Consider the following: Minecraft is defined as being a non-linear game. It's a sandbox. You can do whatever you want. People take so many different approaches to the survival aspect of the game. Some might go as fast as they can, or grind towards the best gear. Some people make huge builds or work on arbitrary projects just for the sake of this. This is why it strikes me as odd that the progression of gear and tools and such is so linear. Leather(sometimes), Iron, Diamond, Netherite, Enchantments for armor. Stone, Iron, Diamonds, Netherite, Enchantments for tools. I feel like there should be more diversity in this. I don't have any specific suggestions, but maybe more equipment that suits one kind of player could support the reach of the survival experience more. Outside of materials, I think there should be more than one way to upgrade. While it might be a bit too late for this, copper has the potential to bring unique properties. Maybe, in the future, archeology could be used to get some otherwise unobtainable upgrades. This progression chain is just that: a chain. One thing leads to another. Every time. And then it ends.
I think it's about time it started turning into a web.
Perhaps we could have armour that is specifically designed to resist a particular element
for example some armour can be made to be more resistant to fire/lava
another water/drowning, but players could not receive maximum protection from both.
this would mean current "god tier armour" would be nerfed
but then this would make players plan ahead more and think more carefully about the enchantments they wish to use on their armour.
They could have a jack of all trades, master of none, but then they will not receive maximum protection of anything.
And it would mean Creepers could insta kill you at point blank range if you didn't use Blast Protection 4 on at least 2 armour plates. If players get caught out by Creepers all that often then they could use this, but then have less protection available for other things like lava or water, in the case of respiration. You could make armour heavily resistant to both explosion and lava, but then have nothing for staying underwater longer.
And really having both fire protection and respiration 3 on the same armour piece makes no sense,
you're not going to burn to death while underwater.
I'm not saying this is necessarily a great way to nerf armour, but it's worth thinking about.
Because god tier armour is a common complaint, so this is the best I can come up with to address it, by making a class system for enchanted armour.
Enchantment exclusivity and the alternatives of fishing, trading, mob farming, and looting, already make there be some web/differentiation.
I hesitate to suggest anything specific because the game has a talent for oversimplifying anything it adds, since otherwise it would be quite complex to figure out at times (the crafting book didn't exist until 1.12, searching until 1.14. Swimming wasn't properly implemented until 1.13 and crawling until 1.14).
Consider the following: Minecraft is defined as being a non-linear game. It's a sandbox. You can do whatever you want. People take so many different approaches to the survival aspect of the game. Some might go as fast as they can, or grind towards the best gear. Some people make huge builds or work on arbitrary projects just for the sake of this. This is why it strikes me as odd that the progression of gear and tools and such is so linear. Leather(sometimes), Iron, Diamond, Netherite, Enchantments for armor. Stone, Iron, Diamonds, Netherite, Enchantments for tools. I feel like there should be more diversity in this. I don't have any specific suggestions, but maybe more equipment that suits one kind of player could support the reach of the survival experience more. Outside of materials, I think there should be more than one way to upgrade. While it might be a bit too late for this, copper has the potential to bring unique properties. Maybe, in the future, archeology could be used to get some otherwise unobtainable upgrades. This progression chain is just that: a chain. One thing leads to another. Every time. And then it ends.
I think it's about time it started turning into a web.
There are some requirements to mine ores, true. But you can also get diamond / netherite in a different way. Looting structures.
Or in case of diamond-armor / -tools villager trading. You can even get diamond stuff as vary rare zombie drops if i'm not mistaking,
since mobs have a 10 % chance of dropping their equipment if slain by a player.
The only thing about tier progression i don't like is the overall enchantment thing.
But there are enough options to get books and enchanted stuff as well.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
Perhaps we could have armour that is specifically designed to resist a particular element
for example some armour can be made to be more resistant to fire/lava
another water/drowning, but players could not receive maximum protection from both.
this would mean current "god tier armour" would be nerfed
but then this would make players plan ahead more and think more carefully about the enchantments they wish to use on their armour.
They could have a jack of all trades, master of none, but then they will not receive maximum protection of anything.
And it would mean Creepers could insta kill you at point blank range if you didn't use Blast Protection 4 on at least 2 armour plates. If players get caught out by Creepers all that often then they could use this, but then have less protection available for other things like lava or water, in the case of respiration. You could make armour heavily resistant to both explosion and lava, but then have nothing for staying underwater longer.
And really having both fire protection and respiration 3 on the same armour piece makes no sense,
you're not going to burn to death while underwater.
I'm not saying this is necessarily a great way to nerf armour, but it's worth thinking about.
Because god tier armour is a common complaint, so this is the best I can come up with to address it, by making a class system for enchanted armour.
Enchantment exclusivity and the alternatives of fishing, trading, mob farming, and looting, already make there be some web/differentiation.
I hesitate to suggest anything specific because the game has a talent for oversimplifying anything it adds, since otherwise it would be quite complex to figure out at times (the crafting book didn't exist until 1.12, searching until 1.14. Swimming wasn't properly implemented until 1.13 and crawling until 1.14).