Ranger is in the same place its been at for close to a decade- an extremely safe and viable option for DPS in a variety of situations.
Our problems arise from two sources.
First, that we use unique buffs from melee DPS and that makes mixing us with other DDs difficult, whereas one can mix MNKs, DRGs, SAMs, etc all they want and for the most part, buff the same. This means for any content that's alliance-sized, you can't just be "the good RNG" people know and make something happen. You need to commit to that setup and have multiple people who can fit into it successfully.
And secondly, once a strat is talked about that isn't ranged-based and someone shows a target can be melee'ed, there naturally is more interest in using that concept than something different. So what we often see is the natural "evolution" of tactics from safety to speed. SMN or BLM concepts lead to ranged strats lead to melee strats.
Sometimes, we can show that ranged methods accomplish both- more often than not, though, a group has to choose. And in terms of still-relevant content that people do ranged:
-2 of 5 omen bosses are done with ranged methods more than not.
-2 of 7 reisenjima HELMs are, in my opinion, won most predictably with ranged strats.
-ranged damage is viable and workable on 2 of 6 A3 Odyssey:Gaol NMs, and preferred on 1.
-several ambuscades are easier to make pickup groups and avoid mechanics if using ranged damage vs "following the rules".
We don't need to be capable of being great DDs on every target in the game, in particular when the fundamental design of that game is the ability to change jobs. MNKs aren't great everywhere, and BLMs certainly are used a lot less than us for anything viable. And yes, we can function even in melee moments if care is taken to build those sets properly- that's not something a WAR or DRG or DRK can say in terms of versatility.
Be patient. With new content comes new foes, and like always, first the Rangers will be called in to handle the nasty AoE ones, and only with time and power creep will those melees take it away from us^^