The best open world build by far is the standard raid quick fb build but with litany as a heal. 31k hp, full heal with litany, quickness for 5 in case you do meta events while having perma quickness for himself even without alacrity solo. Could even take soj for vuln. For might just take golden dumplings.
Mesmer - Greatsword can be ok for a little bit of ranged. Virtuoso's daggers are really good and almost all ranged. Elementalist - Staff isn't meta but is definitely ranged. Scepter allows a bit of ranged but I only see it on tempest which wants to be in melee for overloads. Longbow tho is alright feels meeeh, not a big fan, sword is ok but like you i rarely use num 2. Sword/Axe is ok, could be so much better but ok. For now i think sword/axe, longbow and maybe greatsword is the best for power. Condition well shortbow, i love the shortbow but i am not a fan of conditions, still one of my fav weapons as ranger (i Whats the best dps class that in pve, a class that can run down mobs For those not wanting to use Reddit anymore discuss Guild Wars 2 on alternative platformsVirtuoso, both power and condi, is incredibly easy. Power soulbeast has multiple variants that use axe/axe and then a different weapon in the set. Longbow, greatsword, or even warhorn. Condi soulbeast uses shortbow dagger/dagger. If you're bored of longbow, learn the greatsword rotation, or the warhorn rotation. Or try condi.