In terms of competitiveness, I think there is no need to say anything
That's CubeCraft's issue and what they've made out of 1.9 PvP.
Also, in most fights in 1.8, why would you blockhit (and hamper your mobility) in the open when you can strafe?
Double hits, 8 Block, sprint reset.
similar trajectory to that in 1.8
Absolutely not. If I strafe left and right, I wont get the same hits as in 1.8. 1.9+ trajectory is awful in PvP.
You have snowballs and eggs for knockback
Still they give too less on CubeCraft. The issue is that eggs and snowballs don't give vertical knockback air anymore because vert kb in air was removed in 1.9.
that people don't want change
I hate people who don't want chance. Without change, nothing can develop further. And things MUST develop.
Since 1.8 is no longer supported, it's essentially a red queen's race for new players who want to enter 1.8 PvP against 1.8 PvP veterans. It takes a very long time to master PvP, and a new player who enters 1.8 PvP is up against people with 10 years of 1.8 PvP under their belt.
In my opinion the exact same applies to 1.9.
When do you use blockhit in 1.8? If you don't use this often (again why use this in the open if most fights take place in the open?), then this is a corner case.
If you would watch a lot of 1.7/1.8 practice clips, you would see.
Could you explain what you mean by functionality? If you're referring to attack cooldown, you're not restricted to attacking only after the cooldown.
The CPS cap in 1.9 is stronger than in 1.8.
Yes. But same thing: in 1.8, what happens if you're falling into the void and you throw a pearl upward and it doesn't land on solid ground? On the other hand, this also means that projectiles can arrive sooner if you're throwing them downward while you yourself are falling from a cliffside toward the ground.
We can use the SkyWars on GommeHD as an example. These guys got insane reflexes.
Many of them use the Enderman kit in SkyWars and they'll jump from an island and THEN throw the ender pearl.
In 1.9 that doesn't work because you're falling in that moment which makes the ender pearl fall straight into the void.
Another scenario there is that waterfighting is a thing and you also got many cobwebs. They fall, throw an ender pearl straight up and save themselves with a lot of CPS with cobwebs on the island bottom and place water and blocks so they're saved.
That all is just
not possible with 1.9's trajectory which is awful in my opinion.
You could cast the rod, deal KB, switch to a different item, and then hold the rod again without losing durability.
GommeHD fixed that making the rod losing durability when casting it.