Ranger is what you seek.

I've never even made it to 50! But I did hop on my 40 Bard and solo down a dark blue Froglok Shaman, and it felt great. I

don't know why I let other people's opinions on how I play ruin my perception of how a class feels.

Yea go with ranger if ya want to have good dual wield and have neat utility/spells and not be an sk/pally. Paying for potg will greatly reduce your downtime.

You can play however you want. Just prepare to go it alone if you're not utilizing a META-esque playstyle.

A ranger could Legolas bow kite to 60. See ya in 10 years.

Yep, thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate the wisdom on this board :)

Will have to dust off my old ranger then. I had quit the class for a while even though it is the most fun i've had out of the 6 classes i've tried, because i would get hit way too hard and way too often at level 50 while waiting for my swarmcaller to proc (i usually solo). but no gain without pain i guess

Rangers have slightly lower skill caps for Dodge/Parry/Riposte then the Knights, so they take a bit more damage in general, but 40-50 is one of the toughest stretches of leveling for hybrids because they lag behind pure classes in offensive skills during that time. Offense and other combat skills like Dual Wield and Double attack are capped at 200 until level 50, which is not the case for Warriors and Monks.

So you kind of just have to suffer it out a bit until the caps rise again, then things stabilize. Having new spells at 49 and every level after that helps their cause too.

Have you tried jousting with the swarmcaller? Can root the mob and just step in when the swing timer is ready.

Its not a lot, but will cut down on the amount of hits you'll take before the slow procs.

^ this.

Pick easy blues too with less hps. Highkeep nobles instead of drolvarg ravishers. You can bow plunk those dead with ease and without your hand cramping up.

I do like my bard but it’s more a shiny caster at this point (almost 59). Very fun class but definitely doesn’t feel like a ranger.

Jousting until the proc hits, i didn't even think of that! Great advice.

Yea bards sound like they're more like shiny casters who can move while they cast. Doesn't sound like a melee class really...

Is there a way to macro archery hits so that I dont have to hit the range attack button for each arrow?

I don't want to say Highkeep Nobles are camped 24/7, but they've been camped pretty much every time I've logged into my Druid to grind the jail guards. Not sure how they fare plat-wise, but they are apparently very high exp for a solo player at 50ish.