You guys need to stop basing archery balance off of the handful of players who can get a 2:1 ratio with a bow. The majority of archers out there can barely keep up a 1:1, it takes a lot of skill points and time invested to become good at this. Encouraging hybrids would just lead to more players carrying a bow as a sidearm -> more archers. As well, these good archers probably have their weapons loomed, why can't they get a few kills with those? Archers without looms typically suffer in comparison.
Archery is a natural balance for cav, and it currently stands that it takes 4-5 unloomed tatar's to bring down most cav. Heaven forbid they bring plated chargers, in that case it'll take 6+. Sure we can switch to bodkins, but that's a huge money sink for non-veteran players and unloomed bodkins still will take 4-5 shots. Also, even landing your shot on a fast moving target isn't always easy, especially for non-veteran archers.
Semi-decent cav players can get 3:1, or even 4:1 ratios and excellent melee players can achieve that as well. But if an archer comes anywhere close, people will whine. Even then, this is only really possible for most by targeting the weakest players or stealing kills.
Again, archery needs to be considered on the whole. Yes, a group of archers will be deadly. But so will a pack of cavalry, or a pack of melee. Did you see what happened before the nerf was semi-reverted? Cavalry absolutely dominated the servers and yet, only archers were the ones calling for balance. Overall, I would argue that archery could use a slight buff in damage, but that would just cause people to whine more as the best archers move up the scoreboard. Overall, I think things are some what fine where they are.
edit: Haven't you also noticed that a lot of places where archers used to hang out in older maps are now gone (rocks and such)? They make it harder for archers all the time and force archers to adjust, and then you guys complain when they do. Just shut the fuck up and play already.
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