Noone has heirloomed arrows yet, since we can't retire so far. It does not improve draw speed, longbow is SLOOOOOOOOOOOW. Armored people CAN take a few arrows, i usually just hit them to stun, so they get killed in melee. But they wont last in their armor for long.
What is more, even with 0 PS (i had 2 PS before patch), my archer feels far more competent in melee, so i am not automatically screwed, whenever someone gets to me.
@Juhanius - Whenever any lvl35+ archer with at least some idea how to play came online?