If Archers were nerfed right now to deal damage lower than Pugilist, Marauder, and Lancer then no one would use them.

Why? AoE heals.

Who cares if the melees get hit by AoE? They're gonna get healed when the tank gets healed anyway. Archers would be totally worthless until AoE healing gets nerfed, and then we wait another 3 months for that to get fixed.

There is so much stuff wrong with stats and the current battle system that singling out one thing like Archer being an OP DD is futile. Here is what Yoshida and crew are currently working on:

-Make allocated stats more significant or scrap the system
-Make secondary stats on gear actually do something
-Revamp requirements on equipping gear and abilities
-Add Jobs/specializations/talent trees

These things will eventually be the backbone of class balance. If all that gets done and we still have problems, THEN:

-Nerf archer damage
-Nerf AoE heals
-Nerf emulate
-Nerf THM DoT
-Nerf Shock Spikes
-Buff GLA damage
-Nerf/Buff anything else I'm forgetting

People in this thread are putting way too much emphasis on one thing. If SE just fixes that one thing and nothing else, we're going to have another 3 months - 4 years of worthless archers instead of OP ones. Devs need to be made aware of everything, not just archer damage output. Otherwise, you come across as someone with a personal vendetta against rangers and nothing else.

Wait for the groundwork to be laid then re-address class balance. SE could add something in the new job system that would totally eclipse Archer damage (e.g. haste + march x2 for melees). Oh lordy, just the thought of adding haste into this game sends shivers down my spine. CON-only haste, butthurt THMs, complaints about having to maintain cycles, hahahah.