Its rather hard to qualify arguments against archers when shields still have slight force-field projecting capabilities and when even the free shields will handily defend you against a dozen arrows, which should be enough time to run up to any archer and whack them in the face. Its also easier to sit at the back of a battle and shoot arrows at people as a new player, but then again they'll probably fold like a paper rag when you run up to them with a big sword.
I think this games main problem is that really good players tend to dominate whatever class they play, but even a really good archer wont live long against multiple infantrymen without help. This is a team game in most gamemodes, and complaining about archers shooting at you when you're in a big melee fight is like complaining that you died because someone hit you from behind with a lance whilst you were occupied with someone else. The only thing that really annoys me about archers is that they force you to play defensively sometimes, which isnt as fun as blind two handed charging, but thats part of the game and you cant expect to play one way all the time and still win.
At least most archers tend to lead their targets enough that you can sidestep the arrows in midflight, which is surprisingly fun.