Hiro got his info from Japanese websites. As far as any of us know, and websites in Japan also confirm this, for now only Cypher can fire twice in the dash, and only in an air dash at that. Hopping around isn't going to save 'em, since weapons will do normal damage against opponents on the way up now. My success at escaping melee attacks with a Jump-Cancel is extremely low, maybe 1 out of 5. The Crouch Bomb in Close Combat type stuff has been effectively removed.
Any weapon done with a crouch in melee remains a melee attack.
Well, I should say that I've only experimented with these somewhat extensively with Fei-Yen and Apharmd. It would seem logical that the same thing applied to the likes of Temjin. In VO1, if Fei-Yen did left trigger followed by pushing the sticks inwards while pressing the left trigger again, she got a Left Slash Cancelled into Crouch Bowgun. In VOOT, these same stick inputs translate into Left Slash followed by Crouch Leg Sweep. Crouching while pressing the right trigger makes Fei-Yen swipe the opponent's legs with her sword.