I'm sure this forum is frequently flooded by suggestions lately on how Anvils are unbalanced, are impractical, or could have other uses in one way or another...
This is my take on a way to make Anvils more intuitive, and also more interesting to interact with without breaching immersion.
Primarily this suggestion aims to change the nature of an Anvil's consumability by making Hammers the primary consumable in the repair process, make repair consume experience ONLY when dealing with enchanted equipment, and remove the necessity of combining tools to repair by repairing with raw materials. The anvil should have a serious advantage over normal non-anvil item repair beyond simply combining enchantments and better repair efficiency.
To start off I will explain the new repair process:
Anvils would function similarly to the new item frames allowing players to view an item when it is placed in the Anvil's UI. Once placed, the item to be repaired would appear on top of the Anvil. Players would then craft a hammer on the crafting bench using Iron- or perhaps the full breadth of Minecraft's standard materials with the usual deviation in enchantability and durability, excluding Wood. The players would then strike the Anvil with the hammer, just as you would to hit a Mob or break a block.
The next part is up to debate, as there are multiple ways of doing this, but here is my primary suggestion:
First, the player would strike the Anvil with the hammer (holding down the click) and would keep striking (in the same manner as one would break a block) until they think the item has been repaired. The duration of the click would determine the amount of damage repaired on the item and the amount of damage recieved by the hammer- with misjudged click durations resulting in less-than-desireable results. The optimum length of the click duration would depend on how damaged the item is (making heavily damaged items more difficult to gauge the length of the click) as well as it's materials and level of enchantment (Enchanted equipment has special conditions to be repaired, however)
If the duration is too short, or too long there are a few undesireable outcomes-
A missclick could result in the item being repaired only a small amount, and the hammer recieving a rather large amount of damage from misuse.
A worse missclick could result in the item being outright destroyed, and the hammer recieving an even larger amount of damage (or also being outright destroyed).
A terrible missclick would result in both items being destroyed, as well as damage to the Anvil itself.
Using these conditions, not only does the Anvil become more interesting to use, but more intuitive and more immersive. The consumability of items is maintained, while the (In my opinion) strange use of experience is no longer part of repairing standard mundane equipment.
Renaming items would work the same, but would require a very short duration click and generally be a low-risk action. You wouldn't be able to destroy items or damage equipment, other than a slight decrease on the hammer's durability.
Finally, enchanted equipment. Enchanted equipment would function differently on an Anvil. Mudane hammers could not repair magical equipment, requiring the user to first enchant the hammer. In it's most basic form the hammer would simply be "enchanted" and have varying levels of durability enhancement or effectiveness (decreasing the chance of misclick mishaps). Enchanted hammers would be essential for repairing, renaming, or combining enchanted equipment. This would substitute the experience cost currently seen when using Anvils and balance the powerful ability to maintain magic items.
Additionally, repairing enchanted equipment would ALWAYS cause some amount of damage to the Anvil, the amount of which depending on the level of the enchanted equipment being repaired/renamed/combined.
You'll notice I've not mentioned anywhere that items would have to be combined in order to repair equipment, as they currently do- This important balancing aspect could be maintained by using the second slot of the repair UI to hold raw materials (Iron to repair iron tools, diamond for diamond tools, etc, as you'd expect)- Though I don't think it should be entirely necessary to do so unless the item is damaged beyond a certain point (this is up to debate, either works and would only be necessary for balance purposes).
So. Thanks to those who've read this post- I appreciate any comments or criticism you all have to offer.
PS: Crafting recipe for the hammer is up for debate. Depending on the desired material cost it could simply be two sticks with a single block or Iron, Gold, or Diamond at the top. Otherwise it could be a single stick with three ingots/diamonds in a row across the center.
PPS: Alternatively, hammers could have a secondary function as a block-buster, breaking certain blocks slightly faster than a pick might at the expense of it's loot/drops. This could probably be easily limited to stone/glass, though, since it doesn't make since to hammer dirt and the like into oblivion.
I'm well aware that compared to the current anvil mechanics, and other similar UI interactions that this seems a little complicated- particularly since this pretty easily qualifies as a mini-game. My alternative to timed-clicks is that repairs would be executed simply by right clicking with a hammer, and over-repairing would simply damage the anvil (as well as the usual reduction in hammer durability).
