I think the disagreement comes from the different backgrounds. I'm
sure AL heavily recruits the top raid classes (Warriors, Rogues,
Clerics). When you can pick and choose what classes you want present
on a raid and there's only a certain number of people you want to
take, then Bards are not needed (after 1), nor missed. Most guilds
are not in that position... the "uber" guild I went on a few raids
with (Yelinak, Dain, etc.) before I semi-retired didn't have 19
Rogues to pick from, they kinda made use of whoever was available. I
was in the group with the tanks taking damage. I played Rondo +
Psalm with Puretone (and meleed til Epic proc). When I was swapping
hotkeys around prior to one battle and accidentally burned Puretone,
the raid leader said, "There goes ?k damage" (I don't remember the
exact # - maybe 8k?).

So, if you're in AL or FoH or the ultimate top dog guild on a server
who has access to whatever number of class/level player they want,
then Bards aren't needed. But, if you're in a guild that will make
use out of you if you show up, then Bards can have a significant role
on the raid. By significant, I mean doing something other than
buffing and watching or pumping mana during the whole fight. I don't
claim that a Rogue in that spot wouldn't be better... just that we're
not completely worthless like some classes....

BTW, does the VP Mage Staff block Rondo or Psalms? If not, isn't
more DS always better??

Dark

> At the time I quit there were 4 bards in the guild: me, Thott,

Jaco, Syren all 60 but me hehe. As of a week ago, there was 1 bard,
Thott. I quit, Syren moved and had no ISP for 4 months, and Jaco
quit because he was tired of being in the buff group. So for 4
months AL had 1 bard (Syren just came back this week). If bards were
as needed as many think, would AL of all guilds only have 1 bard for
4 months and have accomplished what they have?

>
> Shada/Erisi