Rangers and Area of Effect spells

There's something that bothers me about Ranger's spell list.

When you look at the Paladin’s spell list, a lot of what’s there is reflected pretty well in the class features:

• You’ve got smite spells, which are obviously represented by Divine Smite, with Radiant Strikes being a buffed Divine Favour.
• The “Aura” spells reflect the paladin’s Aura of Protection, Courage and subclass auras. 
• Many of the spells shared with the Cleric that focus on healing and restoration (cure wounds, protection from poison, greater restoration) can be found in lay on hands and cleansing touch. 

The relationship the Paladin has between its spells and class features does a pretty good job at showing us what the Paladin is about.

Even the Artificer seems to work this way. A lot of the spells in its list are about enhancement and utility, which is most strongly reflected in the Artificer’s ability to create magic items for themselves and their allies.

The Ranger spell list, meanwhile, does cover some aspects associated with the Ranger: 

• Movement and Stealth spells like Longstrider, Pass Without Trace and Freedom of Movement are probably best represented in Land Stride, Natural Explorer, Hide in Plain Sight, Feral Senses, and later Roving, Deft Explorer and Nature’s Veil. 
• Detection spells such as Detect Magic, Locate Plants and Animals, and Locate Creature are probably most represented by Primeval Awareness, and later replaced by Primal Awareness in Tasha’s (...and then removed completely in favour of Hunter’s Mark, I guess?)

However, while some Ranger spells focus on damage and control for single targets (like Hunter’s Mark or Ensnaring Strike), many more spells seem to be based on multi-target or area of effect damage (Hail of Thorns, Conjure Barrage, Lightning Arrow, Conjure Volley, Steel Wind Strike) or controlling an area (Cordon of Arrows, Silence, Alarm). Even some of the spells taken from the Druid list (such as Fog Cloud, Entangle, Spike Growth, Plant Growth, Wind Wall and Grasping Vine) seem to follow this area damage/control theme.

Not to say AOE is absent from the class features. Gloomstalker can do an AOE fear with Stalker’s Flurry, Drakenwarden has Drake’s Breath, and Hunter used to have Volley and Whirlwind Attack. Instead, Ranger seems to get features that encourage you to spread out your attacks to do more damage (Fey Wanderer’s Dreadful Strikes and Hunter’s Horde Breaker, for example).

TLDR: I think it’s weird that “AOE damage/control” isn’t a bigger part of the Ranger’s class features, based on the spells the class is given.

I play a 2024 0r 5.5e Beast Master who recently had to pick up some of the parties battlefield control. I find entangle, Fog cloud, Wind wall, spike growth Plant growth give me a ton of different ways to control the field. I was duel weilding along side my beast but due to lossing our druid to some family issues I now mostly use my heavy crossbow and controll the battle field. Spike growth and pushing enemies our melee fighters are not yet ready to take on 10 or 20 feet back through the spikes is a blaste and great damage. My beast gets two attacks and can charge and knock prown any enemy menacing our sorcer or cleric.

I share self only spells with the beast and just got Conjure Woodland beings. Now we both have a 10 foot spere of woodland beings floating around us doing 5d8 any time a creature enters our area or we enter theirs... if we both cross the same paths thats 10d8 just from our moving around before either of us attack... We hunt together, we protect the party. I can keep the party moving stealthy of just myself and beast. I gather information from the plants and trees or animals. I can scout through the eyes of a beast. My AOE spells are smaller, slightly less damage and area...but I'm not the sorcer, im the ranger. I can pick the 6 most dangerous casters in a battle and Steel Wind Strike make a hit roll against each and do 6d10 selectively and they get to make a con save on their spells they had going. Who else in the party canbe that person?

My only wish is I could have an extra spell or two per level pepared. I don't even mind the low amount of spells cast per level because I can do so much in battle with just me, my Beast, and a free hunters mark. Just a little more prepared choices per day would fix the class IMO.