Endgame catalyst: Best class?

I forget the exact date, but around the time that guildships were invented I was invited into a cool guild on Orien and it changed my DDO experience forever.

Prior to that fateful day my playstyle was one character per server. It was a fun way to see the differences on the servers the crazy inflation on Thelanis, the robust Chinese speaking population on late-night Sarlona, and the optimistic undergeared and happy population of the brand new server Cannith. I liked Cannith best. I liked the frontier.

And when an even newer server-frontier opened I migrated again. So there I was, on Orien showing off my ability to multishot snipe beholders in the quest Invaders before they could get within eyebeam range. It's a neat trick but some of the people in the group were so impressed that they invited me to their guild.

The guild was so fun, I stopped spending time on the other servers and focused all my gametime into one character. I looked forward to great anticipation for TRing, not only because I'd get more ability points, but also because Past Life Ranger would give me a huge advantage -- +2 exceptional elemental resistance. Now of course that's not a big deal because ship buffs are so easy to come by, but back then it was a big deal.

Anyway, then I unlocked the Vale of Twilight (using free f2p Turbine Points) and the economy of Green Steel encouraged me to spend all my time on one character only. You can share most of the Green Steel ingredients between characters, but the items themselves are bound to character. I didn't see the point in grinding out hundreds of sets of identical GS. So instead, I've focused all of my DDO gametime into one character.

I like having only one character. It's fun because each TR feels like a story, starting in Korthos and ending in Shavarath. Along the way I anticipate the joy of leveling into range of quests I haven't played for a long time. For example, I was on Korthos when all the big changes to the Shroud blades happened. I couldn't get into Shroud for a long time, so I just imagined what the blades must be like. And you know all those people who complain whenever they get something cool on the wrong alt? That's not me. Never. All of my loot is for my main. And the grind seems very managable for me. When I was on one character per server I got kinda burnt out on doing the same quest several times on every server. The game play was fresh because my characters play so differently from one another, but I started memorizing the lines in a way that's not condusive to fun "Oh no! The Suhagan found me!"

But having only one character has downsides too. If I had many characters it would be easier to get gametime. And farming specific content would be easier too. Like right now I've got a Paladin Tank I'm really proud of (yes my loyal readers, upgrading my Dragon Touched armor has improved tanking that much). And when I TR my main, I lose all my accumulated Favor. A dedicated favor alt could stay at cap and easily hit the new favor maximum whenever I get new Adventure Packs.

So, having said that, what class is best catalyst for play? By that I mean, which class will allow me to most frequently say "No problem, I'll log into my other character and then we can stop waiting and start playing."

TANKS: Raid LFMs often stall looking for a good tank. This is a great choice but gearing a tank is a ton of work. If I was gonna go this way I'd just designate my current main as the favor farmer and roll up a new main. I might just do it...

HEALERS: Groups often beg and send tells for more "Hjeals plz" so they can start a quest or raid.

BARD: In any group it's always great to have exactly one bard. Some raid leaders won't start without one. Bards are super popular with the Vault of Night and I think that red dragonscale will continue to be something I wish I had more of for the forseeable future. An Epic Bard could also be a fine haggler for all the junk that won't fit into the hopper of the Canith Crafting deconstructor.

ARTIFICER: I know I always love having these guys along for durring the 2.3 seconds it takes them to enchant my weapons. But does any raid or group ever "need" an artificer before they start?

CASTERS: Sometimes parties won't start for lack of a caster, but there are so many casters I don't think I'd roll a caster to be the hero that saves a stalled out PUG.

ROGUE: Everyone needs rogues at low and mid level play. But I can't ever remember a high level group waiting on a rogue, or any trap monkey.

So, after writing all this out, I've discovered that Bard is the most appealing catalyst. Am I right? What class would you choose for an end-game catalyst?