Depends. Arrows are easy to dodge unless you have low agi build. But dodging requires certain knowledge. Until few months ago, you could dodge just by fast turning and zigzagging. Right now it's best to stand still, wait for archer to release the arrow and make your move. That way you won't catch them but you won't get shot either.
Kiting is the problem as you said but kiting is pretty much the only way for archer to stay alive if he's facing someone who can dodge arrows. That's because their melee abilities are shit. Some of them don't even bother carrying melee weapon...
From my experience, I can survive up to 6 or 7 arrows if I'm standing still (or moving from arrows for negative speed bonus) and being on the same level with an archer. I'm talking about average archer, not guys like bagge with 180+ wpf in archery and MW equipment (bagge holds bow ready for some time to get bonus damage).
I can't survive more than 5 hits from average 2H warrior. Most of the time I can take 3 hits.
And amount of arrows I can dodge is higher than amount of hits I can block against those who are a lot better than me (so are the archers who's arrows I'm avoiding).
Those players, who don't play defensively and who are worse than me, can hardly block one or two of my hits. Maybe if they are really concentrated at defense. If they want to attack back they are screwed. And if I hit them, many times I'm able to combine held attacks in a way that every time they want to retaliate is the moment I strike and hit them. That works only against worse players than myself.
So, I wouldn't agree that it's easier to block attacks than to dodge arrows at medium distances (bolts are different story). Speaking from experience.
Agreed.
Archery is probably the best class for killing low skilled players. If you are a good archer with a relatively accurate and powerful (talking about pure archer) build and you fight people who didnt learn to dodge accordingly yet you might get many kills that way, especially when baiting them while looking behind with the view outfit key.
People who know how to dodge however and have decent equip are not worth fighting because unless you get the headshot or they are already low at health they will catch up with you and destroy you in melee.
This talk about risk/reward, countering other classes applies for archery very well. As an archer I dont take the risk of getting in the danger zone to get kills, thats right. But it is my responsibility to connect all arrows I need with the guy who is chasing me down. If I cant he will get into melee range, where he has more damage, more attackspeed, more range and a fuckload of more survivability. It is the risk of chasing down archers that is too low IMO. Who would guess it is viable to run straight up a ranged class on an open field, where the archer is supposed to have the advantage because its his role to dominate under those circumstances. Yet this is nothing strange in crpg, so there is kiting.
I have to cope with the same dilemma everytime I retire. In my 12 gens of archery about 3 times I went hybrid. Even with my semi melee capabilities Im able to kill quite a large part of the playerbase with full melee builds and eq but therefore I have to abandon quite some ranged capabilities in terms of slots and most of all wpf. When I retire and go pure archer again I have to live with total scrubs killing me in melee because of my build and eq limitations.
Its a decision to make. People without shields should be devastated by archers, which is not even true to a full extend right now because dodging is relatively easy once you know how. Archers pay the same price when someone gets close but strangely you dont see 100 threads about this issue every week.
Kiting is silly, although vital for pure archers now I have agree. I dont agree with making their eq heavier or capping their ath though, because this would be a general nerf to mobility. If kiting shall be nerfed simply increasy the speed penalty when drawing a bow drasticly.
