Mmm, maybe you're confused about what guildies say cause you don't actually ask any good questions. Saying "Range or Melee" or "Dex or Str" doesn't really help a lot. In other words, it's not enough information for people to tell you.
Going either ways takes a lot of effort/ap/time/etc.
For an elf, it's very obvious (dex)
For a giant, it's very obvious (str)
Not so much for a human. I personally do melee (str) because it's so much easier to spam Wm/Smash/Assault Slash AND faster than going Magnum frenzy on everything (or Crash). But ranged skill DO come in handy in some situations (a lot actually), so I made sure to get 300 base dex (Weaving/Refine/Range skills) while working on my Melee.
Besides the fact that Combat mastery adds some dex and Ranged Mastery adds some str...and so does Arrow Revolver...what the hell, you would still have to train BOTH if you wanted to hit max str/dex.