I would agree with Tydeus that 1h swords are a bit gimped, you really need 7-8 PS and a +3 sword to hurt people with more than 55 armor. This is especially tough on NA siege which is currently being dominated by KUTT running tons of str builds with 70-80 armor, 1h sword users are basically screwed. You shouldn't need to know sweetspots, holds and footwork expertly to land hits with a 1h sword, it really hurts average skill/newer players who want to be a balanced shield class for mobility and survivability. The harder hitting 1h weps like blunt and pierce are tough for newbies to use also cuz they are usually short or have other downsides. You contrast this with how easy it is for anyone to pickup a 2h and get kills by swinging away and something is a bit off with 1h.
So 1h is a bit strange cuz it's a very powerful setup in the hands of a top player but it has a very steep learning curve, probably the steepest in the game. So you see skilled veteren shielders like San, Arrowaine, Diggles, Rustyspoon, etc. topping charts but at same time I've seen ace 2h/PA players like Wesley, Decius, AngryBumbleebee pickup shields and not do so hot, just cuz they don't know the ins-and-outs of the style and doing the wrong 1h attacks in a situation where a similar 2h attack would prolly work.
The real prob is that it's very difficult to land hits realiably with any hit besides left swing until you really know what you are doing. Right swing has unorthodox sweet spots that causes newer guys to glance a lot, overhead will now really get you into trouble if you don't know what you are doing cuz you will miss a fast moving target at close range, and stab is always kinda tricky. I have to tell new 1h I am helping to just focus on attacking with left swing 80-90% of time, cuz all they do is glance and miss doing anything else. Once they get that down then I teach them holds and feints for left swing, so they get through defences more.
Tydeus solution of bumping damage by +3 across the board could help without radically changing anything, it would probably reduce the 1h learning curve by making non-left swings glace less. I hope the devs don't radically change 1h too much cuz I have spent a long time playing it, and like to think I have learned the intracies quite well and with 38c and 8ps can beat just about anyone even super heavies (given enough time)