It really doesn't start to get good until 55+ and you have good gear (thanks TMO!) and especially a few key items. Honestly I've never put myself through something as sad and pathetic as leveling a ranger 1-20 being fresh to the server. Just awful. It's still pretty sad even up to 50, although bow kiting allowed me to get through some tough periods (since the nerf a couple patches ago it's not really viable anymore, sadly. I killed so many highkeep guards this way to get through the 30s and make money to start getting out of banded armor).
Key items that turn things around:
Dark Cloak of the Sky - sky quest cloak, 50% clicky spell haste. Makes you infinitely more useful in small group situations with no one casting haste. Combined with a nice haste item and good weapons you can churn out 50-60 dps with only self buffs.
Fayguard Parrying Dagger - one of the best mainhand weapons in the game right now at 9/17. Fairly easy to get and nothing else is better for pure DPS until velious. Procs an AEdd but can be used on most raid encounters without causing agro trouble. Definitely helps to close the DPS gap with rogues.
Swarmcaller - again, makes you very useful in small groups that don't have someone to slow. If you have some good situational dex gear the slow procs can be somewhat reliable. Causes mega agro but you can easily jolt it off. These are very cheap nowadays.
Lupine Dagger - From what I hear they're pretty cool, sadly no one's selling them. Ever.
Tolan's BP - instant banking, you never get stuck anywhere. With an OT hammer you can mobilize yourself around the world pretty well. Look for these popping up in EC soon lol.
200 range bows (Wind Striker or Rain Caller) - with 150 range arrows it allows you to pull dragons without risk of being feared (300 range AE). Once you agro a dragon, it will not find your guild's camp spot for you, though, lol.
Generally having all the high-end gear gives you quite a bit of AC and HP, and brings out the ability to actually main tank and take CHs pretty well in regular exp/loot groups, especially if you're slowing with swarmcaller.
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