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If I can contribute anything to this thread, it would be that weaponry and armor changed little over the thousands of years because there were relatively few people, few invading forces, and few wars.
The people that inhabited the northwest of M-E were few and far between (I have never attempted a census, just role with me here) meaning that the status quo was the norm as long as no one else intervened to challenge the status quo. Which leads me to my next point.
There were really never any new invading forces that would have caused military tech to change/advance. The only new additions to the equation were dragons, the edain, and easterlings. Even with the new invading forces, none of them ever made a huge impact on the people of the Northwest of M-E because none of the invasions were truly successful except for that of the edain, which had adopted mostly elven ways early on. Much later Wainriders and Southrons certainly added new elements to the battle. But these elements could have possibly been dealt with from a logistical stand point just as easily as through new technology, at least at first, in successive battles this might change, which leads me to my last point.
There were very few wars. There were only a handful of full scale, all out war, battles in the First Age. The Fall of Gondolin was achieved through the aid of treachery, stealth, speed, and excessive force, but not through an advantage of military tech, unless you consider winged dragons as technology. Morgoth was overthrown only through the power of the West, not technological advancement.
In the Second and Third Ages, we do see the development of some new technologies on the part of the Numenoreans but none after the Atalante. The new technologies allowed Numenor to dominate the North and West of M-E, but Numenor was really just an extension of the Edain and Elves, with no other influences. Once Numenor was destroyed much of the new tech developed was lost, instead of there being a power vacuum and an outside force seizing control, the dunedain are able to found two kingdoms and thwart outsiders from invading.
In summation, for military tech to advance, there needs to be catalyst, which is war. Without people, invaders, or war then there is no catalyst and therefore no advancement in weaponry or armor.
BTW, if you think that there were a lot of wars during the 6000 or so of the 3 ages in M-E, then I think you need to compare it to the last 6000 years of our history.
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