NOTE: I AM AWARE THERE IS ANOTHER THREAD ON THIS SUBJECT.
However, this thread presents an alternative method to dealing with the fairly mundane combat of MineCraft. Still, I recommend viewing it here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56267
It has some nice suggestions, a few of which I like (and already had in mind anyways), and a few I don't agree with.
Intro:
Currently, the combat in MineCraft is... well, boring. And doesn't offer many options on how to approach enemy targets. Really, it's not even a viable choice half the time (Skeletons pretty much always hit you if you get too close, etc). That being said, however, it shouldn't be easier than it already is to avoid the threat of mobs- so it's a fairly hard thing to balance. Still, I feel it's not only possible, but honestly, kind of necessary to restructure combat at least a little bit before any new weapons or mobs are added. I feel that, however, the problem lies not quite in the mobs, but in the weapons, and how you can use them.
There's a fairly high amount of suggestions here it'd seem like, but they're all connected to eachother in some way- so it's kinda necessary to have them all put in, rather than just having a few here and there.
Weapon Slots, Wielding:
Weapon slots would be two new additions to the UI, that would handle... well, your weapons. Tools and such wouldn't go here, but would be a sort of "quick slot" for weapons. Naturally, there would be a key bound to switching straight to your primary weapon- this would make it a lot nicer to switch straight to a weapon in emergency situations. It'd also free up your existing equipment/block slots a little bit more, which would be pretty handy to have an extra few slots for blocks or tools.
As well as there being a key to switch to your weapons, there should be another one that would switch between primary and secondary weapons (Hence, there being two). This'd make it so you could have a sword and a bow, and if more weapons are added (Which there should be!), you could really mix things up.
Now, to go with this, there should be a few changes to weapon rules- firstly, they shouldn't be able to go in your regular 1-9 equipment slots. This might seem like it'd cause problems because of weapons on the existing slots, but that could be easily solved- just have them automatically equip to your weapon slots, and if there's more than two, have them go back to your inventory. If they wouldn't fit in your inventory, well, they could just be dropped or something. I dunno, there's plenty of solutions to this, but I'd like for weapons to be separated a little bit more from regular equipment/items/blocks.
Secondly, weapons shouldn't be able to actually break blocks in the traditional way- this means that you wouldn't rapidly hit blocks (Although, things that'd take one hit like TNT, torches, etc would still have the same effects applied to them as if they were hit with anything else). This is mostly to go in with the next suggestion, to prevent a likely glitch that would occur. Besides, it'd separate weapons that much more from regular tools.
Varying Attack Speed, Attack Delay for Weapons:
Weapons should definitely have varying attack speeds, with a delay when you go to use a weapon. This would offer up a lot of possible combinations for new weapons, thus making new weapons more than just "lolol it does more damage and it looks kewler". This also, however, should apply to zombie mobs- so they would have a delay when they attack, giving you a chance to dodge. To go with this, they should have an animation, rather than just... walking up to you and hurting you if you're in range. Instantly, this makes melee combat vs mobs a LOT more interesting. It also opens up the possibility for more melee mobs- skeleton soldiers, etc.
As I mentioned before, there shouldn't be any problems with this now because, well, weapons wouldn't be used to break blocks- so they wouldn't rapidly hit blocks, allowing you to hit a block then aim at an enemy to hurt them instantly (Which would definitely happen if weapons were kept as they were but were given an attack delay).
Secondary Attacks for Weapons:
I've wondered if right-click secondary attacks would overly complicate things (Which is something MineCraft should definitely avoid), but I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't- simply because they wouldn't be some integral part of gameplay, but simply an alternative option. That being said, right click for weapons would give it different methods of attack. This would allow for even more possibilities with different weapons (Such as throwing a spear, etc).
For the sword, specifically, it should be something that you'd have to hold down right click for- and upon releasing (You could hold it indefinitely, or until you get hurt), you'd swing for half a heart more damage. Not too much more damage, but would be nifty for a heavier attack if you have the time for it. As a downside, though, your movement speed would go down to that of sneaking speed upon holding right click. This makes it less of a "If you don't use this move as your first hit, you're doing it wrong!" kinda thing (Which I absolutely hate in games).
