I think the main issue with copper armor or tools is that it doesn't really have a niche in the existing tier system. If copper is going to be easier to find than iron, it would presumably be weaker- but iron armor is already easy enough to obtain that adding in another tier between leather armor/stone tools and iron equipment would be kind of useless.
Which isn't to say that copper equipment couldn't be a thing! Rather that it would have to have some special niche or ability that makes it unique and interesting, apart from other tiers. (Maybe it can be 'charged' in some manner to offer a temporary boost in power, or has some other special abilities, at the expense of not being very durable.)
Agreed- I don't think the method is too important so long as it's renewable in the longterm. ...Possibly even farmable? Yeah, a dirt farm sounds pretty nonsensical, but it would certainly save a lot of effort whenever you want to do any landscaping whatsoever.
Rotten Flesh to dirt could definitely work; I also had a vague idea about making some sort of crafting recipe for different blocks that involves breaking down other renewable blocks, (Like stone and cobblestone.)
For example: Cobblestone can now be used to craft gravel in some respect, which can in turn be used to make sand; not as sure about dirt, but something along these lines, sort of like the various recipes for granite and andesite, except actually useful.
I get that Wandering Traders are technically a renewable method of obtaining things... but only in the loosest sense of the term. They're just generally an irritating mechanic. (This isn't the most strictly related to the OP, but I digress.) They show up randomly, and their trades, (Which are also randomized), are almost entirely useless. It seems like the solution to make things renewable by adding a Wandering Trader trade isn't exactly a balanced or long term solution.
...Maybe the toxic properties of rotten flesh could be utilized in some way? Or maybe a block of rotten flesh could actually boost the growth of crops nearby?
Personally, gotta say no. I can't think of many instances in which Minecraft needs more tools/weapons, or at least ones that are very similar to existing tools/weapons. I for one would love some sort of short distance ranged+melee weapon, like a boomerang or chakram- but battleaxes seem a bit redundant. Axes are already substantially more powerful than swords, even if they lose durability faster in combat. I still almost exclusively use axes in battle.
...I like the idea of copper having more niche technological uses, but I'm not really feeling all of the specific ideas. A system of powercells could be interesting, but it would be kind of irritating if you had to wait for thunderstorms whenever you needed power. Similarly, if you have a ranged weapon that uses a lot of power, but is essentially just a dispenser, it's not really worth making. As for a helicopter... I can see some sort of copper version of single use elytra, maybe, but not really a full blown helicopter.
However, the basic idea is good. Copper really doesn't have too many practical uses at this point, considering how common it is.
...These are decent ideas- rafts seem a little redundant, and not helpful for singleplayer games- as does the coconut helmet being similar to a turtle shell helmet. I can see improvements being made to beaches, but I think there are bigger fish to fry for 1.19. Most of the past few updates have been game changing overhauls of large areas of the game. (Update Aquatic, Village and Pillage, Nether Update, Caves, etc.)
Rotten flesh ought to work in a composter, (If it doesn't already? I'm pretty sure it doesn't.) This at least would give you some valid way of getting rid of the stuff if you have no other use for it. I guess I could see it being smelted into leather, but I'm pretty neutral on that point. Brewing? Maybe, but bearing in mind that rotten flesh is really, really common, I can't see it making an especially useful potion.
...I'm not really sure what all the talk about fish is about given the OP; but I can see it having something to do with fish... if from a completely different direction. Maybe fishing rods can have bait equipped to them- with various types of bait increasing the chances of some catches, or offering other benefits. Rotten flesh, when used as bait, would just overall decrease the time it takes for fish to bite.
...Nothing quite beats a lengthy discussion about what probably amounts to one of the grossest parts of the game.
Just an idea I had for a new functional storage/decorative block. A basket is crafted using six bamboo and one leather in... a baskety shape, and can be placed as a composter-ish block, (It sort of resembles scaffolding), as well as stored in the inventory. The basket has the following useful properties:
-It can store two stacks of an ingredient materials. (Fruits and Vegetables like apples, potatoes, carrots chorus fruit, and beetroot; Golden Fruits/Vegetables like golden apples, golden carrots, glistering melons?; Potion ingredients like spider eyes, mushrooms, glowstone dust, redstone dust, etc; Various types of seeds; eggs; and so on and so forth. There are also various things it specifically cannot hold, such as meat, rarer ingredients, etc.
-It continues to hold stored materials even when broken, allowing you to carry more of this stuff than usual.
-It has a different model depending on what resource it is holding, and how full it is- with a unique appearance for empty, slightly full, half full, and nearly full.
-Right clicking on the basket causes it to drop a single item from its contents. Shift clicking causes it to drop all of its contents. This could make it quite useful for easy storage systems in kitchens or crafting areas. (You could put baskets up there as cabinets of a sort, or on a table as ingredient containers.)
-Baskets are deliberately intended to give another use to bamboo. (Maybe they can also be crafted with sticks?) It seemed like they ought to be a bit of a middle game sort of convenience.
