(Yes,i have all these chars,not before but now,YES i have played ALL classes so far,i just have these at the moment) Lets see if people will reply to this post before even reading what i wrote,sadly often that happens...
All these chars are L25+
Archer view: Pre-buff my archer was almost useless ( L30 18str/24 agi, NO ath/PS (!) ) for everything else than killing unarmored horses, with the latest buff and the heirloomed warbow i'm able to 4hit mail armored infantry and tincan armor isnt that useless at all (took 7 shots to kill a tincan with flamberge,yup... the armor is doing its job i think)
Accuracy is good at close range (still far from pinpoint with 170wpf), but i cannot risk taking safe shots into melee.pre-patch you'd rarely see me teamhit someone unless he ran infront of me, at longrange the shots are very hard to do now (very innacurate on longrange, longrange for example as the usual range from a castle to spawnpoint ).
The xbows are still able to one shot me from very far away, and i can't do skirmish,since preety much any melee that isnt tincan with 5+ ath can catch up with me,and with 0PS i cant do much to defend myself against infantry if they get in close. The upkeep doesnt really strike me alot, i still gain with barmace,2x bodkins,heirloomed warbow and 3k worth of armor.
Thrower/2h hybrid view : Yup,archers are kinda silly being able to 3 shot my 27str (9ps/pt), but actually thinking about the path ill take to approach the archer makes the whole thing easier than just a headfirst charge and dodging ( i know, on open maps its more complicated) , i still manage to get great kill:death ratios with throwing axes and jarids and with bastard sword for melee, usually two jarids will kill an average L28 infantry, sometimes even one. I really do envy those throwers with 11+ PT being able to oneshot anything but rare tincans/IF str stackers and armored horses. The upkeep is horrid,i cannot afford more than 10k of armor since each stack of throwing weapons has a chance to break, thats why i chose bastard sword (cheap!) for my melee weapon, i see why there are so few lance throwers nowadays.
2hander STR(27str 6IF medium-heavy armor)view : Pre-patch i had almost no issues with archers,at most they interrupted me in melee,but no harm was done from the arrows, usually siege xbow took around 60% of my health, the only thing that buggered me was the throwers being able to take 95% of my health in one jarid.
With the current buff to archers a lvl 26+ archer will be able to take away atleast 25% of my health from an arrow, so i took a old heather shield (0 shield skill) and kept it always with me, it worked well unless the archers had the time to shoot my feet/ shield 6 times, i usually tried to avoid that, but still i died many times, but alot less than without shield.
It always pisses me off when some random projectiles stop my rampage,true but its really no good when individuals can rock the board with 40:1KDs because almost nothing can stop them. The upkeep is not bad, even with 25k worth of armor, 10k weapon i manage to keep a steady increase in money.
Cav view (steppe horse/courser): Pre-buff archers were few,but still i would rarely get away from an assault with my horse intact (steppe horse), most of the time my horse died from 3-5 shots and one headshot, and yes thats slightly unfair for the upkeep of the horse (they even increased it!), now with archer buff my horse still dies as quick as before,but sadly there are so many archers that theres almost no point in being cav with an unarmored horse unless the map is large and you can flank them/get behind, patience works remember!
Even the best archers get tunnelvision and you can safely lance them without one hit taken.
The upkeep pre-patch was fine, i could afford a courser, 5k of armor, 3k shield and 10k of weapons and still had a decent income, now with upkeep increase (horse) i guess i'll have to loose the lance too....
Xbow/glaive view: I do think archers are fine from xbowman view, finding some good cover and shooting them has prooven effective since DEDICATED xbowmen are now capable of shooting from really afar and still being able to ONE shot the archers, xbow will usually dominate over archery in normal maps,but in open maps without trees (!) the xbowers are fucked unless helped by a teammate with a large shield,being able to reload safely gives us large advantage.(remember, teamwork is something we want!)
Sadly now with the buff,i cannot afford making as many mistakes, so i have to adapt LIKE EVERY OTHER CLASS.
Pre-patch the gear was hard to upkeep (siege crossbow, 2x steel bolts, 10k of armor,glaive), now with xbow price increase i will probably loose some of my steel bolts and change them to the normal ones, the damage nerf was not bad,but i heard its gonna get back to normal soon,not 100% sure.
Overall in my opinion, the shield-less melees and light cav were hit by this buff the most.