Knockback and Stunning:
Right now, every weapon in MineCraft will instantly knock you back. I feel this is a bit... annoying at times, especially when faced with an enemy that uses arrows (Skeletons). That being said, there should be "Stunning", which has you flashing red and invulnerable for the usual duration. However, you'd be frozen for half the invulnerable duration- which, this would apply to enemies as well. So stunning an enemy would allow you to gain some distance still (while running away), but it won't lock them in place if you fire at just the right time every time. This also applies to you, so if you get hit with a weapon that stuns rather than knocks back, you'd still have a bit of time to run after the "stunned" duration wears off. Arrows should then stun you instead of knock you back- this would also apply to YOUR arrows, too, so you'd have to reconsider the way you approach certain mobs.
Regular items (Anything that's not a weapon, including tools) should simply stun enemies, too. This means, in order to actually knock an enemy back, you'd have to use a weapon. Thus, swords and other weapons should still knock enemies back.
Bows:
Agh, bows. Bows need to be changed up significantly- as it's been noted many times, but I'd like to offer my take on how they should be changed.
Firstly, no more auto-fire: this makes the bow horribly overpowered, and... kind of nonsensical. Secondly, change the regular firing mode to left click (It's not like you'd be breaking blocks with a bow, anyways). The primary attack would take about 0.5 seconds before it actually fires, thus effectively removing arrow spam. Its damage should also be reduced to 1.5, rather than the current 2 hearts of damage.
However, they would have a secondary attack, that can be held indefinitely, but in order to fire, take at least one second of holding. Upon releasing, it'd fire further, faster, and do more damage (2.5 hearts of damage). This secondary attack would also knock enemies back rather than just stunning them.
This would make bows... well, a lot cooler, personally. And make them actually act like bows. It also opens up the possibility of crossbows (Which I'll get into later, and how they should personally work).
As a side note, if different "tiers" of bows are ever added, they should not do more damage. They should just have faster firing speed, more durability (If durability is added to bows, which it should be eventually), and/or better range. They also shouldn't use metal; but rather, new types of woods. I plan on making a separate thread for this, though, so I'll link to that whenever I do it.
New Weapons, Items for Said Weapons:
There's already plenty of suggestions for new weapons- but I'll add a few that I feel are "must have" weapons for MineCraft, if combat is to ever be improved, and how they should function. These aren't actually an integral part of the rest of the thread, hence the different coloring. But I also feel that new weapons should eventually be put in anyways, and this would be the best way to do them.
Poles:
Spears should actually require a new type of item for crafting, rather than just sticks- namely, poles. Poles would be crafted like so:
[] []
[] []
[] []
Using regular wood, rather than planks (So they take a bit more resources than just sticks to create). Poles would look similar to the existing single-fence post, but could have things placed on and below them freely, so you don't have to go through the annoying task of stacking fence posts. You should also be able to craft metal poles, using instead of . This would add some nifty little decoration capabilities, but also, would give a more viable item choice for making spears.
Spears:
Spears would, as I mentioned above, require wooden poles rather than just sticks. They'd be crafted as such:
[] []
[] []
[] []
Where = poles, and can be :cobblestone:, :Iron:, :GoldBar:, or :Diamond:.
Spears should do half a heart more damage than swords of the same material type, and have a longer range- but would have a slower attack speed and attack delay to go with it.
As a secondary attack, spears should be able to be thrown- their damage would be reduced by half a heart (So they'd do as much damage as a sword of equivalent material) when thrown, and would actually pass through enemies if they hit them, sticking to the ground behind the enemy (this way, you can always retrieve the spear when you throw it... unless it falls into lava).
Crossbows
Crossbows would be crafted like:
]" title="-<->" /> ]" title="-<->" />
[] []
Where ]" title="-<->" /> is string.
Or some other variation, but it should definitely require iron.
