This thread has quite clearly derailed, I am a 2h and don't mind being raped by archers, they are meant to. My problem with archery is nothing to do with my class but it is that shielders can't kill them alone due to most archers kiting. I find this incredibly silly from a balance perspective since most of this game works of a counter system, which is the reason archers should "pwn" me, yet the counter to ranged (shielders) is no longer a counter. The way I play archer and have always done is that when the last alive, if the person reaches me I have failed. If the player is a shielder I will ready my bow and attempt to sidestep the shield which works if the shielder doesn't anticipate it. But after that I will enter melee combat with them, I have my tiny 1h hammer and 3 PS but I can manual block for a long time and can actually sometimes win. I will actually kite too if and only if I have team mates alive, since I can run to them for protection and this should be possible.
To summarise, archery isn't inherently overpowered, it's just the way it is sometimes played. A mechanic needs to be thought up on how to stop the archer (who is the last alive) from kiting an infantryman until he is out of arrows. This is not the way archery should work. But as for nerfing athletics for archers, just no, since that will have far too many repurcussions.