I just made my character on the beta but didn't get a chance to play yet. However, I noticed something huge -- there is really no archery class?

I'm familiar with TES. I know the more you use something, the better you get at it. But the fact that there are four preset classes, none of which say a single thing about archery, troubles me.

So if I wanted to be a sneak archer, would I choose Nightblade? But isn't that supposed to be for melee? Is archery not in the game yet? I'm confused and obviously have a lot of questions about this.

Whether you see this as a negative or a positive is wholly down to you, but archery isn't a class; instead it can be played freely by all classes with its perks and downsides. From what I've seen, Sorcerers and Templars are better suited than Nightblades to be Archers for the magical sides, but forgive me if that's wrong. As I'm not in the beta I don't have a full understanding of classes yet.

I like that it's not a class because you have full freedom and can fit archery into any of the four archetypes available, though the user unfriendliness may be offputting. As a keen archer for TESO, I too would like to know more about what Archers can do and with what classes. But if this breaks the NDA, I'm willing to wait until release for info ^^

I don't know if I like it. Sure, the magic combo thing would work wonders for a Dark Elf or High Elf. But Wood Elf? Their main strength is archery. They really aren't good at anything else. It seems all four classes suit the strengths of every race except for Wood Elf because there is no dedicated archery class. Bows + Arrows aren't supposed to be ancillary or an added bonus for Bosmers, it's supposed to be the go-to attack. If there is no playstyle that utilizes archery as a main attack, then Wood Elf is inherently gimped.

You don't need a class. Get a bow and make a build.

Spec down the bow skill line. Win.

There is no dedicated twohanded class for Nords, no dedicated dual wielding class for dark elves, no dedicated swoard and board class for redguard. No dedicated staff class for high elves... etc. There is no class dedicated to any weapon.

My understanding is that each of the four classes inherently helps a certain playstyle (nightblade = melee stealth, templar = spellsword, and so on). So then, for example, if you choose Nightblade and don't go melee, aren't you ignoring a major inherent strength of the class?

Playstyles, maybe, but not weapons. Any class can ultimately play any playstyle. As for playing nightblade and going bow, you still get the stealth benefits and benefits of the skills that are ranged.

not neccisarily, in the 30min gameplay video, the devs discussed that one of the popular and effective builds that was found was a combination of a Dragon Knight, in heavy armor with a fire staff

I could also see scorcerer having some effective melee builds as well, using some of the skills that they have.

From what I have read, I think ESO has found a good balance between being a class based game and free form skill based. The classes give you something special and unique but you can otherwise learn what you want. The whole point is to allow any class to use and specialize in any weapon.

The thing I haven't found info on is armour and spells. Can you be a plate armour wearing sorcerer?

you can wear any kind of armor you want. You'll still need to raise skill levels in it to be effective im sure.

If it's anything like previous TES then yes you should be able to. However maybe for the sake of multiplayer balance they will disallow it.

You can be a plate wearing sorcerer. the system is very very open.