Excluding aoe kiting,
Grouping:
Bards are actually a powerhouse class very early in the game. Hymn of restoration at level 6 and modified by lute at 8 makes bards the best healer class in the early game. Lull at 8 establishes bards as a pulling class very early in the game with first haste at 10. Though melee dps comparatively sucks at the high end, in the early game they hold their own well. As melee dps declines with levels, bards acquire the more complete toolset that sustains the powerhouse status in the late game. Unlike traditional 'powerhouse' classes, bards are a lot more ill-defined. The only role they do undeniably best is mana regen potential, but they can pull off crazy stuff in ways no other class can. With the monk fd/sneak changes, bards in many cases make more capable pullers in a lot of areas. Mostly, bards excel by sliding neatly into almost any duo/trio/group improving everyone else's performance and efficiency while being able to fill almost any role. They can even function as the primary source of heals allowing a group to get by with a non-cleric priest just for backup healing. High dps isn't something the bard can pull off but if the group needs literally nothing else from the bard it's possible to stack up to and maintain 70+ Dps in dots between single target chants and aoe dots. The last few dots in this stack aren't available until the last few levels with the longest dot available at 60.
Solo:
Bards just own. Again, excluding aoe kiting - charm killing paired with dots makes for killing speeds faster than necro/chanter/druid. Low level charm takes no mana until you're hunting over level 37 mobs. Higher level charm carries you to 60. Alternately, fear kiting with dots/melee ... lots of options. Class is ridiculously mobile - escape and travel is always easy.
Most bards are/were rolled with AoE kiting and powerleveling in mind - which is a shame. Most bards are pretty bad and don't understand their toolset.
As for rangers ... they're never a powerhouse class. They are capable in good hands and have a good set of tools. Gear twinking notwithstanding, they always lag behind the real dps classes, handily owned by rogues, monks, mages, and necros. Warriors generally put out as much or more dps. Tanking is decent but mitigation woes make lots of other classes (including bard) better choices. At the high end things are not any better.
Rangers are always decent. Sometimes they're excellent (harmony is amazing). They synergize well with other classes, but rarely in the most ideal of ways. Rangers aren't and never will be on this server a powerhouse class. On live servers AM3 and endless quiver made them premier dps in Luclin and lower PoP. The niche of archery then slowly declined in following expansions.
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