PHATsakk43
Last Authlim of the True Lord of Tyranny
Personally I think the 2E ranger was the closest to being good. The biggest hindrance for wearing heavy armor is the loss of the more flavorful but useless abilities.Because if there's one thing that epitomizes edition warring, it's arguing over the Ranger.
Then if the two-weapon fighting was optional with the other option be automatic bow specialization and no penalties for firing into melee, you would have a mechanically functioning ranger.
To be honest, I played 5E for close to 7 years and I can’t remember anyone playing a ranger. One guy did build a straight fighter into what a ranger should have been as a sniper build with OP net throwing abilities.