No, they cant. There are literally no challenge modes where u are significantly punished for playing melee or i cant recall any after doing all of them. Most of those abilities u think are favoring ranged setup can be avoided, u know. Maybe next time check who got RF on your (ours) realm and start there (yes, triple melee). Also helped me a lot.
Especially rogue is hardly useless class with his, as many already pointed out, AoE stealth, that can be used for longer "invis" saving u a pack from time to time or just replacing invis so u can combat pot on a boss (what is going to help u a LOT in SSB - if ur using invis after 2nd boss, yes I know its not needed but when u want to eliminate rng...). Nothing beats the feeling when entire party has pot on CD and u still pot on every pack^^ Next thing is this combat cleave and assa AoE w/o cap, which turned out to be goldbreaking for us in SSB. Usually there is time to change spec, so u want to change every time ur going to gain sth.
worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-3y9vfewttwdoryo9/sum/damageDone/?s=2871&e=3633