*Draw Weight refers to how far a bow is drawn before the arrow is fired.
The purpose of this suggestion is to fix 2 rather prevalent issues that have brought up many, many times on this forum: Arrow-spamming in PvP, and the difficulty in melee fighting skeletons. The problem with both of these is not the damage they deal; it is the knockback. In both cases it can be extremely difficult to score a hit because the knockback not only throws you backwards, but it also breaks your sprint. So, what can be done?
I strongly dislike changes which fix a flaw, but negatively affect gameplay. Nerfing a bow's damage, reducing it's rate of fire, even removing arrow knockback entirely would all fall into the aforementioned category. However, I do have an idea myself: changing the knockback of an arrow to be proportional to how far back the arrow is drawn.
A fully-charged arrow would retain it's current knockback, which is exactly 2 blocks. However, the knockback is reduced as the draw weight decreases in direct proportion, to the point to where arrow-spamming causes almost none at all. As for how this would affect skeletons, at maximum rate of fire, which also is least damage, the knockback would only be around .5 blocks. Knockback would be determined by the velocity of the arrow, if that is the easiest way to code this properly.
It is worth noting here that the side-effects on gameplay would be rather miniscule, as in most survival, and I daresay PvP situations the bow is always fully charged before firing. For this reason I believe this to be a simple, and effective, fix. If you disagree, I would love to hear your thoughts. Not to say I do not care about support, mind you.
Just a thing: I've tried firing a bow IRL, and seriously, I can fire at 15 metres pretty easily, but there is a timespace of like 5 seconds between loading the arrow. Not half a second.
This also fixes the newly introduced knockback insanity skeletons.
Support!
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I like this much better than your other PvP suggestion because this affects people in both SMP and SP, and for both PvP and PvE. Support.
One thing though, I'm not seeing anything on the wiki saying Skeletons do less damage currently when they fire faster, which is something you imply in the OP. I cannot check it at this time because I am on my lunch break at work, but it looks like a static 2 damage on Easy, and slight damage ranges on higher difficulty, but from the lack of information about a correlation between attack speed and damage I think it just chooses a random number between the ranges.
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I like the idea but you could improve it by adding different weights to different mobs. Basically the lighter the mob the more knockback and the heavyer the less knock back. Basically a silverfish would be knocked back more than a zombie
I like it. Arrows that're barely launched at you shouldn't hit like a train.
I'd suggest making the knockback based off of velocity, though. That'd make arrows fired downward more effective whilst reducing the force of those launched upwards, giving a tactical advantage to high ground.
One thing though, I'm not seeing anything on the wiki saying Skeletons do less damage currently when they fire faster, which is something you imply in the OP. I cannot check it at this time because I am on my lunch break at work, but it looks like a static 2 damage on Easy, and slight damage ranges on higher difficulty, but from the lack of information about a correlation between attack speed and damage I think it just chooses a random number between the ranges.
I read this from a forum post; so yes, it may be incorrect. However I do believe that is how it should be.
I like the idea but you could improve it by adding different weights to different mobs. Basically the lighter the mob the more knockback and the heavyer the less knock back. Basically a silverfish would be knocked back more than a zombie
I like it. Arrows that're barely launched at you shouldn't hit like a train.
I'd suggest making the knockback based off of velocity, though. That'd make arrows fired downward more effective whilst reducing the force of those launched upwards, giving a tactical advantage to high ground.
I believe an arrow fired from a bow has a higher velocity than it simply falling... I may be wrong though. The velocity determining knockback is a good idea, however.
Update: I didn't bump this because I thought the new attribute system would provide a fix for these problems. However, the attributes are currently quite limited and still do not present an acceptable solution: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Attribute
There is Knockback Resistance, however, as stated in the original post, this does not aid in fixing the issue.
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The OP means knockback from the victim, not the wielder. As in, how far one is knocked back when they are shot. Arrows, despite their lesser speed, actually carry more mass and therefore more force to knockback than the bullet from a gun.
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The purpose of this suggestion is to fix 2 rather prevalent issues that have brought up many, many times on this forum: Arrow-spamming in PvP, and the difficulty in melee fighting skeletons. The problem with both of these is not the damage they deal; it is the knockback. In both cases it can be extremely difficult to score a hit because the knockback not only throws you backwards, but it also breaks your sprint. So, what can be done?
I strongly dislike changes which fix a flaw, but negatively affect gameplay. Nerfing a bow's damage, reducing it's rate of fire, even removing arrow knockback entirely would all fall into the aforementioned category. However, I do have an idea myself: changing the knockback of an arrow to be proportional to how far back the arrow is drawn.
A fully-charged arrow would retain it's current knockback, which is exactly 2 blocks. However, the knockback is reduced as the draw weight decreases in direct proportion, to the point to where arrow-spamming causes almost none at all. As for how this would affect skeletons, at maximum rate of fire, which also is least damage, the knockback would only be around .5 blocks. Knockback would be determined by the velocity of the arrow, if that is the easiest way to code this properly.
It is worth noting here that the side-effects on gameplay would be rather miniscule, as in most survival, and I daresay PvP situations the bow is always fully charged before firing. For this reason I believe this to be a simple, and effective, fix. If you disagree, I would love to hear your thoughts. Not to say I do not care about support, mind you.
However, there ARE times where you need to snap off shots rapidly, keep that in mind.
Indeed there are, but at close range a sword or even simply bashing with the bow becomes more effective.
"On a scale of one mile to Lord of the Rings, how far did you walk today?"
Try JUST out of melee range. It's like an itch on the small of your back.
(GateFox:Did you walk in there, perchance?)
...your point being...?
This also fixes the newly introduced knockback insanity skeletons.
Support!
I don't believe in bow knockback. Sorry.
Bow knockback is already in the game; this is simply modifying it.
One thing though, I'm not seeing anything on the wiki saying Skeletons do less damage currently when they fire faster, which is something you imply in the OP. I cannot check it at this time because I am on my lunch break at work, but it looks like a static 2 damage on Easy, and slight damage ranges on higher difficulty, but from the lack of information about a correlation between attack speed and damage I think it just chooses a random number between the ranges.
Want some advice on how to thrive in the Suggestions section? Check this handy list of guidelines and tips for posting your ideas and responding to the ideas of others!
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/suggestions/2775557-guidelines-for-the-suggestions-forum
I'd suggest making the knockback based off of velocity, though. That'd make arrows fired downward more effective whilst reducing the force of those launched upwards, giving a tactical advantage to high ground.
Strange.
I read this from a forum post; so yes, it may be incorrect. However I do believe that is how it should be.
Possible...
I believe an arrow fired from a bow has a higher velocity than it simply falling... I may be wrong though. The velocity determining knockback is a good idea, however.
There is Knockback Resistance, however, as stated in the original post, this does not aid in fixing the issue.
The OP means knockback from the victim, not the wielder. As in, how far one is knocked back when they are shot. Arrows, despite their lesser speed, actually carry more mass and therefore more force to knockback than the bullet from a gun.
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