I recently hit lv 50 as a lnc to find that my attack power is actually lower than what my arc has (498 compared to 519) yet, my lnc does more damage. A Hart Guisarme has 135 damage, an Ul'dahn Longbow with cobalt arrows equal up to 146. (arc should deal more damage theoretically even if attack power wasn't a factor)

Now I have been told that attack power does not affect ranged damage, but my source wasn't very detailed about the details. I also find it hard to believe, since attack power as a weapon stat is almost always found on bows, and why would the devs give archers a stat that is completely useless to them?

I've tried looking it up on Lodestone and several other sites, but all of them seem to be out of date, or lacking the information completely. If someone knows more about the subject, I'd love to hear about it.