In the midst of an April Fool's snapshot, it was definitively revealed that 1.9 would be the Combat Update for Minecraft! Little else was said on the matter at the time, and many players started to worry about what the update meant for the game, good or bad. In light of this, Dinnerbone has extended an open invitation for your feedback!
Dinnerbone:
Minecraft 1.9 is going to be the combat update. I'm not going to tell you any more about it, but I do want to get your opinions and feedback on combat in Minecraft as it is right now - and hopefully what you think it could be like in your ideal future.
I've had a lot of anxious comments since the 1.9 theme announcement, stuff like "they're just going to ruin it and make it easy" and then "they're just going to ruin it and make it too hard", or "they're going to remove spam clicking and remove all skill" followed by "I hope to hell they remove spam clicking". Basically, lots of worried people who like fighting in Minecraft and want to continue hugging people with weaponry.
I want everybody who cares to tell me what they most like about the current combat mechanics in Minecraft, what you hate the most, what kind of combat you prefer doing and why (killing mobs to survive, team based pvp, custom maps, whatever) and ideally any/all suggestions you have for us to make it more fun.
We already have a lot of ideas, some done, some in progress and lots to review, but I still want the feedback from you guys - the ones who are actually going to use it in the end. I want to know that nobody really likes fighting with splash potions, or that melee is stupid and too quick, or whatever you have to say!
If you want to leave feedback, please visit the Reddit thread right here, make a post, and let him know what you think!