As someone who mains bard I can say that no, bards do not need a buff. They are good as is. A lot of it comes down to knowing how to play. I have been parsed by friends and have outdsped higher geared bards(by a few points)(and I don't actually have b4b while the other one had)(and from what I've been told my dps was 400+ and I was being lazy without keeping straight shot up all the time). And the only person that seems to outdps me in fights is our monk. Other bard and drg tend to be about even behind us. It's all about knowing your job and how to play it. Understanding the encounter helps as well. I have yet to have any problems with my damage - what I did have a problem for a long time was thinking that I was underperforming which probably led me to try and improve myself and get a better understanding of my job.