For the record, I play almost exclusively archer. I play a polearm/lance-cav occasionally.
=upkeep increase; it's not terrible, but it's not great either. The "old money" crowd still has enough gold for it to not effect them. Lowbie characters suffer more. Plus, when everything they own is 'loomed, long-time players can just sell away their 'loom points for even MORE gold. Thus, I'm not sure what the point of this change was.
+Throwing is back. That's nice.
+STRATEGUS is back. Thanks!
+"Your valor has been rewarded!" No idea how you get this, but I assume there's a system to see if players on shitty teams are doing well and this rewards them. Good idea.
+Archery cost increases. It was good while it lasted, and maybe balanced towards the relative utility of the archetype, but archers now make far less money. It wasn't an unfair change, especially since lower quality arrows are a decent substitute, just like other archetypes can choose slightly worse gear.
=Lancing. It may be harder, but playing lance cav still isn't all that terribly difficult. I'm awful, and I still maintain a fairly even K/D on horseback (Rouncey and Heavy Lance, medium armor). I certainly still have a lot of fun doing it.
-Archery range/damage. It's all been said already. Ridiculous. It was fine, if not underpowered before. For God's sake, look at the kill-death ratios and leaderboards. There is not one iota of evidence that has been brought forth to show that archery was somehow too good prior to .230. Please change archery back to what it was.
+I like the new yumi bow option. Haven't fooled around with it yet, but it has very interesting stats. Archers don't get too many options, so this is a welcome addition.
