Melee roles are being gimped in this game

[Cubnorris]

All of this also shows in pugs and the worst DPS-class players are pretty much always the ranged ones, getting hit by AOE and everything in between, easiest roles in the game and yet they somehow manage to be the worst at their given easy chores.

Actually, certain aoes are harder to avoid from range than close up. This is true with the front cone types like from Keeper of Halidom in Wanderer's Palace. If you're close, and the cone aims for you, you have less distance to run to be out of it, but if you're far, you have a ton of distance to cover to get out.

I see RDPS get hit by these types much more in PUGs than MDPS. I myself get hit by these more often on my BRD than on my DRG.

[ElHeggunte]

Actually, certain aoes are harder to avoid from range than close up. This is true with the front cone types like from Keeper of Halidom in Wanderer's Palace. If you're close, and the cone aims for you, you have less distance to run to be out of it, but if you're far, you have a ton of distance to cover to get out.

I see RDPS get hit by these types much more in PUGs than MDPS. I myself get hit by these more often on my BRD than on my DRG.

Keeper is the one the exceptions to the rule. No other boss that I've ever experienced has a cone that stretches across the room like his does. There are mobs that have room-length direct attacks, like the Magitek Colossus' Exhaust, but otherwise I've never seen a cone that couldn't be avoided by just staying at max casting range. There may be targeted abilities that tend to favor ranged, such as Ifrit's Eruption and Titan's Weight of the Land, but even those can target melee too regardless of how many ranged are alive.

So to summarize: Most things that ranged have to dodge melee have to dodge too. Most things that melee have to dodge ranged can trivialize by just being at max distance.