Would you like it if 1.9 had a command /oldpvp. It would change combat and the health system but keep it as 1.9.
Also cube is still in 1.9... there isn't much difference between 1.9 and 1.8 update wise.
Apparently it seems very hard to update any further as well.
You guys need to shut the actual fu- heck up about click speed. It doesn't matter that much. I get 10 cps and I have about 1650 elo on badlion UHC meetups. (Then I got drained).
No one ever talks about aiming with fishing rods. It's basically a very fast paced bow it's a projectile that you need to constantly need to be switching with. It takes very good aim to use efficiently but no one ever talks about it for some reason... I would say it's harder to aim then a 1.9 weapon.
Also in both, weapon stats are the exact same same with armor. If you are reffering to golden apple chugging you are boring. Golden apple chugging exists in 1.8 as well. Just not as big of an issue.
I'm talking about pure combat, just melee here. What I mean by the skill curve, is needing to time hits being somewhat important rather than just spamming and aiming. I'd like to think there are three major skills in a straight up 1.9+ melee fight:
1. Aim
2. Timing
3. Manouvering
Timing is incredibly important in 1.9; Much more important that it can be in 1.8.
In 1.8, most people argue that these would be the three major skills:
1. Aim
2. Clicking speed
3. Manouvering
This is completely without taking any other fight modifying items like rods, potions, food, blocks, etc.
This is pure, one on one melee. Instead of a hit trading session with the combo every so often, you'd be stuck with a fight where your armour would probably completely break before you can even deal decent damage. In 1.9, your armour durability isn't constantly being drained & you have to have a good endurance to win an outgeared fight. All the endurance I see in 1.8 is with pot PVP & prot 5, sharp 5, etc. PVP. For the rest, in a completely vanilla fight, it'd be over in seconds and the one with the better gear is very likely to win (at least this is like this in my experience)
I fully understand that aiming with a rod is difficult for some, but I've never found it too hard to do that & switch back to be honest.
I completely agree that golden apples are the bane of 1.9 though.
And after all, this is all just an opinion really.