Noble, as clueless42 said, nothing is as annoying as not getting you target, due to being sniped, stacked or the like. On .net i got sniped and have to recover 3 nobles, and i'm still only on 1 vill. THATS a real pain.
800 archers are just defense, you don't use them for anything other than defending and are easy to replace, especially when you have more than 1 def vill :icon_rolleyes:.
so on losses, the noble, but on how valuable, it depends on your situation, your surroundings, your playing style, etc etc etc.