While all of this is true, I think it is important to remember that much of the strength will come from unique magic items, not a slightly higher damage die.
I am almost certain there will be a lot more (and thus probably better) magic short and longbows than hand crossbows.
In EA, there is only one special hand crossbow to my knowledge (Firestroker. Which is OK, but not as strong as for example spellthief)
That's quite a point. It's off topic but the arguments against armors for casters works in the same sense too.
I usually reason with mundane weapons, but being this a videogame it feels fair to have more magic items all over the place, and these weapons makes most of these doubts less impacting.
