Weren't humans with hordes of crossbowmen weaker than the Necromancers before patch 2.1? If there's a farm near the Castle, they can produce around 100 crossbowmen per week. Necromancers might have more skeletons, but their strength is incomparable to crossbowmen.

No, humans won't be able to amass a large number of crossbowmen to create the "hordes" you're talking about. Humans need to build many expensive buildings, and the cost of the transformation itself is huge if the amount of material being transformed is large. They also need to keep peasants, as they are needed for initial development. So, while the Life faction is doing all this, the Necromancer will simply buy skeletons and zombies at the Castle, and that's all he needs. He doesn't need to return to the Castle anymore; he goes straight to the enemy, destroying all units. And when he reaches the enemy (maximum 1 month), he will have around 1500 skeletons. Plus, he'll summon the rest of his army from the Castle. How will you defeat them? In a month, I don't think you'll be able to amass a large number of archers. But if you play for a long time, you can, of course, amass a very large number of archers, and then you might win, but who will play against you for so long? They'll come to you after a month with a huge army! :D