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slyther_claw
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No support. It's already been stated, in comparison to current game mechanics this is mind-bogglingly complicated. If your intention is intuitiveness, you've missed the mark entirely. It just adds needless extra steps to what should be a simplistic, intuitive and easy process. You've already gone through the effort to get the items that need repaired, you've already enchanted them, and mined out the needed materials. Why in the name of Cthulhu would you possibly want to craft yet another item, which is going to break, (which is ridiculous since the primary function of the anvil is to avoid having your tools break as often), just to use the already created item that was intended to avoid this fate to begin with?
Adding additional steps for the sake of realism is not progress, it is needless convolution. What you have suggested is the polar opposite of minecraft's heretofore established mechanics, UIs and intuitive use of something is based on what you are already familiar with within the given environment. Id Est: What you have suggested is not intuitive.
Minecraft, I've noticed, has a very specific 'order of elaborateness' where;
The first tier has the simplest game play, movement. it has literally 8 controls that you need to get around. And is for the most part entirely open ended.
The Second Tier is life maintenance. Basically food, armor, health. This tier doesn't account for how one gets the food or crafts the armor, but as far as it functions in the game it is a little bit more elaborate a concept than moment and mining.
The Third Tier is crafting, which boils down to "this plus this equals this". This tier is easily scaled up with the vast diversity of items. However the crafting functions basically the same way whether it is a crafting table, a furnace, trading, or the current anvil.
The Fourth Tier is "acquired wisdom", like sugar cane needs to be next to waterorcreepers killed by skeletons drop music disks or spawners are only active when the player is 16 blocks away. This sort of thing mostly deals with very specific instances of things. Each item has its own set of rules.
There might be a Fifth Tier that has to do with survival strategies, and multiplayer social interactions... but thats not important.
Now, your anvil idea falls under a new category somewhere between 3 and 4. Currently the only thing I can think of that fall under this special "interactive-scalar-crafting" Tier is the original cauldron concept where you were going to put ingredients in it and watch it boil and change colors. The problem with this is that there is nothing else that functions like your anvils. And until there is, it would feel... foreign.
Then again, that was my argument against enchantments.......
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Please stop crying. I can't interrogate you while you're crying.
You forgot the part where you have to drop the repaired item in a cauldron full of water immediately after hammering it otherwise it's ruined - that way it's super intuitive!
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This is my take on a way to make Anvils more intuitive, and also more interesting to interact with without breaching immersion.
Primarily this suggestion aims to change the nature of an Anvil's consumability by making Hammers the primary consumable in the repair process, make repair consume experience ONLY when dealing with enchanted equipment, and remove the necessity of combining tools to repair by repairing with raw materials. The anvil should have a serious advantage over normal non-anvil item repair beyond simply combining enchantments and better repair efficiency.
To start off I will explain the new repair process:
Anvils would function similarly to the new item frames allowing players to view an item when it is placed in the Anvil's UI. Once placed, the item to be repaired would appear on top of the Anvil. Players would then craft a hammer on the crafting bench using Iron- or perhaps the full breadth of Minecraft's standard materials with the usual deviation in enchantability and durability, excluding Wood. The players would then strike the Anvil with the hammer, just as you would to hit a Mob or break a block.
The next part is up to debate, as there are multiple ways of doing this, but here is my primary suggestion:
First, the player would strike the Anvil with the hammer (holding down the click) and would keep striking (in the same manner as one would break a block) until they think the item has been repaired. The duration of the click would determine the amount of damage repaired on the item and the amount of damage recieved by the hammer- with misjudged click durations resulting in less-than-desireable results. The optimum length of the click duration would depend on how damaged the item is (making heavily damaged items more difficult to gauge the length of the click) as well as it's materials and level of enchantment (Enchanted equipment has special conditions to be repaired, however)
If the duration is too short, or too long there are a few undesireable outcomes-
- A missclick could result in the item being repaired only a small amount, and the hammer recieving a rather large amount of damage from misuse.
- A worse missclick could result in the item being outright destroyed, and the hammer recieving an even larger amount of damage (or also being outright destroyed).
