In the Nether, I have noticed some things about blazes that seemed to me to to have started in 1.11, I haven't tested older versions but the difference while exploring the nether now and exploring the nether before is like night and day.

Firstly, Blazes appear to be spawning way too many blazes way too fast. In fact, no matter where they spawn they can spawn in in groups of up to four as though they popped out of a spawner. This combos with the 1.8 AI changes to turn being anywhere within 50 blocks of a Nether fortress into basically an endless onslaught of Blazes.

They appear to also be attacking from a much greater radius than documented as well, and when they attack from a long distance while not directly in your FoV the fireballs will be invisible at times, leaving you wondering what even hit you.