This pops up all the time, and i don't see how it's not touched on more often, but balance is not achieved by revenge. 9 out of the 10 posts i see talking about "balance" are thinly veiled pleas to have something the writer feels is "cheap" because it has killed them removed or nerfed into unplayability. Problem is that people don't accept the fact that to someone everything in this game is cheap.
I think you misunderstood what I meant by "cheap". The reason we had so many people with xbows and thrown in previous versions was that they could take them. Given the option, even a lausy, inaccurate, low damage weapon that allows you to hit from afar, before you get into melee will be used by melee-centric players. As small advantage as it may give, it will be exploited because, why not? (example one of many:
http://forum.c-rpg.net/index.php/topic,7176.0.html)
What kind of gameplay does this promote?
Lets say I play a melee focused character. I see a couple of infantry advancing on me. Instead of waiting, or charging towards them I can pull out my incredibly inaccurate xbow and get off a bolt or two before they reach me. Its inaccurate? OK then I'll fire the last bolt from 4 meters shotgun-style and insta-un-sheath my 1.8 meter poleaxe from my back to get into the real business - why not try to remove some hits from them before the melee starts?. Next round I get a better idea: I will stand of a roof, so I get 3-4 wild shots before I start the melee.
The "cheap" ability to take some shots, even lousy ones, promote this king of gameplay like roof top camping and initial 2 minutes phase of high volume missile exchange. Players simply cannot resist it even if the actual effectiveness is low. If on the other hand I had to choose between my big main melee weapon and a lousy ranged+smaller melee weapon, then xbow will stay with the baggage. I will stick with my infantry buddies for mutual protection instead of camping roofs. I strongly believe that ditching ranged sidearms it will result in better game play.
All this is in addition to the other issues with cavs, melee and realism that it solves.