- A terrible missclick would result in both items being destroyed, as well as damage to the Anvil itself.
Using these conditions, not only does the Anvil become more interesting to use, but more intuitive and more immersive. The consumability of items is maintained, while the (In my opinion) strange use of experience is no longer part of repairing standard mundane equipment.Renaming items would work the same, but would require a very short duration click and generally be a low-risk action. You wouldn't be able to destroy items or damage equipment, other than a slight decrease on the hammer's durability.
Finally, enchanted equipment. Enchanted equipment would function differently on an Anvil. Mudane hammers could not repair magical equipment, requiring the user to first enchant the hammer. In it's most basic form the hammer would simply be "enchanted" and have varying levels of durability enhancement or effectiveness (decreasing the chance of misclick mishaps). Enchanted hammers would be essential for repairing, renaming, or combining enchanted equipment. This would substitute the experience cost currently seen when using Anvils and balance the powerful ability to maintain magic items.
Additionally, repairing enchanted equipment would ALWAYS cause some amount of damage to the Anvil, the amount of which depending on the level of the enchanted equipment being repaired/renamed/combined.
You'll notice I've not mentioned anywhere that items would have to be combined in order to repair equipment, as they currently do- This important balancing aspect could be maintained by using the second slot of the repair UI to hold raw materials (Iron to repair iron tools, diamond for diamond tools, etc, as you'd expect)- Though I don't think it should be entirely necessary to do so unless the item is damaged beyond a certain point (this is up to debate, either works and would only be necessary for balance purposes).
So. Thanks to those who've read this post- I appreciate any comments or criticism you all have to offer.
PS: Crafting recipe for the hammer is up for debate. Depending on the desired material cost it could simply be two sticks with a single block or Iron, Gold, or Diamond at the top. Otherwise it could be a single stick with three ingots/diamonds in a row across the center.
PPS: Alternatively, hammers could have a secondary function as a block-buster, breaking certain blocks slightly faster than a pick might at the expense of it's loot/drops. This could probably be easily limited to stone/glass, though, since it doesn't make since to hammer dirt and the like into oblivion.
Monster Ideas: Poltergeist and Shadow
Dynamic Water
Scaffolding Blocks
Bone Block for the Nether
I'm well aware that compared to the current anvil mechanics, and other similar UI interactions that this seems a little complicated- particularly since this pretty easily qualifies as a mini-game. My alternative to timed-clicks is that repairs would be executed simply by right clicking with a hammer, and over-repairing would simply damage the anvil (as well as the usual reduction in hammer durability).
Monster Ideas: Poltergeist and Shadow
Dynamic Water
Scaffolding Blocks
Bone Block for the Nether
Adding additional steps for the sake of realism is not progress, it is needless convolution. What you have suggested is the polar opposite of minecraft's heretofore established mechanics, UIs and intuitive use of something is based on what you are already familiar with within the given environment. Id Est: What you have suggested is not intuitive.
The first tier has the simplest game play, movement. it has literally 8 controls that you need to get around. And is for the most part entirely open ended.
The Second Tier is life maintenance. Basically food, armor, health. This tier doesn't account for how one gets the food or crafts the armor, but as far as it functions in the game it is a little bit more elaborate a concept than moment and mining.
The Third Tier is crafting, which boils down to "this plus this equals this". This tier is easily scaled up with the vast diversity of items. However the crafting functions basically the same way whether it is a crafting table, a furnace, trading, or the current anvil.
The Fourth Tier is "acquired wisdom", like sugar cane needs to be next to water or creepers killed by skeletons drop music disks or spawners are only active when the player is 16 blocks away. This sort of thing mostly deals with very specific instances of things. Each item has its own set of rules.
There might be a Fifth Tier that has to do with survival strategies, and multiplayer social interactions... but thats not important.
Now, your anvil idea falls under a new category somewhere between 3 and 4. Currently the only thing I can think of that fall under this special "interactive-scalar-crafting" Tier is the original cauldron concept where you were going to put ingredients in it and watch it boil and change colors. The problem with this is that there is nothing else that functions like your anvils. And until there is, it would feel... foreign.
Then again, that was my argument against enchantments.......