Have you tried Rush Attack with your warrior? I used level 1 of that skill with my warrior in the original release of D2:ED, and it made chasing down ranged opponents much easier (though you can occasionally jump into the middle of a group of opponents that way, if they were blocked from your original view). I used a bow to draw melee opponents to me early in the game, and sometimes in tough fights or against ranged opponents up until about the mid game, but after that only used one to break crates, etc (and of course equipping Rothman's Bow before turning in quests, for the Wisdom bonus).
After the very start of the game, the unique bows (that you can get in specific places) far outclass any random loot you are likely to get (or at least that I ever saw). The Bow of Orobas (level 28 requirement) can be bought inside the harbour building, which should hold you over until you get into the FoV section of the game.
I never tried Way of the Ranger until level 40, when I bought a bow with that skill bonus. I'm not usually a fan of temporary effect spells/potions, but in this case found the extra damage worth the upkeep (especially heading into tough fights and/or combined with Splitting Arrows).
FWIW, at the end of the Hall of Echoes I was level 37, and had 98 unused stat points (base stat values the same as they were at level 15), and 21 unused skill points.
Early in the game I boosted strength thinking I would fall back to unarmed combat at times, but as I refined my strategy that became less and less necessary, and I eventually changed the melee attack hotkey (unused for some time) to Splitting Arrows when I hit level 24 and finally put 4 or 5 points into that skill (playing another ranger I'd learn it sooner).
equipment with without
hit points 942 306
mana 639 222
vitality 53 14
spirit 22 2
strength 21 21
dexterity 51 36
intelligence 7 7
damage 281-425
magic damage 114-133
melee resistance 22.1 10.4
ranged resistance 38.5 16.6
magic resistance 37.2 3.7
conditioned body 21 21
heightened reflexes 74 36
indomitable will 7 7
Ranger Strength - 10
Explosive Arrows - 6+8
Splitting Arrows - 7+3 : these 3 I later maxed
Poison Arrows - 1
Stun Arrows - 1 : secondary skills
Death Blow - 1
Evade - 1
Healing - 1
Regenerate - 1 : tertiary skills
Lockpick - 5
Ranger Stealth - 5
Mana Efficiency - 6
Mindread - 15 (it was at 1 until just before heading to the Hall of Echoes, at which point I maxed it)
Before the battle tower I had a couple points in Poison and Stun Arrows, as well as equipment bonuses. Both still came in handy afterwards, but mostly just as a way to pause and select a specific target, then come out of pause attacking (a normal ranged attack doesn't unpause the game).
