I have to early started charachters, an assissin which i planned out to use sneak archery and daggers, and a high elf archer who uses alchemy and enchanting.

are they honestly largely different?... i dont see how they are, because i seem to play similarly with each character? what am i doin wrong

An archer is an archer, the main difference is that your stealthy char will get a critical hit if undetected and if his stealth is good might remain undetected even after shooting.

Archery without Sneak strikes me as kind of silly. Characters that rely on Archery tend not to do well in toe-to-toe fights, so they need to ensure that they can kill enemies from range. Deadly Aim and sufficient Sneak Skill to get off several shots before detection increase your damage output tremendously.

Also, Shadow Warrior + backstab talents in Sneak + DB gloves will allow you to use daggers effectively with minimal perk investment, so you'll still have a melee alternative.

I have never been able to defend myself with archery and daggers at low levels in TES games.

Good luck.

I am running a straight Bosmer/Elven archer. I did A LOT of hit and run at low levels. I also put a few perks in restoration and one-hand so I could dagger wield while healing. If you are not going to sneak with your archer, then i suggest quick leveling smithing so you have a powerful bow. The bow becomes OP pretty fast, and the sneak shot becomes OHK on most low level enemies. Without the sneak, you will still probably drop quite a few in one or two hits.

Also, it will take FOREVER to get past level 45 or so if you don't use something else at least once i a while, be it destruction, one hand, two hand, illusion, whatever...

I'm running a breton who uses daggers, archery, sneak and light armour, with a side investment in smithing and enchanting, and she's a SLAUGHTERHOUSE. IMO, straight up archery without sneak is a bit irritating, so I tend to pick off targets with sneak, restealth and then sneak in for the big backstab when the numbers have been whittled down appropriately. The thing is this: Use your money (and you'll make tons) to train up light armour skill. Being able to take a punch is still very important, especially early on when your sneak skill isn't as high as you might wish.