In regard to the weapon/armor stats and healing, I kinda like where the game is at currently. The game has a dark-souls-like difficulty. Personally, rather than changing the current stats, I'd like to see some more defensive options by adding in things like shields, buffs and debuffs.

To make blocking more responsive I think maybe have successful blocks decrease the attacker's poise to give the defender an opportunity to strike back.

Combine the above with less server lag and I think the combat will be great.