I don't swing, I'm an archer type of guy. I only kick and shoot throats.
So... no insane shield bashing for you in Chivalry, eh? that's not what I expected out of Power :p
The one thing i'm not liking about this game is at the lower levels swinging wildly is super-effective. I'm slowly getting better at blocking though, tbh most everyone is just swinging away atm that if you manage a block and then a counter-attack they have no idea what just happened. But its pretty damn hard to block the stupid long weapons like pikes/broadswords.
That's part of the game's charm really; it's easy for a new player to just jump in and chop some heads off. At the same time, when you are in a situation that leaves you 1on1 it becomes very easy to defeat someone who just swings, as you said. Going 1on1 against those lvl30 players immediately teaches you that there's more to the game than just pressing left mouse button twice.
When I'm having troubles blocking someone with a long reaching weapon, I find that the environment helps a lot by staying close to a building or rock or something that stops them from completing their swings while you move in for the kill with a shorter weapon