How are Bards in the DPS department?
 

How do they compare in melee damage output compared to Monks, Rogues, Warriors, Rangers, Paladins, and Shadowknights?

I didn't see Double Attack or Kick in their skill set, which makes me skeptical of them...

Couldn't give you a parse comparision but bards are not a DPS class so they will be far behind rogues, monks and probably warriors. Couldn't say compared to knights.

It's not fantastic by any means, but I don't think there are a lot of bards filling in DPS roles, that's just not what they do.

They have to do more then just alternate between songs in a fight.

I understand your interest but bards are more of a utility-melee class. They melee to deal free extra damage and sometimes for useful procs. Their high dexterity means they are often the best class to land certain procs, and I know it's not your question but they can easily hold aggro (too easily for comfort) and substitute for a real group tank for most of the game.

Bards will fall behind any other class in the game in melee dps except for pure casters (and often those as well). Their melee ability is very useful against pure casters in pvp, however.

That's really weird for them, considering how brutal they were in EQ:OA Melee, able to Quad.

Bards are good at everything, but a master at nothing. We act as pullers and crowd control during raids when we're not twisting resist songs. Yes, our melee is lulsy, but that's just how it is until later expansions (ones that we will not see here).

Honestly, Im using a bard as my first toon to springboard other characters that I intend on twinking out (Simply because they level stupidly fast)

At level 60 assuming the tank has perfect aggro I can do about 68 DPS once my best dots have landed. In reality though if you're casting Angstlich's Assonance, Denon's Bereavement and Selo's Chords of Cessation on the same mob you're likely to pull aggro pretty quickly.

Rogue > Monk >/= Warrior > Ranger > SK > Bard >/= Paladin

Is that abomination supposed to be a "greater than or equal to" sign? If so, do you really think Monks and Warriors have comparable dps?