I was reading this thread when my idea spun off into something similar, but more expansive and realistic, at least in my own opinion. I'm gonna try to keep this post conceptual, because I think getting into exact numbers or crafting recipes is just clutter and almost beside the point. I should also mention that this would all kinda need monsters to be more dangerous or armor to be weakened, for PVE combat to retain any appearance of difficulty. Hell, that kinda needs to happen anyway.
It starts with the shield. This would be an expensive item, available in normal tool materials, though it would be placed in a new armor slot. The shield would only become visible when the player has a sword selected. Use of the shield would replace parrying when equipped.
Now, parrying would be nerfed a bit. Rather than always 50% protection, I think it should be a 40-75% chance of complete protection (exact number is not important), but no protection at all from explosions or projectiles. And it should only work on attacks from the front, leaving the top, bottom, sides, and rear open.
On the other hand, the shield would offer a greater chance of protection (maybe a greater range of angles too) that includes projectiles, and a standard percentage protection from explosions, changing with material type. Wood lets some shrapnel through, diamond is pretty much bomb-proof. You dig? The only downside to shield versus parrying is that the shield would cover a large part of your field of vision when active, making it harder to follow your opponent. Activating the shield should also grant the player immunity to knockback, perhaps except from explosions.
Now, here's my little rant about shields and armor and speed. It's not strictly necessary for the point of this post, but it will make what I say next make more sense.
I play a full-contact LARP/battlegame called Dagorhir. Our requirements for metal armor are actually thicker than most real armor, to make up for the fact that full-strength armor steel is an enormous ***** to make and work with. And many fighters use plywood-cored shields that match realistic weights pretty closely. But if you take a dude with a full-weight shield and heavy metal armor, he can still sprint almost as fast as the guy with nothing but an ultralight spear. Mr. Heavy usually can't sprint as far, and will come in last in a long run, but in the time it takes for one dude to kill another, equipment weight does not noticeably affect running speed. So stop trying to say protective items should slow you down.
You know what you do when you have a shield? You don't chill out and let people hammer on you to no avail. You charge that punk with reckless abandon because you can now do it without getting hit. Protective equipment does not make a passive fighter. It makes extremely aggressive behavior more viable.
In addition to providing much better protection than a parry, I think that activating the shield while sprinting should cause a brief speed boost and maybe cause knockback about the same as a sword does now, the sword's knockback being reduced somewhat. I don't think parrying or using a shield should reduce the player's speed, but maybe weaken jumping a little or shorten the player model. Blocking and running at the same time would be about as hard in Minecraft as it is in real life; difficult to coordinate, but nothing special if you practice enough. However, removing the player's ability to climb ladders or swim while holding a shield might be good.
Now we have an equipment set that is built for rushing, aggressive behavior, and being hard to kill. In modern RPG terminology, it's a TANK. What does the tank chase down? I think it's time to introduce an equipment set made for more calculated, powerful attacks that tries to play the reach game and control the raging bouncy ball that is sword&shield.
It would be a long weapon with more reach, more damage, and better parrying properties than the sword. It cannot be used with a shield. I REALLY want spears just because I like spears, but a giant battle axe with a shitload of knockback might make more sense. In a conflict between the sword&shield and long weapon, it would be the goal of the shieldman to stay up in the opponent's grill and keep on attacking. It would be the long weapon's goal to evade the shieldman, keep out of his effective range, and circumvent the shield. This is exactly what I see at my LARP battles, and having been on both sides of the shield, I can say it's a lot of fun.
For balancing purposes, the long weapon would need to be about as expensive as a sword and shield combined. This might mean crafting the weapon's head/blade/point/whatever separately, and then crafting he head with some sticks to make a complete weapon. It may also be necessary to prevent a player from having both in his quick items at the same time. Either only having one at a time, or including the bow in these restrictions and allowing only two of the three.
In real life, sword&shield is the best for single combat, but a spear is the weapon of choice for hunting. Combined arms (shield wall with long weapons behind it) are ideal for group combat. I think all of these dynamics would appear in a fun and playable way in Minecraft if these changes were actually implemented. With the added sophistication, there might even be niches for two versions of long and short weapons each, one being high-damage/low-knockback and the other being the other way around. Maybe mace and sword, then spear and pole axe. I don't know. What do you think of all this?