Crossbows would work differently from bows in a few ways. Firstly, they wouldn't have a secondary attack- both attacks would work the same. Secondly, it wouldn't have an attack delay- instead, it would attack the second you click. Its damage would also be a steady 2 damage- thus, it's basically what the bow used to be (Only without the auto-firing). Generally speaking, this would make a lot more sense. Its range should actually be the same as the bows. It should also instantly hit whatever it aims at- but, it can't arc because of this. If it doesn't hit anything, it'll just fall to the ground. Crossbows would also only stun- they wouldn't have a secondary attack to knock enemies back. This means that crossbow tactics would be a little more limited. It should also use a different ammunition than bows- bolts. Bolts would be crafted like so:
[] []
[] []
[] [] []
Which would give you 4 bolts. As a downside, it requires iron- so it'd be a little harder to get in some situations. On the plus side, it doesn't need feathers.
This would make crossbows a useful ALTERNATIVE to bows, and not better or nonsensically different. Generally speaking, it makes a lot more sense to have crossbows work this way.
Closing:
TL;DR: Read it! All of this kind of goes together, so reading just one or two parts wouldn't work too well.
If you did read it all, thanks for reading it. I do encourage you to post your comments, criticisms, and suggestions to my suggestions. And again: I'm aware there's other threads that suggest how to change up combat. But a lot of them end up suggesting way too many random ideas that don't really go together all too well, or would make MineCraft too complicated. I feel like MineCraft needs to retain simplicity, but also, needs a lot more options on how to approach every situation. These suggestions attempt to keep that feeling of simplicity (It might be a TL;DR thread, but in function, everything would work fairly smoothly), while bringing a fair amount of options to the table, as well as the capability to easily put in new weapons and mobs which would function differently from other weapons/mobs.
I like this a whole lot- it adds a lot more diversity and usefulness to weapons as is, without over cluttering it and making the game a fighting game. That's the important part I think most ideas lack. They try and push too many weapons which would change the focus of the game when in reality it should stay as just a part.
Spears sound awesome, too. A melee weapon with farther striking range would be so awesomely useful. Zombies are dicks.
However, this thread presents an alternative method to dealing with the fairly mundane combat of MineCraft. Still, I recommend viewing it here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56267
It has some nice suggestions, a few of which I like (and already had in mind anyways), and a few I don't agree with.
Intro:
Currently, the combat in MineCraft is... well, boring. And doesn't offer many options on how to approach enemy targets. Really, it's not even a viable choice half the time (Skeletons pretty much always hit you if you get too close, etc). That being said, however, it shouldn't be easier than it already is to avoid the threat of mobs- so it's a fairly hard thing to balance. Still, I feel it's not only possible, but honestly, kind of necessary to restructure combat at least a little bit before any new weapons or mobs are added. I feel that, however, the problem lies not quite in the mobs, but in the weapons, and how you can use them.
There's a fairly high amount of suggestions here it'd seem like, but they're all connected to eachother in some way- so it's kinda necessary to have them all put in, rather than just having a few here and there.
Weapon Slots, Wielding:
Weapon slots would be two new additions to the UI, that would handle... well, your weapons. Tools and such wouldn't go here, but would be a sort of "quick slot" for weapons. Naturally, there would be a key bound to switching straight to your primary weapon- this would make it a lot nicer to switch straight to a weapon in emergency situations. It'd also free up your existing equipment/block slots a little bit more, which would be pretty handy to have an extra few slots for blocks or tools.
As well as there being a key to switch to your weapons, there should be another one that would switch between primary and secondary weapons (Hence, there being two). This'd make it so you could have a sword and a bow, and if more weapons are added (Which there should be!), you could really mix things up.
Now, to go with this, there should be a few changes to weapon rules- firstly, they shouldn't be able to go in your regular 1-9 equipment slots. This might seem like it'd cause problems because of weapons on the existing slots, but that could be easily solved- just have them automatically equip to your weapon slots, and if there's more than two, have them go back to your inventory. If they wouldn't fit in your inventory, well, they could just be dropped or something. I dunno, there's plenty of solutions to this, but I'd like for weapons to be separated a little bit more from regular equipment/items/blocks.
