But what happens when they have spears?
That's what axes are for?
Look, whether people want to believe archers are beneficial or not is there own choice, but if you do the math... If you attack a village full of archers with no MA, you lose an abundance more of troops than you would with MA in there. Especially if the village is mixed with spears, swords, archers, HC, and catapults... which I have learned is very efficient. Great for splitting, good general defense, etc. Archers are effective defensive tools, especially against those that think they are a waste.
I'll make my tables again later that I used to have, but they were on my old computer. You may not prefer archers, but if they are on the world, you better use em.