Indeed, since the closed MP beta i've seen people complaining that armor does nothing and on EA release one of the first mods that were made was "armor does something", there is also Realistic Battles mod now that's one of the most popular on nexus and it completely overhauls the armor formulas to be much more realistic (reminds me of how armor worked in 1257ad for warband)
Warband armor formula was awesome, a good balance between realism and gameplay, don't know why they tried to reinvent the wheel here.
+1
This cannot be overstated. The armor issue is a problem and needs to be addressed -more urgently than any immersion or cosmetic improvements because armor formulas directly affect gameplay.