Ok, now that you made a novel about the new rules can you please make a sequel why you insist on making everyone play on 1.8? I have nothing on 1.8 but for one: not being able to spot players past your render distance.
I think I speak for everyone who has a computer that can't run 60 fps on a render distance higher than 4. PvPing with less than 60 frames is really hard, and like me, for those who are in clans this is extremely, extremely important. Anyways the point I'm trying to make is you can't see people more then 20 blocks away which really sucks because you can just get snuck up and ruin a game for you.
I suggest leaving support for 1.8 or working with your developers to make a plug-in for 1.8 that will allow you to view players past your render distance. Or in un rendered chunks.