My main problem with Native is that archers are not fun to play against. They are too accurate, they have spammitars, they have good armor, they can pick up any shield they want, any weapon. An archer with good armor, huscarl shield and spammitar is not far from as effective infantry as an actual infantry player... Either they should be really slow in melee (very low WPF and slightly lower athletics), or other infantry should be able to pick up bows and xbows for some pew pew as well (not ideal, no)...
I think the archer class would still be important even if they were a bit gimped. I play this game for the melee, and archers are just there to annoy and ruin my fun. I'm not saying they should remove the archer class, but rather nerfed.