I disagree with cleric being better to solo.
I've had a cleric sub before, and I didn't like it. First of all, speed potions are extremely expensive, especially if you use them a lot. And if anyone is like me, I hate moving slow. It's annoying.
Secondly, the buffs for cleric (Recovery Division, Holy Word) stay on you for 5 mins. That means every 5 mins you have to switch weapons and rebuff yourself. That gets annoying too. For some people, it doesn't bother them at all. Recovery Division alone is not enough to keep you alive, even if you have 5+ mobs on you. Bless spell is handy, especially with giants, but you can also live without it. Healing Cycle is another skill that I love, but once again, that only lasts for 16 seconds. All the other buffs you will lose after you switch weapons.
With bard, I have speed whenever I need it, and it saves me a bunch of money. I don't have to depend on scrolls or pots. Noise is one of the best skills anyone can have. I think you underestimate just how helpful this is for certain builds. With my wizard, I started with a cleric sub... Not only was it a SP drainer, I had a hard time staying alive because I'd get mobbed so easily. Once I curse hearted cleric and switched to bard, my survivability went way up and grinding became a lot quicker. Same with my rogue. I started with a cleric sub but grinding because a pain in the ass because I was getting mobbed and it was slow. I never used my cleric skills except for in pvp or when I was fighting a giant.
PVP is another story. Cleric, by far, is a better choice in PVP. But solo, bard is more helpful imo.
