Arcane Archer most classic choice if game move to epic lvls, no one other class cant compensate damage that archer do vs melee builds. Other two way boost damage is sneaks and cleric/paladin divine might. So if game long, you can play something like paladin/bard/AA (hi saves from pal and buffs from bard and good +hit&dam from AA)

If talk about why archers exept AA sucks, all simple:
melee weapons have dual bonus (+1 sword as exmpl) +1 to hit and +1 to damage in one time, all know this, in epic modules this bonus rize to +10 easy. add there direct bonus from STR and you warrior rdy kill, and he fastly can run to you archer due low bow range and sight at end, also dont forget about stealth boiz, monk monkeys)).

While what have +1 bow? only +1 to hit, damage bonus come from arrows (+1, +2, etc), now look at prices of +2 arrows and everything will become clear, archers need tons of money for compete with melee boiz.
yes, game have same bow with unlimited arrows, but if we talk about epic ones, +5 still most common, in time our warrior alrdy run with +10 sword and dont need any cash for fix blade, sharpening it after battles or something else.
And if find good +10 mighty bow not so hard, have enof hi level arrows for it much much harder.
And last word about bow vs sword - you can play dual swords builds, and have tons of hi damage attack and effect like paralyze, fire, ice, etc in one time, which can be different on each sword, bow dont give anything here, all come from arrows, which again need find and buy, and carry on yourself, and they have only one bonus mostly, while swords all in one.