Entirely viable to do 90% of the MUD solo in terms of exploration (or you were when I last played). Killing things is also rarely a problem, though I will admit it can take a while to wear things down with a bard as compared to other classes since they only have second attack and their damage songs are all 2 rounds of lag.
Best perks of the bard in no order.
Built in DR - for the group
Built in healing - group healing is a big perk
Built in buffs - bagatelle, Canticle, chant, Battaglia give a fair amount of stat boosts
Brandish - Cause word of recall talismans.
Echoes - Just because.
lullaby - Non-aggro area sleep is insanely useful in exploration and slaying tough mobs in rooms.
Tranquil Serenade - Calming NPCs is also insanely useful, plus works great with lullaby to take down tough groups of enemies.
Lullaby, sing up, wake target, wail on target, calm target, other NPCS in room wake, repeat. It negates a lot of NPC assisting. There are plenty of high end fights that only a bard can really do solo, simply because of this technique.

W-Elf perks
Acute vision - see everything in wilds,
24 dex - ultra tanky, and makes the iron vuln less relevant since you don't get hit
23 int - one prac, good learning rates
- True neutral means you're viable solo, but you can also group with anyone in the MUD, and most everyone likes having a bard friend to go places.