The reason fighting was changed was complaints that the fighting was too simple and not very fun. Honestly, I don't know a different way to improve the fighting mechanics, but I think the changes were a definite help. The difference is between click click click click click click and learning how to target players at click at the right times.
~ @SuperDyl
This notion has already been disproved several times. Allow me to cite it from other threads.
Strafing :
-The W and S tap
Enlighten yourself on the W and S tap, that revolutionizes the sprint key. Halting your sprint to deal more knockback, or moving backwards slightly to avoid a hit and moving inward.
https://youtu.be/3ItyE1BoOR4
-A - D tap
Couldn't really find a video on it since it's not used much, but it's basically alternating between A and D based on the location of your opponent. If your opponent is about strafe right, you strafe right to match with D, then alternate between A and D, it's hard to do and it's only useful in certain situations
-Circle Strafing -
Shoutout to my boy @Iatemyfriendss for being stupid and always circle strafing me when I sucked at pvp. This usually only works on less-experienced players, but involved circling around your opponent with A and D, and sometimes mixed in W taps for full effect.
-Prestrafe
This one triggers me, @Cyclops the prestrafe loser. This one is honestly the most frustrating thing for me, even though I don't even pvp much anymore. This involves tricking your opponent by using A or D in order to get them to aim another direction. It's kind of hard to explain but it 's extremely useful and frightening if your opponent does it well
Comboing :
CLICK SPEED DOES NOT MATTER IN PVP LOL. I click 6 cps and got one of the top scores in the world. The faster click, the more chance you have of forcing your click packet to be answered first. However, after playing around with an autoclicker that clicked 1000 cps, I was still able to easily beat the person using it. Click speed has little to no impact on the game. Educate yourself before you try using that as an excuse why 1.9 is better. I'm not going to even going to bother trying to explain comboing to you if you think click speed determines how well you can combo
https://youtu.be/wrmtN46rW3A
Rod :
You've got to be really stupid to think spamming a rod will help you. Not even going to bother explaining the logistics of it , but it's basically to temporarily stun your opponent
Bow :
Weapon? Well yeah, it's a weapon thanks for stating the obvious. But you probably don't know how to bow stun or anything like that, so for now, yeah it's a weapon
More?
Of course there's more. Minecraft combat is ever changing, and people are always looking for ways to beat tactics used by pros. Ever heard of what a Meta is? Probably not. Very long story short, it's about that
Player A beats Player B
Player B beats Player C
Player C beats Player A
However, player D, beats Players A,B, and C.
Player D is the one that is the best at the game, and the more people that fight Player D, and learn his strategy, will then continue to beat Players A, B, and C who have mastered their techniques. It's extremely complicated to explain, and a good way to learn would be to watch this video if you want
https://youtu.be/Ce9-SpZTEKI
Also, next time you think minecraft is just spam clicking, watch this video. Just how Smash Bros Melee isn't just button smashing, Minecraft isn't just click spamming :)
https://youtu.be/vXgpGBbh5r8
- @spartanfighter12
What version pvp?
I probably click slower than you js. Strategy =/ slow attack speed. On a technical standpoint : clicking faster only increases the chances of your click packet being received first but a 1ms difference is close to nothing, much less determine winning vs losing. I've gotten top scores in the world on famous pvp servers with atrociously slow click speed, and many others have to like Stheegala and Rain_Dynasty who have both been #1 during a pvp season and have click speeds less than 5 a second. If you were to take a click test right now you'd probably get about 5-6 a second. Most everyone would. That's what I get, too. The thing about jittering is that for a lot of people they can't aim without doing it, and the click speed comes as an added bonus. I'm tired of people thinking that all 1.8 is, is just click speed because that's far from true. And I can definitely compare Ssb because people who know nothing about it claim it's just button mashing. People who know nothing say minecraft is just click spamming. But feel free to play on the minority (probably sub 10%) who use 1.9 click mechanics. I'll stay on the one where people recognize the different skills involved from MC and aren't too ignorant to think minecraft pvp is simply click speed.
Like I said, there's no increased strategy involved, all it does is lower the possible skill cap of the game. The best players will continue to be the best, however it's far easier to become good since most people can't handle a combo and blame it on their ping, their players ping, their click speed, or their players click speed. Humans by nature will blame out-of-control variables to excuse a loss. Though, if you truly believe click speed matters grab an Autoclicker with any click speed you want and I guarantee that you'll lose to me, or any other pvper who took the time to practice and become good, and not make silly posts on a towns server arguing that the easier style pvper is better simply because they're too lazy to learn the more complicated one. I've said it before and I'll say it again. All that's changed is click speed, not movement, so EVERY 1.7 aspect is the same except for the fact that it's slow and uninteresting.
FSR (Frequent Stupid Responses)
"Yeah because clicking fast is definitely interesting"
No, the thousand different types of pvp strafe meta outway standing still waiting for your click timer to recharge
"X happened before, people learned to play with change, pvp is no different"
Yes because I'm sure there were hundreds of thousand players who had built a competitive community where thousands of dollars went into prizes and server hosting when it comes the introduction to the food bar, or something like that. I personally remember the introduction to the sprint key which ADDED to the pvp atmosphere instead of tore it down. You might say the minority of players who didn't use a mod like togglesprint to aid in their sprint weren't used to it, and sure they weren't but that kind of thing is a positive change, and the entire community was able to accept it since it was something they already used. How many servers used a plugin in 1.8 to decrease click speed? I can think of 1, and that was an RPG server, not a competitive pvp server - @legendcaleb
What version pvp?
Basically, these changes are good for single-player. Delayed hits, weaker armor, and such make PvE much more challanging, because everyone who fights mobs with maxed armor wins every time against massive hoards of mobs, so they nerfed your offense and defense to make it more "fair." Overall, 1.9+ combat mechanics are good . . . in single-player.
For PvP, they are absolutely horrid. They have degenerated PvP into a slow sport of who can hit the other guy the soonest after the cooldown is done. Rods are utterly worthless, shields are useless for PvP, etc., etc. Again, this is much more geared towards PvE gameplay, as shields are useful against mobs. Their durability so futile they break faster than golden armor! As for blocking arrows, they only block them if you get shot from the front. In the PvP aspect, it just gives all power to the bow, because any kind of hand-to-hand combat is a dull game of prancing around the enemy swinging your weapon once every two seconds. Tipped arrows only add to bow superiority, because you can slow the enemy from long range, then just spam the bow.
These changes to combat are designed to make Minecraft into a PvE game, because they presume players all want to work together on some stupid Realm. Look at the changes made in the last few months:
1. Eula started being enforced, which had not been done before Microsoft bought Mojang
2. The Minecraft.exe file was removed from their website, forcing people elsewhere to make new servers
3. Development began on a C++ version of PC, which messes with redstone significantly, and makes all currently made plugins and mods useless.
4. Combat mechanics were changed to suit a PvE environment, which discourages people from fighting each other. Therefore, this promotes Realms further as a way to "work with your friends!" - @CluelessKlutz
What version pvp?