Please give archer a dagger.

[Skeloton]

Nor is anyone saying mobs don't get close to archers for that matter. It happens. However, archers specifically have tools to mitigate that and people should be using them instead of worrying about archer melee. That isn't where the archer's strength is going to be.

What does a mage do when mobs get up close? Same thing. They bind or otherwise neutralize the threat and then nuke from a safe distance. They aren't going to sit there and beat on it with their staff.

In leve-parties I rarely get mobbed unless I was the one to start the leve for some reason. As ARC in parties I make sure I got Out of Sight, chameleon and quelling strike, after all that I just spam Multishots.