"You'll also be able to tank ridiculously well even out of the woods as long as you have a group with you to increase your damage output"
I didn't find this to be true with Mawavaw, elf Fort Hunter. Defenses with a bow decreased significantly outside of the wilderness, enough that you are not a viable tank for ranking, and likely to get ripped apart in PK.
However. I WAS able to solo frost giants, headhunters, and even skeletons, before you even normally go to those places to rank with a group. You are a defensive GOD in your chosen terrain.
At Hero, you may as well be a deafen monkey. Aimed shots seldom worked, with 23 dex, perfected everything, and high hitroll in PK. If you can survive long enough to wield whip/ serpent strike for deafen/wield staff, you can fight bards and mages allright, but you have no way of keeping them from running.
Cheers.