The difference is in the game mechanics. Before 1.8 weapons didn't have a cooldown which means that fights had less depth but the hit detection worked way better back then.
1.8 pvp has no weapon cooldown Edit: well technically it does but it is much different than the current one (notably it is much shorter and didn’t reset from switching items, but 1.7 also had that)
I'd add more flowers to the game! there are plenty of pixel flowers at the moment, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like more <3
You could ride more animals, not just Horses, Donkeys, Mules and Pigs! I mean the different sadles and decorations, not just "sadle".
