Just my experience here... The elf ranger in our game was trying to be versatile melee and ranged, with primary focus in range. He started with a Str 14, Con 13, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8. It's a reasonable array. He got a longsword and shortsword at early levels. And I think once at level 2 and once at level 4 or so, he used twin strike in melee when he was stuck immobilized. But after the bracers of archery showed up, he has never made a single melee attack. If he's immobilized in melee and can't get out of it (and we can't get him out of it), he'll just provoke the opportunity attack and make the ranged attack anyway. It's just that much better.
So, long and short of it, yeah, he made a versatile character, but in play, when it's do or die time, we all tend to gravitate toward the stronger option.
To be fair, we are a 6-man group so he usually has enough of a melee wall in front of him. If we were a 4 man party with a laser cleric, wizard, fighter, and ranger, I'd want the ranger to be melee oriented, with secondary focus in range.
As a matter of fact, in my game, the half-orc melee ranger has a bow, and uses it quite a bit even though they are a 6-man group. So I think the melee primary, ranged secondary approach works much better for the versatile ranger.
So, long and short of it, yeah, he made a versatile character, but in play, when it's do or die time, we all tend to gravitate toward the stronger option.
To be fair, we are a 6-man group so he usually has enough of a melee wall in front of him. If we were a 4 man party with a laser cleric, wizard, fighter, and ranger, I'd want the ranger to be melee oriented, with secondary focus in range.
As a matter of fact, in my game, the half-orc melee ranger has a bow, and uses it quite a bit even though they are a 6-man group. So I think the melee primary, ranged secondary approach works much better for the versatile ranger.