Secondly, weapons shouldn't be able to actually break blocks in the traditional way- this means that you wouldn't rapidly hit blocks (Although, things that'd take one hit like TNT, torches, etc would still have the same effects applied to them as if they were hit with anything else). This is mostly to go in with the next suggestion, to prevent a likely glitch that would occur. Besides, it'd separate weapons that much more from regular tools.
Varying Attack Speed, Attack Delay for Weapons:
Weapons should definitely have varying attack speeds, with a delay when you go to use a weapon. This would offer up a lot of possible combinations for new weapons, thus making new weapons more than just "lolol it does more damage and it looks kewler". This also, however, should apply to zombie mobs- so they would have a delay when they attack, giving you a chance to dodge. To go with this, they should have an animation, rather than just... walking up to you and hurting you if you're in range. Instantly, this makes melee combat vs mobs a LOT more interesting. It also opens up the possibility for more melee mobs- skeleton soldiers, etc.
As I mentioned before, there shouldn't be any problems with this now because, well, weapons wouldn't be used to break blocks- so they wouldn't rapidly hit blocks, allowing you to hit a block then aim at an enemy to hurt them instantly (Which would definitely happen if weapons were kept as they were but were given an attack delay).
Secondary Attacks for Weapons:
I've wondered if right-click secondary attacks would overly complicate things (Which is something MineCraft should definitely avoid), but I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't- simply because they wouldn't be some integral part of gameplay, but simply an alternative option. That being said, right click for weapons would give it different methods of attack. This would allow for even more possibilities with different weapons (Such as throwing a spear, etc).
For the sword, specifically, it should be something that you'd have to hold down right click for- and upon releasing (You could hold it indefinitely, or until you get hurt), you'd swing for half a heart more damage. Not too much more damage, but would be nifty for a heavier attack if you have the time for it. As a downside, though, your movement speed would go down to that of sneaking speed upon holding right click. This makes it less of a "If you don't use this move as your first hit, you're doing it wrong!" kinda thing (Which I absolutely hate in games).
Knockback and Stunning:
Right now, every weapon in MineCraft will instantly knock you back. I feel this is a bit... annoying at times, especially when faced with an enemy that uses arrows (Skeletons). That being said, there should be "Stunning", which has you flashing red and invulnerable for the usual duration. However, you'd be frozen for half the invulnerable duration- which, this would apply to enemies as well. So stunning an enemy would allow you to gain some distance still (while running away), but it won't lock them in place if you fire at just the right time every time. This also applies to you, so if you get hit with a weapon that stuns rather than knocks back, you'd still have a bit of time to run after the "stunned" duration wears off. Arrows should then stun you instead of knock you back- this would also apply to YOUR arrows, too, so you'd have to reconsider the way you approach certain mobs.
Regular items (Anything that's not a weapon, including tools) should simply stun enemies, too. This means, in order to actually knock an enemy back, you'd have to use a weapon. Thus, swords and other weapons should still knock enemies back.
Bows:
Agh, bows. Bows need to be changed up significantly- as it's been noted many times, but I'd like to offer my take on how they should be changed.
Firstly, no more auto-fire: this makes the bow horribly overpowered, and... kind of nonsensical. Secondly, change the regular firing mode to left click (It's not like you'd be breaking blocks with a bow, anyways). The primary attack would take about 0.5 seconds before it actually fires, thus effectively removing arrow spam. Its damage should also be reduced to 1.5, rather than the current 2 hearts of damage.
However, they would have a secondary attack, that can be held indefinitely, but in order to fire, take at least one second of holding. Upon releasing, it'd fire further, faster, and do more damage (2.5 hearts of damage). This secondary attack would also knock enemies back rather than just stunning them.
This would make bows... well, a lot cooler, personally. And make them actually act like bows. It also opens up the possibility of crossbows (Which I'll get into later, and how they should personally work).
