Rangers are not very good except for the fact that they have great tracking. It's just not a strong class yet, and there are hardly any decent 2handers that rangers can use pre-Kunark. That's gonna be a big problem in PvP, because jousting is really critical for warriors and hybrids. If they code the resists like classic, you can't rely on root/snare in the higher levels, and wailing on someone with a pair of ebony swords quadding for 20s really pales in comparison with a jousting tank who can smash you for 200 per round and move out of your melee range while weapon delay refreshes.
Rangers also lack a class power-skill. Paladins have lay hands and shadowknights have harmtouch. They can't be used often, but it makes a huge difference when you have it up.
There's a few pieces of key utility that can make a big difference.
Paladins get endure magic and cure poison/disease, as well as many more junk buffs than rangers and especially shadowknights. Stun and blind are insane before people get full resist gear while root and snare are somewhat less amazing because they don't really disable the target. Paladin heals are really decent and they can be almost impossible to kill.
Shadowknights get both types of invis which is really useful for getting to people in dungeons, and feign death is HUGE in high-level PvP. Having a pet up is very useful even if it doesn't do any real damage, because it can interrupt non-channeling classes using clickies, and it'll show you exactly where someone is if they attack you from range/hiding or try to juke away. Shadowknights also get detect invis which paladins don't, and according to the p99 wiki spell list, rangers don't either; I remember them having the see invis spell later on, but it might have been added after Velious. Without that ability, you're a lot worse off against anyone who can invis or hide. It isn't easy to get from items until Kunark.
Ranger spell damage is ass pre-Kunark and they pretty much just rely on their melee damage for DPS, and their melee is ass as well. I think the best jousting weapon you can get is like a 20dmg bibs or something. Archery damage is mostly pitiful unless you somehow get the sky bow, and your bow really isn't something you can reliably kill with until Velious. To top it all off, rangers can't bash/slam or interrupt spells in any other way which is absolutely clutch for melees.
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