Archers can't use any armor with higher rating than 20 if they want their whole wpp to be active, can't wear better gloves, can't wear head armor, limited boot choice...
On top of that they can't use many weapons because of slot system. Actually they can but in that case they don't have much arrows to shoot. Therefore most use crappy 0 slot weapons with little or no PS due to a fact that archery unlike xbows has special skill where you need to put points.
Damage they deal is good only if they have everything loomed and "victim" is moving towards them. It's not archery that deals such huge damage in some cases, it's speed bonus. Same goes for xbows, cav, throwing and melee. They all profit from speed bonus.
Now tell me that archery isn't gimped atm, will all these facts I've written here.