Bard, what's your experience?

Bards been out a couple days now. I've been trying out a few games with him, some going well, some hilariously bad as I try to learn him and what he does.

So the big question, how balanced is he? This is the question I pose to the community, and what changes you would make to improve him in the current meta.

Thus far I am finding him to have a great kit, but overall be slightly under powered. Here's why: Most of his kit is short range and his stats aren't all that tanky (regular 2kish hp and armor ranges etc), so he kind of wants you to be in peoples faces but dies doing it. If you build him very tanky he works better, but his CC isn't superior to thresh's or leona's who do something similar.

I would:

1.) Just barely love tap the range on Q, so you don't have to be quite so in their face to make it happen.

2.) Reduce the number of charms you need for the next bonuses because it encourages running around the map and away from your team too often. You really need the charms for all the added effects they give too, so you don't want to just pass them up.

3.) Make meeps spawn for Bard a little more often since his only damage is Q and meeps.

4.) Very slight increase in HP or armor. Just enough so he can survive being jumped on by the enemy support in the worst case scenario assuming he has good positioning and plays it out accordingly.

5.) The mana cost on the heal is HUUGGEE. Can we either please reduce the overall cost or increase the flat heal that it gives before having to charge up?

What do the rest of you think?

Thank you.