I guess people don't practice theory crafting anymore. Here is why the way bard is currently is set up fine, if not awesome.

1. Bard + Scholar will be mandatory for endgame dungeons. Scholar's cool down reductions will result in people rapidly burning through their point wells, and bard will be needed to extend heavy burns on bosses/adds.

2. Bard has AOE and DoT attacks, this may not be support in the classic sense, but by keeping a constant pool of damage going on the entirety of a group, you are supporting the group by softening up everything in the fight.

3. buffs/debuffs.

Seriously, all of this stuff is right on XIVDB to look at and consider.