I haven't found them to be that bad. I tend not to use them that much other than when I play on early, as I prefer Xbows, but when I use them I find that they do their fair share of damage.

I always use melee units in any case, and I think they're very important in offensive battles. I find that the melee-only rush tactic is only good if you outclass or outnumber the enemy. My focus often is usually to use missile units (preferrably nmounted) to send out to cause the opposition to break up their formation.

Often you have to mindful of not exhausting your troops too, and often you can use melee units to draw out opposition units ands force them into an unsupported or tiring attack while conserving your own troops' energy.

And if you're attacking uphill I find missile units even more important. If you just bum-rush up-hill into enemy missile fire, and then get charged downhill by their troops, you're likely to lose in a battle if troops are even. But you can send missile unkits to the flanks to try and break up their line, and then bum-rush into an unset defensive line. You can use cav well here too.

I don't think vanilla archers suck - they play a valuable role IMHO. As a few people have said, it's about having flexibility.