Yeah, to keep my weight under 70%, I can just wear two pieces of the Drangleic set, in the chest and the gloves. I have Jester Cap and Faraam Boots on, with my weapons making up the rest - Claymore and Chime. I JUST got to a place where Twinkling Titanite is dropping here and there, so I am finishing off leveling my Drangleic Chest! At least that is what I am telling myself, because I keep getting killed by a mob of undead when a bell rings randomly...
Estus charged up to 12 chugs at a strength of +5 on the flask itself. No, I am not dying any less.
EDIT RE: PVP
As soon as I hit weapon soft caps, I was able to compete in PVP just fine. Also keep in mind it matches people with Soul Memory level, which is the total amount of souls collected so far. There are also a couple of (optional) PVP areas that are pretty damn harsh, if simply because you end up fighting the invader/host along with some mobs from the area.
In the two Belfry PVP levels (one in Bastille, one on that back end of Iron Keep), you can get
double and
triple invaded! Even as a PVP vet from DS1, this is tough to deal with. I DID win exactly ONE 2v1 invasion, as I was able to dead angle one guy down while avoiding spells from another guy, and once the first enemy was down, I cleaned up the caster nice and fast. Still, shortly after that, I made the decision to just blow by the Belfry levels and avoid the PVP zones until later.
If you are fighting with a big sword, learn how to dead-angle so you can get around tank types easily. With casters, just get in on them and stun-lock and they go down pretty easily.