After seeing the warden skill lines and the new armor sets they're adding in 3.0, Yea, I think ZOS is finally realizing that players WANT to have hybrid characters. Maybe we'll see an eventual break between max stats and damage.
I an old and it has been a while, but, didn't the bard level each class to 10 or something and retain some of the knowledge from each. I.e. fighter/wizard/cleric/thief etc.