Armor is currently working only against unloomed weapons and weaker builds (low lvl or not pure melee builds).
My main with 65 HP, 63 head and 64 body armor (everything loomed) dies from just two hits by Danishes and other high damage 2h weapons/Most axes/Long Spears, sometimes even Katanas/Longswords, especially if they aim head with their swings. Considering i'm using one of the strongest helmets in game, I can fairly say it gives me almost no protection at all.
Same time fighting with lower lvl player with unloomed weapon makes him very often glance or do some 1/10th or 1/5th hp damage to me.
Conclusion is simple - loomed weapon and plenty of STR and PS (like 8-9 PS) with high cut damage weapon makes you a killer, while people with unloomed weapons and lower PS are lost case. I don't really like it, but it is how it is.
It not only working against me. I made 2h alt with just 6 PS (!), but I took Great Axe +3 (49 cut dmg - it's even better than polearm axes!) and I can kill most of people from just 2 hits (regardless their armor, but i'm not counting here full plates of course) with my lvl 26 alt. So yeah, with certain weapons it's possible to 2 hit kill most people with just 6 PS.
Armor right now is effective against less powerful players and weapons, it's even too effective here sometimes, while being completely usless against powerful builds. So imo weapons damage differences are just too high, their damage range is way too big.
Player with let's say 4 PS and unloomed weapon (longsword for example) can do almost nothing to me (he will very often glance or do some barely noticable damage). The same longsword, but at +3 and 9 PS can kill me from 2 hits. It's just too huge difference imo.