man 1.9 really revamped combat. instead of mindlessly jumping and pressing attack to win, you actually need timing and it feels much cooler having 1-2 jumps an encounter instead of JUMPJUMPJUMPJUMPJUMPJUMPJUMPJ UMPJUMP
i also like the shield. although, endermen are just tall enough so every one of their attacks bounces off the shield, raised or not, if they're in your view, so there's that.
also skeletons are still bitches to fight. they fire too fast.