As a side note, if different "tiers" of bows are ever added, they should not do more damage. They should just have faster firing speed, more durability (If durability is added to bows, which it should be eventually), and/or better range. They also shouldn't use metal; but rather, new types of woods. I plan on making a separate thread for this, though, so I'll link to that whenever I do it.
New Weapons, Items for Said Weapons:
There's already plenty of suggestions for new weapons- but I'll add a few that I feel are "must have" weapons for MineCraft, if combat is to ever be improved, and how they should function. These aren't actually an integral part of the rest of the thread, hence the different coloring. But I also feel that new weapons should eventually be put in anyways, and this would be the best way to do them.
Poles:
Spears should actually require a new type of item for crafting, rather than just sticks- namely, poles. Poles would be crafted like so:
[]
[]
[]
Using regular wood, rather than planks (So they take a bit more resources than just sticks to create). Poles would look similar to the existing single-fence post, but could have things placed on and below them freely, so you don't have to go through the annoying task of stacking fence posts. You should also be able to craft metal poles, using
Spears:
Spears would, as I mentioned above, require wooden poles rather than just sticks. They'd be crafted as such:
[]
[]
[]
Where
Spears should do half a heart more damage than swords of the same material type, and have a longer range- but would have a slower attack speed and attack delay to go with it.
As a secondary attack, spears should be able to be thrown- their damage would be reduced by half a heart (So they'd do as much damage as a sword of equivalent material) when thrown, and would actually pass through enemies if they hit them, sticking to the ground behind the enemy (this way, you can always retrieve the spear when you throw it... unless it falls into lava).
Crossbows
Crossbows would be crafted like:
[]
Where
Or some other variation, but it should definitely require iron.
Crossbows would work differently from bows in a few ways. Firstly, they wouldn't have a secondary attack- both attacks would work the same. Secondly, it wouldn't have an attack delay- instead, it would attack the second you click. Its damage would also be a steady 2 damage- thus, it's basically what the bow used to be (Only without the auto-firing). Generally speaking, this would make a lot more sense. Its range should actually be the same as the bows. It should also instantly hit whatever it aims at- but, it can't arc because of this. If it doesn't hit anything, it'll just fall to the ground. Crossbows would also only stun- they wouldn't have a secondary attack to knock enemies back. This means that crossbow tactics would be a little more limited. It should also use a different ammunition than bows- bolts. Bolts would be crafted like so:
[]
[]
[] [] []
Which would give you 4 bolts. As a downside, it requires iron- so it'd be a little harder to get in some situations. On the plus side, it doesn't need feathers.
This would make crossbows a useful ALTERNATIVE to bows, and not better or nonsensically different. Generally speaking, it makes a lot more sense to have crossbows work this way.
Closing:
TL;DR: Read it! All of this kind of goes together, so reading just one or two parts wouldn't work too well.
If you did read it all, thanks for reading it. I do encourage you to post your comments, criticisms, and suggestions to my suggestions. And again: I'm aware there's other threads that suggest how to change up combat. But a lot of them end up suggesting way too many random ideas that don't really go together all too well, or would make MineCraft too complicated. I feel like MineCraft needs to retain simplicity, but also, needs a lot more options on how to approach every situation. These suggestions attempt to keep that feeling of simplicity (It might be a TL;DR thread, but in function, everything would work fairly smoothly), while bringing a fair amount of options to the table, as well as the capability to easily put in new weapons and mobs which would function differently from other weapons/mobs.
Spears sound awesome, too. A melee weapon with farther striking range would be so awesomely useful. Zombies are dicks.
Sword
Flint and steel
Sand
Lava
Water
Tnt
Bow
Okay, a valid point, but the melee system is still quite unfulfilled. Any input?
Choose your favorite, there are a few to choose from, lol
I will be using them soon
I'm Starting to be known as a Balancer, A.K.A. I'm starting to become pessimist
Don't Forget the ALMIGHTY FIST O' DOOM!!!!