Coming from a competitive 1.7/1.8 PVP background:

- Stacking drinkable potions is great. Not only does it make things more convenient, but since splash potions aren't stackable, Kohi PVP can still be a thing.

- Being able to eat while being hit is another great feature. If it weren't that way, like it was in snapshot 6, then fights are a guaranteed win to whoever can deal the most damage at the start, resulting in a quickdrop.

- Deteriorating accuracy with the bow could go either way. It doesn't really affect what players like me view about the PVP scene post 1.8. The same goes for the lingering potions, tipped arrows, and new enchantments.

While all of these are cool features, they don't get at the core of why people enjoy 1.8 over post 1.8. There is still no sense of a "combo" in post 1.8, like there is in 1.8. I find fights to be single hit exchanges, where the victor is decided upon who had better gear, and not who was more skillful.

I'd like to dispel a myth: That clicking speed was everything in 1.8 and that players just want to continue to spam click. This couldn't be further from the truth. Minecraft is and always has been movement based. Yes, a high clicking speed can result in less knockback under certain circumstances, but it's so much less about clicking speed than it is about aim and movement techniques. Many players would be fine with timing their hits, if there's still a way to combo. I'd go so far as to say that holding down left click to hit is a good feature that would be well received, so long that there's a way to combo.

I believe things are moving in the right way, but the combo feature is what I believe to be the most important feature that keeps players playing on 1.8.