But the water mechanics nowadays are not as bad as slavery, why do we need a new system? It's perfectly fine as it is, the new one seems very buggy especially when spilling a water bucket on the floor.
Its buggy because its still in a snapshot and not in the official release yet.
We don't "absolutely need" a new system, just as much we dont absolutely need a vanity update. That doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
Combos would be different for sure, people fall slower in water making combos a bit more big. People will stay in the "air" longer giving the other person the low ground. Making combos almost entirely unescapable, I guess players could still swim up to escape but the other person still gets the low ground.
What you are describing would only occur at the exact edge of where you can hit the opponent. Anything outside of inside of this would be different. Also because you are in the water I think you get less knocked back/up. The fact that a cooldown exists also gives the possibility for the opponent to break the combo by clicking earlier. You can also just swim back like half a block. It's not that much of an issue. If combos were such a big issue, you'd actually argue 1.9 would be better than 1.8.
In my opinion this is not a good idea, Water is terrible in a pvp fight ;p
Read the comments then explain how water is terrible in a pvp fight with these things implemented thanks.