Were all greataxes used by the same person? I only broke my weapons when combat was exceptionally long and against enemies who had a plenty of armor, but even then such cases were very rare. I also tend to use archers with crossbows and spread damage with all characters, so that might be why I don’t experience weapon degeneration as strongly as you do.
I like the idea of weapon losing effectiveness as durability gets lower and lower, but shouldn’t its durability be improved then?