Armor parameters have not been changed. Attacks are "active" earlier now though - at least against props. That means with a long weapon you might bounce on the enviroment if you are not aware of your surroundings. Forgot if it is earlier active against agents too but seems so.
Short version, you bounce because you suck.
Yes it is active earlier against agents and its the gayest thing ever. I'm getting teamhit about 3 times as much, with my bum gear that gets me killed a lot. You hit people you dont even see or are clearly behind you, and thats what I notice with a mace, one of the shortest weapons ingame. I can't imagine what hell it is for someone with a flamberge.
Please revert this change. Why do attacks need to be active earlier? Realism? Nobody in the right mind swings a weapon like the animations in cRPG so please dont apply realism on them. Every player now has a 4 meter danger radius around him, where both his teammates and the player himself are fucked. To properly fight eachother now without hits getting randomly interrupted, you basically have to go 1 vs 1.
Its completely unpredictable, you can't count on any hit going through. Random has indeed become a huge factor in cRPG combat now.