I feel quite adequate when it comes to 1 vs 1 with 1h no shield. In battle however you lack the range and hitting power that the other classes have. When playing 1 hand without a shield you have to play a bit differently and try to get them in a 1 vs 1. You need 3-4 hits so in the group vs group hit exchanging you won't deal much damage. As soon as you get up close you can finish them very easily. It's very easy to chamber with the leftswing as the time it takes to get into the chamber position is very short. Polearms mostly use the rightswing, so you can quickly chamber those to death in a duel. As soon as you see them catching on to that by doing holds, start spamming now and then with the leftswing.
Yeah, 1h no shield isn't a battle friendly class, I still manage to do quite well though and it seems to require different skills to be effective. I find it fun and challenging.
One thing that really bothers me though... teamhits. if I actually fight with a group of teammates I get fucking teamhitted average twice per round. So frustrating.