Melee roles are being gimped in this game

[Conkers]

this is how it is in every mmo, ranged is always more convenient/easier. : /

That rather depends upon what you are referring to, sure in terms of avoiding AOE/cleave then melee generally requires more work / is harder.

On the other hand that is offset in many games I've played by the fact many range classes are more complex to play, e.g - warrior in GW2 is faceroll compared to engineer, warrior in Rift was faceroll compare to mage, champ in LOTRO is faceroll compared to Loremaster, etc (granted there are rare exceptions of complex melee class like Burglar in LOTRO, but as I said they are rare), to the point in some cases (like Loremaster) where the player is far busier and needs far more awareness than a typical melee class, of course there is usually one range class that is also faceroll, normally the class wielding the bow.

To me this game is unusual, in that lancer/dragoon and especially pugilist/monk seem to be more complex than archer/bard, thurm/BLM, etc.