Access to ranged physical damage as a mage that's equal to a standard dex ranger isn't a huge bonus to you?
It absolutely isn't equal to a normal finesse ranger.
Mages CANNOT afford to spend points into weapon combat abilities like Ranged because it doesn't increase their spell damage, unlike Rangers whom get damage increased on their Huntsman abilities from spending points in Ranged.
Ok I'll give you that, although a mage certainly could afford to throw in a couple points in Ranged over the course of the game. Also, they could invest in Huntsman to boost both spell and bow damage with high ground (though I still think that should buffed to 6 or 7% a point so it's not objectively worse than ranged for actual rangers.) But more importantly the damage from stats is by far the primary influence on your damage. 40 total points in int (easily achievable by end game presumably) would be +150% damage, whereas 10 in ranged is +60%ish (depending on the value of the crit bonus.)
So yeah, the dedicated archer will deal more damage, but for the versatility a zen archery mage would gain, I don't feel like it's THAT significant of a difference.
