This game has serious free-rider problems and it's getting worse. A suggestion.

[Ronduwil]

Uh, Ronduwil in the post above yours literally just quoted someone who said

"If you don’t pass a certain threshold, let us call it the “basic decency level”, you should be denied any kind of reward."

There ARE people in this thread who want to take away things from those they don't judge "worthy" enough to get them.

You misunderstood what I said. My point was that even if we were to take their "good" intentions at face value, the remedies that were proposed fly in the face of those intentions. The point you're making is precisely what I was getting at. For a thread that claims to exclusively target "lazy" players, it sure feels like it's targeting new, returning, and lesser skilled players.

It's far easier, when you've wiped a group for a third time and get kicked for lacking fundamental skills like not accidentally pulling additional packs time after time or performing well-marked mechanics, to blame "toxicity", after all.

You would fit right into the WoW community. That's pretty much lead WoW developer Ion Hazzikostas' take on the subject. Thankfully, the lead designer for this game has a sense of empathy and compassion. Here is a summary of a recent interview with YoshiP when he was asked about ACT:

It is a third party tool, so we don't allow it.
We don't want to engage in long philosophical debates about what is and isn't a third party tool, so it's not likely that we'll actively go after players for using addons like that at this time.
For now, when faced with pressure to use the addon, please say, "YoshiP says no, so it's better if you don't."

Next, he addressed the idea of building ACT into the game, and this is where his statements frame the conversation that we're having now:

That system will be the root of bullying.
Players inevitably crave efficiency eventually, but I personally don't enjoy games that are based all off of efficiency.
Regardless of the third party tool argument, posting someone else's DPS is punishable for harassment: "This person's DPS was so low I had a hard time."

The video for this interview is at: https://youtu.be/e_i6mjiGerU

I feel like I'm caught in the middle not exactly understanding my role and at the same time people viewing me as useless and I truly like the bard class. Where do I look to for guidance?

You shouldn't have to feel that way. Bard DPS is fine. Just maintain your dots and pay attention to your procs. Maintain one of your ballads at all times and take advantage of the ballad-specific skill resets that proc to weave in extra damage. Also remember to use your party-wide buffs (i.e. Battle Voice) on boss fights. If you want a good PvE resource, google "The Balance FFXIV." The top of the search results should be an invite to a discord server. Join it because it has good up to date class/rotation guides and live discussions.