Thank you for the feedback!I checked every mechanical point in the code rather than take your word for it - all of them hold.
Knockback ejecting enemies from the pool. Confirmed, and the numbers are almost comic: the warrior's shove is exactly 130px, and a poured pool's radius is exactly 130px. So the warrior's one signature move is precisely calibrated to undo the game's own reward loop - kills in still water pay double. That's a self-contradiction, not a tuning problem. It's getting a guard so the shove can't push anything past the waterline.
Enemies following you across the map. Confirmed, and worse than you saw: ordinary beasts have no aggro radius and no leash at all. They target the player from any distance, forever. The only culling happens at 2100px and only when the field is over its cap, so a pack that walks home with you never gets dropped. That's the worst bug on your list - one wrong turn can end a run permanently - and it's getting a leash.
The 128–160 belt bordering the starting area. True. The map is a 3×3 grid that snakes, so the row directly above the shallows is belt six. You're right that it needs a gate or a warning; right now it's just a line on the ground.
Baiting things into the bubble. That one is intended - still-water kills pay double XP, it's meant to be the central play. But if it reads as cheese instead of as the main idea, that's my failure to frame it, not yours to notice it.
Warrior being hold-mouse-and-walk. Fair, and it's the worst possible combination: it's the only path whose signature is passive, and it's the one everyone picks first.
The intro. You and another tester said this independently, so it's settled - 160 words before anyone has pressed a key. It's getting cut.
One correction, and it's not in my favour: JSON export/import already exists - ⚙ (bottom right) → Saves → Save to file / Load from file, plus a text-string export in the pause menu. You played and didn't find it, which is a complete answer about how visible it is.
Thanks also for the heads-up about the HKM account, and for the point about itch as a venue - that's something I couldn't have worked out from inside it.