From my experiences the extra DPS you gain from Marauders DoT and nuke, and the utility of being able to either tank, help heal, and party wide defensive cool downs outweighs the extremely situational abilities from Bard.

There is also the possibility of building an ARC as a ranged tank. Archer gets access to quite a few defensive CDs as well as multiple enmity skills.



PS: This 1000 character limit on posts is retarded.