Yes that is true, some archers do that. But leaving them with no melee weapon encourages those who actually do stand and fight to run and im not sure thats a better alternative. But yes it is indeed a valid tactic to run and kite people when you're not the last guy alive, i just dont agree with encouraging it when theres plenty of archers who atm stand and fight.
I don't agree with encouraging running from melee either, but that is what most archers do & on my archer most of the time I will flee rather than fight because I know I'm far more a threat at a range than toe to toe with 3 power strike, cloth armor, and no iron flesh.
as you've said ATM there are plenty of archers who stand and fight, I'm sure they still will stand and fight with their 1h weapon just the same as they do with their 2h/pole ATM.
But lately what I see is, random archers with pole arms or 2h who will run from a melee even though they may have a weapon advantage on their opponent which is why I said the only way to stop those runners from running from melee is to glue them to one spot.
most archers run from melee because .. well they're archers, they know that melee chars probably hold the advantage in melee combat so why would they offer up an advantage to their opponent when they can simply deny it by out running the fatties in plate armor.
Obviously there's exceptions, all just my opinion but you can't stop archers from running because even with 2h/pole arm atm they run from melee, forcing every one of them to take a 1h over a quiver of arrows won't stop them from running away at the first sight of an enemy closing in to melee them.
"Buff crossbows, either only siege and heavy or all of them, because soon we, crossbowmen, won't be able to use neither 2h/polearm nor 1h+shield = 1h without shield. What means, that we will be weaker. So buff us to balance it out a bit, please."
@Dravic, plz no, already I'm lucky if I survive 2 xbow bolts don't force me into a full str build with a suit of armor just so I can survive to meet the melee & then die by a back peddling xbow player who was hiding in a tower the whole round. You want to hit people across the map? then you do it without having a decent way to defend yourself in melee, just like I don't have a decent way to defend myself from ranged across the map you shouldn't be able to decently defend yourself in melee. Fair trade off IMO, more damage to range would just further increase the rewards for not risking anything and just camping a tower all match with a crossbow until the end of the round when everyone still alive funnels up to lay the beat down just to get 1 shotted because they're so weak from actually fighting a battle not just reloading an xbow aiming and shooting.
All my (meaningless) opinion, I mean no offense am only being vocal not trying to sound hostile at all.
Just can't see giving more rewards for less risk being a good thing.