As long as the ranged exist, no matter how hard or less useful it is, there will be always people who can use them efficiently. What "nerf ranged" supporters want is, they want to be invulnerable to the ranged projectiles.
This is supposed to be a team game, not every build is supposed to be useful in all situations. If someone decides to go high STR build with 2-3 athletics, they have to find a shielder or any kind of coverage to come into melee; where they will truly shine, where they will put their adventage to good use. A shielder is not supposed to deal with 2 archers at once, shielders are not an offensive counter to the ranged. Shielders are defensive units, while the xbowmen, throwers and cavalry can be an offensive counter to archers. Of course this doesn't mean shielders can not be an effective offensive counter to the ranged. But since shielders are another class of infantry units, 20 shielders vs 20 ranged would lose. Because infantry are weak against ranged normally, this is something we can learn from the Age of Games. On the other hand 10 shielders, 5 cav and 5 archers would have a better chance against 20 archers. That is why there can never be a good balance in public games, where classes are randomly distributed. Or worse, distributed based on clan banners (Yes I'm talking about GK mainly).
The reason cRPG has less balance than other mods is, there are simply more classes which are less flexible (such as pure 2handers). People here say archery in native is ridiculous, but there is no unbalance in native because every infantry can use shields, spears, throwing weapons and two handed street sweepers whenever they want; even at the same time if they wish. So it actually balances things out. Such a thing we can never hope to have in cRPG because of classess and dedicated builds.
This balance issue especially be a problem in public games because, as I said, classes are not equally distributed among teams. Even worse, even simple strategy or coordination is something hard to find since it is a public server. If a cavalry have 27-1 score, it is because the other team let him to achieve that score. Same goes for all classes, such as archery and 2handed STR crutchers.
That's why there should be more events like clanmatches and such, to see how two organized teams do. That's what makes nations cup so valuable in my opinion, but I'd say more events should take place.
My suggestion is: Do what needs to be done about balancing, but please do not do it very based on public games. Host events instead to see how the balance is truly are. Games such as LOL, Starcraft are not being balanced by public games, but ranked games instead; if I am not horribly mistaken.
