Hmmmm....there does seem to be a bit of rules confusion here.
Quick Draw is truly a situational beast. It's great if your enemy gets the drop on you and closes with you. It works well with the aforementioned archer defending himself (and even in that case, why would you drop the bow? Keep it in your left hand and stab with the right! If you are not attempting to USE the bow, there should be no two-weapon penalty. The situation is exactly the same as fighting with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other. ) But anything more than the beasties getting to you before you get your turn at the beginning of the fight really means that Quick Draw is going to be used in an regular game less often than a person might think.
It also seems that many of you have forgotten that you can draw a weapon as part of normal movement. (at least that's what I read into this conversation.) If you are closing on the enemy because you got to go first, draw that weapon while closing, and if you are within one movement, swing away when you get close enough. Even if you need to double move to get to the critter, you draw while moving so as to be ready for the next round. If you have Two Weapon Fighting, you can even draw both weapons. Fighter types of sixth level and higher closing on an enemy are not going to get more than one swing anyways, so there's no reason to wait til the next round to get that weapon out.
I find it interesting that the rules specifically state that drawing ammunition for a ranged weapon is a free action - as in, part of the attack action. They go on to name arrows, quarrels, sing bullets and even shuriken, but make no mention of multiple throwing knives or axes. If a shuriken is both ammunition and weapon, couldn't the same argument be used for a throwing knife? This is probably the only other situation in the game (other than those I listed above) where Quick Draw is actually useful. In fact, the rules flat out state that thrown weapons with Quick Draw are at "normal rate of attack."
Now in 3.5 I found a wonderful little Feat that made great use of Quick Draw. It was called Flick of the Wrist. Basically you drew you weapon and attacked in one fluid motion. Flick of the Wrist then had the opponent be considered Flat Footed. It was a great way to maximize my Sneak Attack damage for my rogue. Close in an enemy that I couldn't yet get flanking and BAM! Sneak Attack damage. Put the weapon away and go for the next critter.
It's kinda sad that the Feat description actually states "Alchemical items, potions, scrolls, and wands cannot be drawn quickly using this feat." I do recall seeing a potion "bandolier" and a wand quick-draw "sheath" in various books in 3.5 that allowed Quick Draw to be used for those special occasions, but those items have yet to find their way into Pathfinder.
On the other hand I can kinda see the spirit of the rules for the restricted items. Alchemical item, potions and such are delicate, and therefore more likely to be harder to pull out on a moment's notice. That's why we have such things as the Haversack and specialized Holding items that specifically state that retrieving items are a free action.
When all the rules lawering is done it all comes down to the simple fact that it's your game. If you want to have Quick Draw to be used for other things, go right ahead and don't let anybody here stop you. They're called House Rules for a reason....
