Are ranged rangers better than melee ones?

[Puggins]

That's not necessarily true at all.

Give the Two-Weapon Ranger Plate with it's +8.
Give the Archer-Ranger Hide at +3 and a Dexterity of 20 for +8

At Epic, with Godplate giving the Two-Weapon Ranger +14 (+ magic), the Archer will have Elderhide at +5 and his Dexterity of 28 (or even 30), which give him +14 or +15. Specialization in their respective armor types can add another +1 to each, and most other AC boosts are available to both (even Back To The Wall).

Yes, an elf who sacrificed 16 of 22 points to make his initial dex a 20 and who picked demigod as his epic destiny would be able to match someone who picked up plate armor proficiency and took the TWD feat. I see that as an advantage, since an initial dex of 20 is pretty restricting, but YMMV.

The fact that the archer ranger doesn't need to concentrate on Str is a two-edged sword- yes, his dex is virtually guaranteed to be higher, but his fortitude defense is going to suffer horribly. Also, he's working with a weapon that isn't upgradeable- the longbow is +2/1d10, whereas the bastard sword is +3/1d10. I actually made a mistake in my comparison. accidentally saying that the longbow was +3. Take a further +1 away from the archer.