It took me a while, but I managed to dig up a post from over two years ago in which I pointed out the problems with heavy armor in 4e and in the early iterations of the D&D Next playtest materials. (I'm too lazy to figure out how to link directly to that post, so if you care to read the whole thing, the date was May 26, 2012.) Basically, I was pointing out that the fighter in heavy armor was at a disadvantage when compared to high-Dexterity characters wearing light armor. The implication, then, was that power gamers in 5e would build Dexterity-based fighters, dumping Strength -- the classic stat that we've always associated with the fighter class.
Based on my initial observations, that problem appears to have been addressed in 5e. All other things being equal, the fighter (or cleric, paladin, etc.) wearing plate armor and carrying a shield is going to have the highest armor class -- higher than the rogue, and higher than the Dexterity-based fighter. At lower levels, though, it's easy to build a Dexterity fighter who can match the Strength fighter's AC. I started out making a human Strength fighter but then decided to go with a high elf Dexterity fighter instead. Both begin with an AC of 18 and fight with a 1D8 melee weapon, but the high elf has lots of nifty race features. Add in the folk hero background and I've got a pretty cool character with solid combat stats and a lot of flavor.
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