Even in heavy armour with 24str and 5 IF there are guys with 1h weapons that have killed me in a few hits, seems fine to me, especially considering they can facehug with the annoying quick short swings and block so easily.
Having tried both very extensively, I find it usually easier to block without a shield, due to it being instant. This is not true of course against groups of good players or very fast feinters, but certainly worth the huge movement speed improvement of dropping the shield. Also, anybody can facehug and pole/2h hit much faster when they do it thanks to hiltslashing.
Needing more than 6 hits to kill normal people is not tolerable if you want to do reasonably good. Most 1h now, especially in siege, give up everything to get more damage. See how very few cut weapon users have less than 33c and nearly a majority of all 1h now uses blunt or pierce ? Or, they switch to 2h or pole and enjoy +10 damage.