Bards have reasonable AC but lack a lot on those secondary skills. Dodge caps low. Parry caps extra low at 75 and isn't available until 53. Riposte is achieved even later in the game and caps at 75 also. On top of that, bard hp pools are low compared to warriors and Knights.
Having said that, in good gear they actually tank decently. Aggro lock is simple, and before the mob is even in camp you can have it preslowed by22/23% to 35% depending on your level AND the real slower (if you have one) can slow very early in the fight without taking any hits.
Bards make stellar tanks on more trivial content. On moderate content they can manage without too many problems. In higher end content their defensive weaknesses start to show more obviously ... And on the hardest group able content they really don't hold up that well.
The vast majority of Everquest grouping content is a game of balanced attrition. In those scenarios you potentially save the healer mana with preslows (20-35% is a lot) and fast real slows where aggro doesn't bounce around.
|