PS I think that bricks should be throwable damaging projectiles, just because. Just wanted to say that.
Yeah, I kinda agree. I should have mentioned that I share the opinion that the current armor function makes the game laughably easy unless you're trying to reach and slay the dragon on hardcore mode. I think armor should be weakened. Not sure precisely how, though, so I was hesitant to bring that up.
We could start with making it so the shield only stays active for a short time so you can't just hold it up constantly. But really I think the solution for the problem is nerfing armor. Maybe having its protection start to drop at halfway through its life, a good compromise between old and new. And dropping iron's protection a bit. That ****'s easier to get than leather now.
And I'll agree enchantments have a lot of potential. Extended life, better blast protection, damage on impact, maybe immunity to catching fire from blazes and ghasts, you name it.
It starts with the shield. This would be an expensive item, available in normal tool materials, though it would be placed in a new armor slot. The shield would only become visible when the player has a sword selected. Use of the shield would replace parrying when equipped.
Now, parrying would be nerfed a bit. Rather than always 50% protection, I think it should be a 40-75% chance of complete protection (exact number is not important), but no protection at all from explosions or projectiles. And it should only work on attacks from the front, leaving the top, bottom, sides, and rear open.
On the other hand, the shield would offer a greater chance of protection (maybe a greater range of angles too) that includes projectiles, and a standard percentage protection from explosions, changing with material type. Wood lets some shrapnel through, diamond is pretty much bomb-proof. You dig? The only downside to shield versus parrying is that the shield would cover a large part of your field of vision when active, making it harder to follow your opponent. Activating the shield should also grant the player immunity to knockback, perhaps except from explosions.
Now, here's my little rant about shields and armor and speed. It's not strictly necessary for the point of this post, but it will make what I say next make more sense.
You know what you do when you have a shield? You don't chill out and let people hammer on you to no avail. You charge that punk with reckless abandon because you can now do it without getting hit. Protective equipment does not make a passive fighter. It makes extremely aggressive behavior more viable.
Now we have an equipment set that is built for rushing, aggressive behavior, and being hard to kill. In modern RPG terminology, it's a TANK. What does the tank chase down? I think it's time to introduce an equipment set made for more calculated, powerful attacks that tries to play the reach game and control the raging bouncy ball that is sword&shield.
It would be a long weapon with more reach, more damage, and better parrying properties than the sword. It cannot be used with a shield. I REALLY want spears just because I like spears, but a giant battle axe with a shitload of knockback might make more sense. In a conflict between the sword&shield and long weapon, it would be the goal of the shieldman to stay up in the opponent's grill and keep on attacking. It would be the long weapon's goal to evade the shieldman, keep out of his effective range, and circumvent the shield. This is exactly what I see at my LARP battles, and having been on both sides of the shield, I can say it's a lot of fun.
For balancing purposes, the long weapon would need to be about as expensive as a sword and shield combined. This might mean crafting the weapon's head/blade/point/whatever separately, and then crafting he head with some sticks to make a complete weapon. It may also be necessary to prevent a player from having both in his quick items at the same time. Either only having one at a time, or including the bow in these restrictions and allowing only two of the three.
In real life, sword&shield is the best for single combat, but a spear is the weapon of choice for hunting. Combined arms (shield wall with long weapons behind it) are ideal for group combat. I think all of these dynamics would appear in a fun and playable way in Minecraft if these changes were actually implemented. With the added sophistication, there might even be niches for two versions of long and short weapons each, one being high-damage/low-knockback and the other being the other way around. Maybe mace and sword, then spear and pole axe. I don't know. What do you think of all this?
PS I think that bricks should be throwable damaging projectiles, just because. Just wanted to say that.
How to not die in a cave
How to not die in a cave
sword+shield > bow (block)
pike < bow (can't block)
pike > sword+shield (power)
Like some said, maybe pike/spear have rush attack to stop someone from blocking and damage them.
And I'll agree enchantments have a lot of potential. Extended life, better blast protection, damage on impact, maybe immunity to catching fire from blazes and ghasts, you name it.
How to not die in a cave