Normal attacks interrupted on hit?

[Ruvanal]

Was this really how it used to be? Your attack interrupted as soon as someone/something hits you, no matter what or how hard it hits?

Yes it was, if you had a low clvl/low DR to the monsters higher mlvl/higher AR and you were slower than the monsters in your attack speed. With the speeding up of many of the monster particularly in NM and Hell, it is even more important now to have a high DR to avoid the effects of a hit in the first place.