Why are you jerking around because of 5 damage points? This change is hardly about balance between classes, rather about the same item distribution for everyone. Archers still can boost their damage way too much via equipment compared to other classes.
A change there, a nerf of all better archer stuff, can just be good for archers as you don't need to invest years of searching for better equipment just in order to being able to compete. Of course it's kind of annoying to item whores, but what do you prefer? A nerf of all archers in general so that just item whores can play the game or a nerf of item whores?

(One of both options is necessary in order not to have archers hitting for 1000 damage every second)
I really like the direction where this leads to, and my equipment is rather OP. (In fact I'm just missing a dragon's amulet)
Thanks for the clarification, Chilko. Does that mean all items that still differ in item and requirement level will either get their level raised or their bonus cut?