I agree with the point that HA's have been nerfed more than anything else, i you want 5 HA, u can only use a Nomad bow, and it does litteraly no damage against even medium armour.
Being a HA is now a very expensive way not to get kills
If you're not good at it, then yeah it is an expensive way to not get kills, that's if you're using an expensive setup, I have a cheap setup that is 25k using a strongbow, light armour and a rouncey, for when I'm not earning any gold. The only thing that changes in my setup is horses, either a Rouncey, Courser or Cataphract.
Also obviously if you're having a bad day you won't get so many kills, but I get quite alot of kills most of the time and I most certainly wound alot of people too, just takes some practice to know where to aim depending on where your enemy is or is going to be when the arrow lands and which direction and how fast your horse is moving. I find it alot more fun than Foot Archer, infact I haven't played my Foot Archer since I made a HA.