I agree with a lot of your points, but this is just a matter of perception. Here is a basic example of what I mean.
Hero 1 has 50 hp and 50 armor and is immune to physical debuffs.
Hero 2 had 50 hp and 50% damage reduction.
Both heroes take a physical hit for 50 damage.
Hero 1 loses his armor and is no longer immune to physical debuffs.
Hero 2 takes 25 damage and has 25 hp remaining.
Both heroes have an effective 50 hp left against physical attacks, hero 1 has a significant edge against magic attacks and the added benefit of being protected from any debuffs from that first attack.
As long as the percentage reduction and health added are similar (which they very much seem to be in actual play compared to DOS1) then the new system is more effective for the player more than a traditional armor/resistance system.
In addition to this, you can easily see how armor and magic armor effect both you and enemies. In most other systems, in order to get that information you would have to dig through a menu and then calculate out the actual effect. So the new system, while not what we're used to, is generally speaking better for the player both for combat purposes and usability.
I'm not really great at articulating or coming up with "better" ideas but this system in game now is very bad.
(p.s. the system I mentioned was only flat damage reduction from all sources, not percentage, as flat is just better in most situations in a game like this.)
But my idea doesn't matter it's not about my idea being better it's just a possible solution, what matters is that the current system is bad. The system we have now was built because armor was useless in the previous game, because status effects and one shot potential are too strong. The armor shouldn't be receiving an overhaul, the problem that's causing the need for better armor should be receiving an overhaul.
Temporary hp magic/physical shields are cool but they should be the exception, being rare effects on items, not the norm. 100% immunity is bad, temporary hp on everything is bad, 100% chance to apply every debuff is bad. It's not good to just keep adding progressively worse things in order to deal with a bad mechanic that you maybe like and don't want to change. When it comes down to it,
debuffs and damage dealt per turn are out of control, and honestly armor could be exactly how it was in Divinity 1 because it was normal, it was fine. Armor isn't the problem, it's the unbalanced combat.
There's a reason most tactics games do things like having one move, then one attack. The AP system and the amount of enemies being fought at once need to be seriously looked at, as well as the damage values and ground effects, but most of the problem is really coming from the sheer number of things you can do in one turn.
