Bards, nah

[Bardp1999]

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.

[Snaggles]

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.