I know firsthand about thrown weapon specialists - my first successful soloist was a thrower. They're less effective at taking down single targets, but against a large group they're second to none. The total damage for a thrown critical and the following ricochet is higher than the damage for a bowmaster's mortal wound critical, but this relies on having a second nearby enemy to take the ricochet. Not to mention Flurry - even though it sends your accuracy to hell it will still shred large groups to pieces, and will absolutely decimate larger enemies (Knotted Shambler, Talon, vaarths, ganths, Valdis etc) when used at close range. Not to mention that as throwers can hit multiple targets at once, they're ideal for setting up enemy groups for a mass Execute in BW (if you decide to get BW). Another nice bonus of any ranger in the DS2 engine is that the Survival skill is great for magic resistances (BW nerfs the resistances offered by Survival a lot). All in all, a thrower is great fun to play with even though it takes a while before they really start to come into their own.
From cradle to coffin... Shall my wickedness... Be your passion