Mecenary Skill Tree, Why?!?!

I'm about 50hours into the game and have spent a lot of time reading through the passive tree...

For the life of me I cannot figure out why there are so many melee/one hand/duel wield nodes in the mecenary skill tree. Is there something I'm missing where you can use something other than a crossbow for the majority (all) of your skills?

It's not the Merc tree, it's the Dexterity/Strength hybrid skill tree, which the Duelist (or whatever the other class will be) also is. Duelist will probably be a sword wielding character and starts at the same points as the Merc.

You're not tied to the weapon types you think your class should use, unless your ascendancy bonuses are tied to a specific skill type only. You can use Mace skills for all you like, or a bow if you're all into Dexterity.

Just like there are Spears nodes between the Ranger/Merc tree and Spears aren't even in the game yet. They didn't adapt the passive tree for the Early Access classes only ;)

You share the tree starting post with the Duelist character which is sword focused so there's that. You should be able to find more projectile type nodes going to the right, towards the OP bow girl character starting zone. The left side brings you to the warrior area which is much more melee focused.