It’s not a melee vs. ranged thing. It’s a “certain OP weapons, talents, and traits” vs. melee thing.
You think ranged is so much powerful in this game?
Try playing it with some other weapon than you normally do. Try it without the usual ammo-replenishing traits and options you use. Try it without the one-button ammo gain talents, and try it without the “my ammo is unlimited” weapon, and see just how much ranged can really put up constant firepower as they can do when using the (obvious) choice of careers and weapons.
After all this time, people have gotten so much accustomed to those things that are basically OP, easy-mode options/settings, that many people just take for granted those things as the norm, and in comparison complain about all the other weapons, talents, settings are gimped or underwhelming.
In reality, it’s the opposite. The weapons and settings, talents some people view as weak or ‘gimped’, is actually the norm. Under those terms, the balance between melee and ranged are quite comparable and compliments each other very well.