I 100% agree with OP...
No, you don't. I have two points to make.
First, you resurrected an old thread that no longer applies, as xbows have been altered since the OP first made this post.
Second, xbows are now balanced against heirlooming. If you heirloom a sniper xbow and steel bolts 3 times each, you will have something close to what the sniper xbow did pre-patch. This is acceptable, imo, since having a lot of wpf makes reload time on the sniper xbow bearable, and much better than it was pre-patch. This is also a way to limit melee people from having the one-shot sniper xbow so easily, since a melee character is less likely to focus on heirlooming xbow + bolts.
Is it a difficult, time-consuming process to be a dedicated xbowman who is able to snipe people with 1 shot? Sure.
However, the payoff is that unlike a dedicated archer, a dedicated xbowman can more easily be competent in melee. OR, if you didn't want to participate in melee at all, a dedicated xbowman could have higher athletics than an archer, being able to outrun pretty much anyone not on horseback.
Just a quick build off the top of my head:
Level 30, STR: 14, AGI: 27
Ironflesh: 1
Athletics: 9
Weapon Master: 9
181 xbow proficiency
ADHD Version: Xbows are ok now.