Depending on who you ask, the XIV experience doesn't even begin until level 50 - there's almost more four-man dungeons for level 50 players now than there are for 'on the way', and a hell of a lot more Trials (single boss battles with high difficulty), specialized content, entire postgame questlines, etc. to undertake. The major patches every 3-ish months tend to be focused on adding content for those players as well.

Bards are a sought-after party member for their ability to restore MP to allies (specifically healers), and despite dealing less DPS than other damage classes in perfect conditions, they never need to stop doing damage due to avoiding AoEs unlike other classes, so it evens out. They're solid in PvP too due to the constant harassment and their ease of just ruining a healer's day.

Finally, it's possible to get into bleeding edge content with just casual play hours - just matters whether or not you can find a group/if those four hours are at primetime when you could scrounge together public groups to take runs at it.