How is damage calculated ??

[Jaguar Sprint]

Previous game Im sitting in the middle of the dark in sub-25's with a gray shortsword and a blue sword on my offhand with the perk. Barbarian shows up and I end up hitting him in the head/chest area 6 times and he just 2-taps me with his felling axe.
Makes sense, right ? So I change up and play a barbarian myself to calm down.
In comes a guy with two gray swords 3-tapping me from full HP and outpacing a BARBARIAN aiming for his head.
Make it make sense, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I seriously hate martial PVP, but my main class is a fighter and this idiotic game doesnt have cross-progression on quests...