Out of all of the RPG elements in Minecraft, one of the earliest ones is actualy the combat system
itself. The player with the better sword and armor pretty much always wins. This is about as RPGish
as it gets, with all the skill going into gathering the resources for fighting, and none of the skill actualy
goes into the fighting itself. For all intents and purposes, it's turn based. Someone hits you, then you
them. That's all there is to it. let's change that.
Delayed strikes
Delayed strikes? What is..."delayed strikes"? Most good multiplayer games actualy have delayed
strikes in them, at least for melee combat. Delayed strikes is the principle, based on real life sword
fighting, that the opponent should NOT take damage the moment you click on them, and instead
there should be a slight delay between you swinging the sword and the opponent taking damage,
a brief time in which they have a chance to dodge, block or deflect your attack. Basicaly, let's
contrast it to real life fighting. WHen you punch someone, they do not get hurt and go staggering back
the moment you will your fist to hit them in the face, but are not injured at all until the fist actualy
hits their face. This is what gives skill to a boxing match. In Minecraft, this would allow the player
to reduce the damage with blocking or avoid it completely with a skillful parry.
A parry?
A parry is not a replacement for blocking, but rather an addon. In a few later frames of the animation
of the sword raising for a block, it would glow. This is what we'll call the "parry zone".
It would start when the sword is 3/4 of the way raised and stop when it is raised completely.
If the attacker hit you while you are parrying, you will take NO damage at all, and the attacker
would get the "blocked!" status efect. This status effect would last for 1 second and not allow
the player to swing their arms, swords, or anything, just long enough for you to counter-attack.
However, since you would completely avoid damage, your sword, presumably, takes the full impact
of the hit. This chips away at its durrability, slightly more so than hitting.
Exhaustion
Exhaustion is what will keep players from spamming their swords and running forever.
The player would have an invisible stamina bar. Swinging your sword would take away
some stamina, as would sprinting. If you get below a certain threshold, you'll
get the dreaded exhaustion debuff. When you have the exhaustion debuff, you make a heavy,
deep breathing sound and take a half heart of damage every time you do something that takes
away stamina, since you're really pushing yourself past your limits. Stamina slowly regenerates.
Note that while clicking to SWING tools as weapons your stamina will drain, but not while holding down
the mouse to mine or place blocks, so it woun't ruin your mining experience.
So, I know what you're thinking. Will this make my diamond armor and tools useless? No.
it will make them an advantage, like they should be, not an instant win against people without them.
I agree, Minecraft PVP is lifeless and boring, this should definitely be added. With this, a skillful player in leather could possibly beat a novice player with diamond armor.
Maybe the higher the tier the armor, the faster you get exhausted, considering the weight of your armor.
For example
No armor: Exhausted 1.5x less
Leather armor: Normal exhaustion
Chainmail: Exhausted 1.2x more
Gold Armor: Exhausted 1.2x more
Iron armor: Exhausted 1.5x more
Diamond Armor: Exhausted 2x more
You also sound like a guy who plays Infinity Blade or Blood and Glory
If I do not reply to my posts, I either have no internet connection, or am busy with college work. Alternatively, I may be writing up the post now. It all depends on the situation.
itself. The player with the better sword and armor pretty much always wins. This is about as RPGish
as it gets, with all the skill going into gathering the resources for fighting, and none of the skill actualy
goes into the fighting itself. For all intents and purposes, it's turn based. Someone hits you, then you
them. That's all there is to it. let's change that.
Delayed strikes
Delayed strikes? What is..."delayed strikes"? Most good multiplayer games actualy have delayed
strikes in them, at least for melee combat. Delayed strikes is the principle, based on real life sword
fighting, that the opponent should NOT take damage the moment you click on them, and instead
there should be a slight delay between you swinging the sword and the opponent taking damage,
a brief time in which they have a chance to dodge, block or deflect your attack. Basicaly, let's
contrast it to real life fighting. WHen you punch someone, they do not get hurt and go staggering back
the moment you will your fist to hit them in the face, but are not injured at all until the fist actualy
hits their face. This is what gives skill to a boxing match. In Minecraft, this would allow the player
to reduce the damage with blocking or avoid it completely with a skillful parry.
A parry?
A parry is not a replacement for blocking, but rather an addon. In a few later frames of the animation
of the sword raising for a block, it would glow. This is what we'll call the "parry zone".
It would start when the sword is 3/4 of the way raised and stop when it is raised completely.
If the attacker hit you while you are parrying, you will take NO damage at all, and the attacker
would get the "blocked!" status efect. This status effect would last for 1 second and not allow
the player to swing their arms, swords, or anything, just long enough for you to counter-attack.
However, since you would completely avoid damage, your sword, presumably, takes the full impact
of the hit. This chips away at its durrability, slightly more so than hitting.
Exhaustion
Exhaustion is what will keep players from spamming their swords and running forever.
The player would have an invisible stamina bar. Swinging your sword would take away
some stamina, as would sprinting. If you get below a certain threshold, you'll
get the dreaded exhaustion debuff. When you have the exhaustion debuff, you make a heavy,
deep breathing sound and take a half heart of damage every time you do something that takes
away stamina, since you're really pushing yourself past your limits. Stamina slowly regenerates.
Note that while clicking to SWING tools as weapons your stamina will drain, but not while holding down
the mouse to mine or place blocks, so it woun't ruin your mining experience.
So, I know what you're thinking. Will this make my diamond armor and tools useless? No.
it will make them an advantage, like they should be, not an instant win against people without them.
Maybe the higher the tier the armor, the faster you get exhausted, considering the weight of your armor.
For example
No armor: Exhausted 1.5x less
Leather armor: Normal exhaustion
Chainmail: Exhausted 1.2x more
Gold Armor: Exhausted 1.2x more
Iron armor: Exhausted 1.5x more
Diamond Armor: Exhausted 2x more
You also sound like a guy who plays Infinity Blade or Blood and Glory
If I do not reply to my posts, I either have no internet connection, or am busy with college work. Alternatively, I may be writing up the post now. It all depends on the situation.
Also NOTHING is more annoying than 'running out sprint'...