would be hard for those to out weigh other songs I could play plus bard dps. Bard dps might suck a bit, but with BoH / Guardian Mace I bet bards are able to put out 30ish+ dps melee against exp mobs.

I could be wrong, but chanting with instruments never really made sense to me. Always seemed like I could do more with melee and support songs that weren't affected by instruments.