To answer the OPs question of whether rangers are hated in velious though ...
Yes and no?
Rangers are a powerful class but ...
A) If a group is looking for a tank they will always pick a war/pal/sk over you. These classes simply do it the best and a *good* warrior won’t suffer much from aggro. On my warrior I want an instant slow on all but the most extreme content and in those situations the group will know. You won’t be actively recruited for this job. Period, with very few exceptions. That’s what you should expect. If those cannot be found bards do actually do it better but the average joe may not know or appreciate it and the average bard may not know how good they actually are. Most people/groups will still reflex to a monk tank over a ranger out of habit despite the lack of on demand threat. Monks make excellent meat shields but suffer from no on demand threat.
B) If looking for a dps they will likely look for rog/monk/ench/mage over you. You will dps well but other classes can do it better. Rogues? Better. Mages? Better. Monks? generally better unless massive gear difference. Necro? In general better or on par unless you have end-game melee damage but necros still bring heals/utility that is pretty neato for those 'in the know'
C) If looking for a puller they will likely look for a monk over you. Indoors bards have an undeniable advantage. Outdoors rangers are supreme pullers but this could and will likely be overlooked.
Rangers only suffer in the sense that they are best at nothing but add a whole hell of a lot of value that is harder to define. They are capable tanks for all the reasons discussed in this thread. They are less than ideal for tanking ... again for the reasons discussed? They are premier pullers outdoors but lots of content is not flagged as such. They are good dps but fall behind some others. Buffs are valuable but the really important buffs can be given by others as well.
They suffer from the hybrid hex ... great overall but best at little. If you are well known and respected smart people will actively seek you out. If you have a strong reputation and are well known, again people MAY actively seek you out. In general, you have to expect that people don't know you and thus may pre-discriminate against you based on your class out of either a poor understanding what you can you or a poor expectation of what you WILL do or add based on experiences with mediocre ranger.
They aren't hated, but unfortunately they are often overlooked.
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