I guess full strength takes a lot of the thought and work out of a ranger if that's how people want to play. Sort of like hitting the easy button, except your defense, attack, light heal, etc all majorly suck. That severely gimps you on bosses and such. If all your doing is hitting on normal mobs full strength may be ok, but definitely not optimal. Why play a half ass ranger when you can actually be usefull?
You're kidding, right? Takes the thought and work out of playing the ranger? How is that? You're throwing points into stats and skills. It's not rocket science. And it's video game, there isn't any work involved.
If a person enjoys a certain play style over another, it's not called half assed, it's called personal preference. I find it interesting that there are a plethora of end game rangers that have tried dex and certain skills and then str and the skills that benefit an auto build and have gone with the auto build but yet they're wrong and you're right.
Attack ability isn't determined by dex alone as many rangers use dmg+attack gear. My ranger has 5k attack with low dex and then I pop a heroic attack lix. If I need more attack, I equip my hrung attack braces. Defense is up to the player how much they think they need.
I have a 1.2k light heal with low dex. No it's not topping the charts but does just fine. My main is a druid and that's what he's used for.
Overall your post is pretty insulting. It's a game. Let people play how they want without needing to insult them. There are many of us that have tried the dex route and found it less effective than str route. My ranger spends more time leveling than bossing and I'd rather stick with a build that allows for faster leveling and less lix usage