idk the exact mechanics of 1.8, never researched it deeply because it was so simple, all know is that it was spazzy and weird. Also your comparison doesn't relate to punching, because a bare fist has no weight to it, while a hefty long sword does. You wouldn't be able to make a full swing, recoil, and raise it back up to the position where it started in one second with enough power to hurt someone. What i was trying to convey with timing is that timing hits in 1.8 isn't hard at all, while in 1.9 it takes more patience to land successive hits with the smallest amount of buffer time in between, which is more challenging and therefor much more fun. Because of this, 1.8 is less complex and requires less skill than 1.9.
