As a regular player of PvP/faction servers, i should add my two cents 1. A stamina bar, as you attack the stamina bar decreases and you have to fall back for a moment to catch your breath/replenish your health and hunger (hunger could possibly be tied to the stamina bar, as you eat or drink some water it will get refilled) 2. Maybe not reboot the whole combat system with swords all together, but at least have a way to actually parry an attack that would have a cooldown, using the stamina bar i previously suggested a player would have to strategically plan out combat so he doesn't run out of stamina and cant swing anymore. 3. Maybe add a weight system with armors, not like a person with diamond armor would be as slow as having a slowness affect, but a slight difference such as a person wearing no armor/leather armor can run faster than those with a heavier set of armor (gold, iron, diamond) 4.More weapons, a few suggestions *Crossbows- does a little more damage than a bow but has to be reloaded and takes a few seconds to do so. *Spears - From wooden to diamond, have slightly less damage than the sword but have a greater reach, could be good for combat on horses. *Battle axes - Double edged battle axes, does a bit more damage than but takes up more of your stamina bar as you swing and has a slower attack speed. *Shields - (Leather - Diamond) I'm not counting on a dual wielding system but if there is a person can carry it around in their other hand and use it to deflect arrows, bolts, potions, and enemy attacks but takes out your stamina bar. If no dual wielding, then have the player hold it using one hand and be on the defense for his/her team by protecting other parts of their group. *Different arrows -Fire arrows- Crafted using a fire charge, surround by arrows would make 8 fire arrows, does 3 seconds of flame damage if hit -Poison arrows- crafted using a spider eye surrounded by arrows would make 8 poison arrows which would do 3 second of poison damage if taken a direct hit. -Health arrows - surround a potion of healing with arrows makes 8 healing arrows, if hit you would regain 2 hearts -Slowness arrow - surround a block of ice with arrows, make 8 slowness arrows which would slow down the player for 3 seconds. *Quivers - if adding these new arrows you need to carry them *(Note, firing arrows with a bow would take away some form of stamina) somewhere, have it as a storage mechanism with 4 slots where you can carry these arrows, you would have to take them out and put them on your hotbar to fire them

Please take these ideas into consideration! Its great that your looking into combat now and wanting feedback from players! Looking forward to the update!