What stats are best suited to a shortbow/longbow weilding Ranger

Take a look at the Wiki on the page Mystic Forge. It will tell you where the forge is, how it is used, and some predictable recipes. The forge lets you do two things. First you can create recipes to craft other items like consumables, weapons, or armor. Second, the forge can be used to create better crafting materials of one type higher.

The examples the wiki gives are as follows:

Common Crafting Material Promotion

Common crafting materials can be promoted to a small pile of higher tier materials with the following formula. The tier of dust needed is equivalent to the tier of the wanted product. So, if you are hoping to create Orichalcum, a tier 6 common material, you need to use Crystalline Dust, a tier 6 dust. If common crafting material B is one tier higher than common crafting material A, then:

10-50 Crafting Material B = 250 Common Crafting Material A (i.e. 250 Mithril Ores) + 1 Common Crafting Material B (i.e. 1 Orichalcum Ores) + 2-5 Dust A (i.e. 5 Pile of Crystalline Dust) + 5 Philosopher's stone

In that example: That recipe will produce 10-50 Orichalcum Ores

Armor boxes and armor satchels

Recipes can be created using the Mystic Forge. They will allow you to craft armor boxes and armor satchels, which will in turn give you every piece of an armor set.

Armor set recipe

Ingredients

5 Bottle of Elonian Wine

20 Arcane Crystal

50 Mystic Coin

1 Armor item

Mystic coins seem to be a common item needed for Food Trays, Weapons and Armor. Also look at this page for current recipe research.

You can see this in action with this video on how to make a Giant Chocolate Cake. Details are in the video summary.

Pure tanking:

You are correct that the bears are the most adept at tanking in this game. Their stats at level 80 is:

• Power 1,374
• Precision 1,374
• Toughness 1,374
• Vitality 4,122

This gives them the highest health of any species of pets out there. In addition the bear is the best tank as they have a skill called Defy Pain which allows them to take no damage for several seconds. They also have a skill called Bite which allows them to regenerate. The bear that is also especially adept at tanking is the Black Bear. It has a skill called Enfeebling Roar that allows them to weaken all nearby foes, reducing their damage by 50%.

Pure Damage:

Your belief that a devourer would be advantageous in support damage isn't quite right. Their stats at level 80 do not have any advantage in power or precision. Their skills aren't particularly superior in the damage department. In fact it focuses more on defensively maneuvers. The main advantage they have is being ranged. In this case, either you would have to the "tank" which is never a good idea for a ranger or the devourer's range is useless since the enemy would just come straight up to them.

The Lynx has precision that is higher than most pets. They also inflict vulnerability which increase the damage the enemy takes and bite which is a burst damage skill. They also inflict two sources of bleeding which stacks intensity and duration. Another species of pet that is adept at pure damage is the Canine family which includes the Alpine Wold, Fern Hound, Krytan Drakehound, and Wolf because they have superior power stats. At level 80, their stats are:

• Power 1,718
• Precision 1,374
• Toughness 2,061
• Vitality 1,718

1,718 Power is the highest power stat for landbound animals.

Buffs/Support:

The Fern Hound has a skill called Regenerate which regenerates itself and all nearby allies. In addition, its species skills allows it to cripple and knockdown foes.

The Raven and White Raven are able to grant swiftness to all nearby enemies. In addition they are able to inflict blindness on the enemy.

The Moa specie is especially adept at support buffs. Their specie skills include a heal that also heals nearby allies. The Red Moa is able to grant fury to all nearby allies which increase their critical chance by 20%. The Blue Moa is able to use Protecting Screech which grants protection to nearby allies which reduces the damage they take by 33%.

Underwater Tank:

If you want a pure tank underwater pet, the Armor Fish is a terrific choice. It has the highest armor rating of all the pets and has above normal vitality. At level 80, their stat is:

• Power 1,030
• Precision 1,374
• Toughness 2,404
• Vitality 2,061

To supplement their tanky stats, they also have a skill to add protection to themselves which decrease the damage they take by 33% and have a heal.

And of course as mentioned earlier, the Bears are great at tanking due to their superior health. The bears are Amphibious which allows them in water and on land.

Underwater Damage:

If you intend to have a huge underwater damage dealer, there is no better choice than the Shark. The sharks at level 80 have the following stats:

• Power 2,404
• Precision 1,374
• Toughness 1,374
• Vitality 1,718

They have the highest power compared to any other pets on land or underwater. They have 3 sources of bleeding which stacks damage and Feeding Frenzy increases their attack speed.