I was reading the old patch notes for another reason, when I have seen this message directly from @Fatshark_Hedge note (evidently I had missed it):
I think Fatshark had done this change because, during beta, many ranged weapons were trash. It seems logic. Currently I don’t know if now they know this. If it’s intended or not. But also with this +20% damage boost, Human Longbow doesn’t reach any new breakpoint since beta. It’s the same “beta-Longbow”.