Ginam and myself are the best geared bards. You can wanelo either.
But to be clear to all, nobody really considers a bard a tank. I meant tank-type. As in style of play and in a pinch they can rampage tank or tank light stuff in XP groups. You're always better off with a true tank (war/sk/pal). Top end rangers can tank (Aeran just tanked Mielech + his 6 adds), FYI. Top end bards can tank. There's a far bit of difference beetween 'can tank' and 'is a true tank class'. So, anyways, I think you get the idea.
For the DPS type bard, I meant one who presses to get the most DPS he can, as a bard. But before you get yourself a parser and go crying to mama (trust me, you will =), a bard brings the most DPS to any raid, period. We just do ours vicariously - through the gifts, gear and talents of others, whom we enable to do more DPS. We have ae songs that help others live (duh...resists, etc). Living folk do more DPS than the dead, heh. We have ae overhaste+spell dmg increasing songs. So we can help all nukers and melee be more than they could be otherwise. Serious DPS increase there. At this point, your extended notes type AA's really show their weight: many raid encounters are in a large area with folks spread out. You can hit them all if you do the right AA's. Finally, just for our little selves, getting serious self-DPS is doable. I spike near 200. No, I'm no rogue or wizard or ranger, in either burst or sustained dps. My relic dot can be resisted, I can get stunned, whatever. But with our relic dot, uber weps, the right aa's, you as a bard can add a good bit of unending rogue-like dps to the raid. Mind you that relic dot is darn near impossible to get =). But there are some goals for you to shoot for, with the right perceptions to guide your way.
Have fun.
Oh, and quit the bard right now if you are impatient or overly sensitive to change, heh.
