If you are in a well balanced group, where every other role is filled by
someone betetr than you. (Which must mean you have a shaman and an
enchanter, at least from my experience), merely play clarity and melee. You
will add (30%?, I forgot the percentage) to all the caster's power, and
provide some melee damage. That is a near worst case scenario (IE that is
the bard baseline of power, you should never dip below that), and in that
case you are more than holding up your 16.5% (1/6) of the group's power.

How often are you in an ideal party?
How often does no one go LD or AFK in an entire session? (Chances are you
can fill in for them)

Add this to our ability to solo (which is a component of the net power of a
class, since there are times you won't have a group), and I think bards at
least balanced power wise, probably slightly over powered. (I consider it my
reward for having a hard class to play).

Add this to our importance on big raids.

Add this to our travel abilities (Best non caster travelers clearly, I'd say
3rd best traveler overall)

When my guild was folding (been a member since I was 16), I got 4 offers to
"Come see what our guild is like." in the first day. One from a person who
new me directly, the other 3 from guild leaders who were merely told I was a
50 bard who knew how to play. (I'm not some super bard, my equipment sucks
and I still have tons to learn, trying to point out how valued bards are).
This is partly a function of the rarity of bards, but obviously we are
valued...