Playing DW7XL for the first time made me realize that my biggest problem with DW8XL isn't the weapon switching (though it feels like shit and is clunky).
Nor is it the terrible juggle physics that makes aerial combos often inconsistent (because it's also a problem in DW7XL as well).
It's the goddamn affinity system and the design implications of it.
A game with a rock-paper-scissors affinity system like in DW8XL means that officers have to be designed in such a way to push players to use that system. It leads to the following:
1. It means the shitty hyper armor they get when you're in negative affinity.
2. It means they attempt to block your attacks more than in any other DW/SW game I've ever played (as a way to force you to use the R1 switch attacks to easily break their guard).
3. It means that the game needs to find a way to reward you for getting positive affinity (which is by giving you Storm Rush as your biggest non-meter-based source of damage when you break their blue shields).
4. It means often deliberately putting yourself in negative affinity to passively fish for those blue switch counter attacks as a way to get damage and combos started so that you don't waste time hitting an officer that's constantly blocking.
I've only played through like 2 hours of the Wu story mode campaign missions in DW7XL, and I'm already having way more fun than I've ever had in DW8XL, simply because of the lack of an affinity system that means that the aforementioned problems I listed are no longer an issue.