Regular builds vs alternative builds

What do you think about the overall effectiveness/survivability of classes that are using the intended build (like a bow ranger) vs an alternative build (like an axe witch)?
I see most ppl doing alternative builds because they can achieve far more dmg or defense (or both) with a char than using it as intended, and regular builds are struggling in endgame areas, like they're designed for the alternatives.
Is there anyone here, who have used only one skill group, like only str (red) passives with a maraurder, or only dex nodes with a ranger and satisfied with the result in the endgame areas?

Prior to the Ranger moving down the skill tree and far enough away from Hex Master to not be worth it I played a DoT/Curse Bow Ranger as my first class and felt that it did extremely well.

I honestly feel as though players play alternatives to the "norm"(though I'm not sure there really is one with PoE) just to see if they can. This is still CB and there will be another wipe so a lot of players are still testing builds. It's quite fun to make a bow witch, or a wand wielding maura just to see if it can last in merciless :)

Not to hijack your thread here (let me know if you want this link deleted), but there's a lot of discussion about this going on already - you may be interested:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/51334/page/1

However, I feel the opposite is true. Right now, the tree caters to a player staying in the starting area, or at least hemisphere of the tree (Templar -> Witch -> Shadow vs Marauder -> Duelist -> Ranger) right now. This is mostly true for the Marauder, Duelist, and Shadow, from what I'm seeing, but other classes as well. As it is, due to a huge amount of "global modifiers" in the northern hemisphere, the ES classes tend to have easier access to "global" damage types and can therefore play things other than what they seem originally designed for. This is fun, and I believe it should stay. However, I feel the bottom hemisphere is currently suffering - it doesn't feel as varied, and it's much harder to get creative with builds due to a lack of these "global modifiers." I know this may be a confusing way to explain it, but I'm trying to condense my thoughts from the other thread here, rather than restating 4 pages of things I went over.

Thank you, it's an interesting thread.