edit: I should have mentioned not requiring feats as it is an optional rule.
The above is just your opinion of what a ranger should be. Not all campaigns use magical wilderness hazards or fantastical environments (e.g. the groups I have played with and campaigns that I have run myself have never used them). Nor is there a requiremnt that a ranger talk to animals, plants other than your preference. All of this could just be handled with a subclass.
Let's be honest, this isn't a Ranger problem, it's a problem with D&D. D&D originated as a game where skills didn't really exist, and the effects of that design paradigm still live on to this day, even when D&D has had skills for 20+ years now, because the magic system was designed for a game without skills. It's very difficult to make a game that's faithful to legacy D&D spells and has a good skill system, because the spells simply do things way better than skills ever can.
A class still has to scale.
That is not true. While there was no skill system in the earliest editions, class (or secondary skills and/or class in AD&D before the introduction of non-weapon proficiencies) were often used to determine what skills a character knew and "skill checks" were often resolved by ability checks, saving throws, or however else the DM decided to resolve skill actions (e.g. d6 rolls, percentage rolls, etc.).
Yes that's true, but those class-specific skills were fairly specific and few compared to a full-blown skill system (although calling 5e's skills "full-blown" might be too generous). Magic was far more versatile, with the cost of requiring preparation and a precious spell slot. And that's another problem with 5e's magic, because so many of the drawbacks of spells have been mitigated through mechanics like spontaneous casting, way more spell slots, etc. I'm not even saying we should go back to "pure" Vancian, but designers need to consider more how magic and skills interact.
I was not referring specifically to listed class specific skills (e.g. the various Thieves skills). I am referring to things like a Fighter climbing a non sheer wall or controlling a spooked horse, a wizard trying to move silently, etc.
That's when we replace the DM: when they declare 'No. You WILL engage with the parts that aren't fun for you and you will LIKE IT.'
Problem is 'let' becomes 'force' when you remove other options. And making up DCs on the spot all the times because some people like doing extra work isn't getting more people lining up to DM.
