1) Rangers are currently useless due to the incredibly low damage from Snipe and the scarcity of good weapons.
This isn't true at all.
No class is useless, it all depends on the synergy with the rest of your party.
A Ranger purpose is to take out high priority target that your melee characters cannot reach without moving out of position.
1. They are the only ranged Physical damage dealer aside from hybrids.
2. The most important reason why Rangers are good is that Bows and Crossbows are the only weapons that can have the Piercing (Bypass Armor) extra damage on them (Correct me if I'm wrong, but after 56 hours of play, I havn't seen it on anything other than Bow and Crossbow). This may not mean much early in the game, but as soon as you get your hand on one of those killer, your Ranger can kill enemies without even breaking their Physical Armor because...
3. Marksman's Fang is one of the strongest ability in the game by very far. I shouldn't even need to explain why it is. You can fight any type of enemy with a Ranger because you don't care about whether they have high Physical Armor, high Magical Armor or a mix of both. They'll die all the same when you can ignore their Armor or switch from Physical to Magical damage with the simple use of cheap Fire or Poison arrows.
4. Bow and Crossbow wielders are the most versatile characters because of special arrows offering such a wide variety of utility, damage and control. Even if special arrows are scarce. That's why if you aren't using a Ranger, you should have at least one of your caster using 1 point in Ranger for First Aid, Tactical Retreat and special arrows instead of using wands or a staff.
5. You can actually one shot an Intelligence enemy (And even some Finesse enemies) with a single critical Snipe (Yes, the very Snipe you said was doing incredibly low damage). Only other abilities that can effectively one shot in the game require source point. It is meant as a fight initiator that can take out a priority target or make them an easy picking before the fight start. With enough Wits, you can even keep nailing arrows/bolts on that enemy to kill it before they can even have their turn.
6. High ground. The key to a good Ranger is the high ground, which is why 1 Scoundrel for Adrenaline and Cloak and Dagger on top of your Tactical Retreat from Ranger is a must to reach those high points fast. If you don't use high ground, naturally, Ranger is gonna suck bad.
