Rangers

[Noselacri]

They're okay. They aren't the best at anything (except tracking) but they're alright at plenty of things. They're a lot like druids in that way, but rangers have the advantage of being able to tank just fine up to about 50, and even further if they're properly geared. Tanks being one of the most sought-after roles, that counts for something.

The real problem is that people view things from the perspective of the perfect group, and a ranger doesn't have a solid place in those. In reality, most groups aren't perfect, and rangers are versatile enough that they can pull their weight in a less idealistic group. It can be a great asset to have a DPS who can off-tank, or to have someone who can root-park mobs without wasting valuable healer mana on it. It can be great to have a harmony-puller that isn't a caster who loses a bunch of medding time when he has to pull. They can fill in as a pseudo-slower if the group doesn't have an enchanter or shaman. It's also one of only three classes with SoW, one of only two with a long-lasting snare, and the only class besides monk that can do good DPS while tanking.

Unfortunately, the class doesn't have a real niche and isn't particularly valuable on a raid where all the utilities are covered by others. Rangers are actually great while leveling, but not so great in the endgame. It gets better in Velious though, because archery DPS is pretty good during trueshot and that can help a lot in certain fights, plus weaponshield is the key to a very effective strategy that most guilds will want to employ while progressing. They also get some unique atk buffs in Velious which will effectively make a ranger fully competitive DPS considering what they add to all the other melees, though that doesn't stack so well with multiple rangers.