Rushing and spamming me usually leads to success... 
Once someone reached me I am dead. There is no way I can do any harm to him any more, so it's only a matter of time until a block of mine fails... which isn't long... 
Let me teach you a very valuable trick as a piker: when someone runs up to you and spams, block their first 2 or 3 strikes, run forward to their side, jump right as you get next to them, chamber your attack, turn 180* and release as you spin. It takes a little work to perfect it, but jumping spin stabs are the only way to 1v1 with a pike. I've killed some good players using this trick. It only works twice or so though before they get the hang of it and can retaliate, so after that grab your sidearm.
EDIT:
Nerf-rpg has unintended consequences? It's pretty obvious that you make pikes/long spears go from 2 slots to 3 slots, and then nerf the hell out of archers that you're going to see a huge spike in cavalry.
I say revert back to the patch before the archery nerf and leave well enough alone. Nothing was so overpowered or unbalanced that it required a nerf. Balance team fail.
Maybe focus on fixing strategus and getting new players into it (and maybe getting new players incorporated into crpg, i.e. a message that tells them how to use battalions, and to focus on teamwork).
This wasn't the work of the balance team. In fact, balance team is very much against the ranged nerf.