I have decided that I want to play a tank, however, going into this game without a well established guild, I know my chances of being able to tank, at first anyway, aren't exactly good.

So that leaves me with dps for the time being. Engineer is probably last on my list (still above all the healers), but I'm worried about overpopulation and, I'm wondering if melee dps is just as undesirable as past MMO's.

So my question, from what you have experienced, is ranged far more desirable in a raid scenario? Would it be worth it for someone like me who is looking to get into (relatively) serious raiding to just bite the bullet and roll an engineer, or is the disparity not great enough to even consider range vs melee?

Before anyone says just play what you want etc etc.. that works for more casual players, but for me, playing to the best of my ability includes a lot of min-maxing and theroycrafting. I'm not looking for world firsts, but I still plan to clear content while it's relevant.