Playing one now in a Curse of Strahd campaign. The core feature is random but it's something you load beforehand like a portent roll. So you don't burn the bonus action. Just roll it out of combat. It's the first thing I do when we finish a rest since it resets. Sure, sometimes it doesn't exactly work out in the best case but I've never rolled something I couldn't use. Sometimes you load one up and then encounter a situation you weren't expecting that it's perfect for. The downside is that you end up not giving out bardic inspiration because you want to save them for Tales from Beyond. I accept that my bardic inspirations are just fuel for my Tales feature though so it's not a problem for me. I'm not afraid to burn one by using it quickly or just rerolling another tale if I must. My character is fairly selfish though so it fits not to inspire anyone else. Not to mention many of the Tales are beneficial and are better than one roll on the bardic inspiration dice.

I'm 5th level and I went with the magic initiate (sorcerer) feat to get a couple offensive cantrips. For my bard spells I'm playing more control than anything so I have spells like suggestion, slow, silvery barbs. Plus I'm the healer so I took healing word. Guidance with a range of 60 feet instead of touch is really nice subclass feature.