One interesting thing that was lost in the conversion to damage resists was the effect of armor soaking damage instead of diminishing it. Suppose armor absorbs 5 damage per hit: Against a weapon that does 10 damage per hit, the armor is absorbing 50% of it. Against a weapon that does 20 damage per hit, the armor is absorbing 25%.
As it was before, heavier armor would soak more damage per hit. So, full plate was very effective against fast, low-damage weapons. Against slow heavy-hitters, it was still better than leather, but not that much better.