My experiences with classes differ. I don't however play multiplayer, so I have to use all four party members myself. The party consists usually of Shadowheart (Thunder domain) and Gale (Evocation Wizard), my main (kind of Sorlock) and one other (Astarion as ranged Fighter/Rogue, Jaheira as melee Fighter 12 or Dex based Bard/Paladin/Cleric mix or Minsc as tanky Fighter/Barbarian). The biggest damage in fights usually comes from my Sorlock. Shadowheart or Gale can only compete if they waste many spell slots (although the Thunder domain allows for a very spell slot efficient play).
I found Wyll as pure Warlock relatively strong in early levels, in EA. I don't like him in the release version and never had him in the party. My first char was a Ranger, and I always found him lacking in several aspects. No build of any subclass satisfied me, despite fascinating theoretical performance, and in the end my archer was mainly a Fighter. The Ranger is not bad, there are just several better alternatives. I experimented a lot with Astarion in my current playthrough, trying all combos of Ranger with everything, in the end he is ... a Fighter/Rogue with hand crossbows.
I also experimented a lot with Warlock in this run, as for the first time since start of EA my main is a magical caster. However I am a victim t fthe multiclassing virus, so I never played a pure Warlock. The big advantage of Warlock is of course that no spell slots are needed for reliable damage. If you don't know in advance how fights will go (I'm playing Act 3 more or less first time, and in Honour mode), that is a precious feature. A Ranger can do this too, but a Warlock can do more damage easier. Problem is, if you want a crit build, there is only a restricted amount of items available to do it right, and it is easier to do it on Warlock than on Ranger. Why is it bad if doing damage is an easy task?
So, Warlock or Ranger? Neither of them, I would say. A Sorcerer or a Fighter might always be better. I'm very comfortable with Sorcerer/Warlock (which can do quite a damage) or Fighter/Ranger. If it is Warlock or Ranger, I don't see a clear favorite, both have strong and weak sides. I don't understand why you prefer the Ranger so clearly.
"Genies" was a careless use of a digital English dictionary, sorry. I wanted to have the plural of genius, and found geniuses or genii sounding strange, so I took a third word I read in the context without further control. Wrong choice.
I don't think that playing a Ranger is so difficult. You are shooting and have some spells, and possibly use a minion with some interesting abilities and lacking mobility (compared to strong minions of the Cleric or Wizard). What is so much more complicated than playing Warlock? BTW, in my opinion no class (except some Druid builds maybe) is that difficult to play.