-Baskets emit a comporator signal, can be filled with a hopper, and retain their contents when moved by pistons.This could make for some really interesting redstone contraptions!
The issue here is that iron is just easy enough to find that, without some very major rebalancing to ores, there's no need for a middle tier metal between iron and leather gear. (It's sort of like how the wooden tier of tools is almost completely unnecessary because of how easy it is to get stone tools, even on the first day.) Instead, copper seems to be tending towards decoration blocks, and various special uses- such as the spyglass and the lightning rod.
As such, I'd certainly like to see more niche uses for copper- such as scopes, (Which I think have a decent chance of being implemented.) Some other ideas I had involving copper include redstone powered, retractable spike blocks; shulker turrets that can be made to fire at various enemies, (See linked article); maybe something to do with the upcoming addition of archaeology?
The Combat Update- or at the very least, some sort of improvement to the game's combat system; has been something Mojang has been experimenting with for quite some time now, without any especially solid results. We've recently gotten shields and crossbows, one of which changes things dramatically... but that's about it.
Firstly, I'd like to say that this seems to be something of a contentious topic, and one that I'm not the most invested in- I feel like there are bigger parts of the game that are more of a priority than combat. (Such as, say, the entire End dimension.) I have my opinions regarding combat- namely that the existing system is kind of comical. (Consider that you can trap pretty much any mob in a boat, rendering it harmless, or pillar upwards to avoid the vast majority of threats.) However, I wanted this thread to be more of an open discussion. Obviously, I think there's room for improvement, or I wouldn't have written this.
I generally see two main issues that prevent combat from really excelling as a game mechanic. (And, let's be honest, Minecraft is not exactly known for it's fantastic combat system. Improving any one of these areas, or, indeed, all three; would be more than welcome.I was originally going to include poor Mob AI as an issue, but this really only effects PVE, and furthermore... a lot of the mob design is really clever. Minus the Pillagers, who could genuinely use some work. (But I digress.)
Ultimately, it would just be interesting to have a discussion regarding changes to combat! These are just some of my own ideas.
It isn't really that existing weapons aren't balanced; so much as the fact that the existing weapons don't really have much to balance in the first place. If you want to have a melee weapon, you have two options- a sword, or an axe. It's worth noting here that while swords are supposedly faster and wider ranged, axes deal more damage. And it's not just a little bit more damage, it's a substantial amount, to the point where a Stone axe is as powerful as diamond sword. In fact, I've rarely used swords at all, which might just be my loss.
If you want a ranged weapon, options have recently gotten a bit more varied, with the addition of crossbows and tridents. Tridents are a bit of an oddball, really- they're one of the only genuinely unique weapons in the game. Crossbows are... well, crossbows. I personally don't really like crossbows, but I can see their advantages, and they offer a viable alternative to bows. There's also a lot of tipped arrows available, but these require incredibly expensive lingering potions, and don't exactly seem to be worth the effort.
Let's start with the axe and sword example- axes have two drawbacks; namely that they're not as durable as swords, and they're slightly slower. And that's about it. I don't think the solution here is to simply decrease the amount of damage axes do, but rather to make them a bit more specialized, by playing with their attributes slightly. For example:
Sword ~ Medium Range, Medium Damage, Medium Knockback, Fast Cooldown. Swords could also have a parry ability that can deflect certain types of incoming attacks if timed right.
Axe ~ Short Range, High Damage, High Knockback, Slow Cooldown. As in, substantially slower, I've never noticed much of a difference between axe and sword speeds, possibly due to I-frames. (Even though axes cool down slower, you can't do continuous damage with the sword because the enemy is briefly invulnerable between attacks. This might not be the case, I'm just guessing here.) Axes could also have increased knockback, which would serve two purposes- it could be considered a benefit, or a disadvantage, as it naturally makes it harder to continuously attack an enemy using an axe. Finally, axes could disable shields for longer with critical hits. (This has already been partly suggested in the form of the Cleaving enchantment.)
This specalization idea could also be expanded to other existing tools. For example:
Hoe/Scythe ~ High Range, Low Damage, Medium Knockback, Medium Cooldown. Hoes would have the longest range of any weapon, but wouldn't do much in the way of damage. They might also have a special sweeping attack ability that damages all enemies nearby, but takes a while to cooldown. (The danger with any high range melee weapon is the ability to hold off any other melee hostiles indefinitely.
Pickaxe ~ I initially wasn't sure how this ought to be specialized, (It's hardly an optimal weapon.) Perhaps the Pickaxe can deal damage through armor, making it a viable option for heavily armored foes? Maybe it also has high knockback.
In fact, Bows and Crossbows already fit this memo. Bows require a bit more skill to aim, and have to be reloaded with each shot; whereas crossbows can be fired instantly, but have to be loaded in advance, and take much longer to do so. (And, of course, crossbows can shoot fireworks. Because... why not?) This makes both of them useful in different situations, offering players more options. Indeed, ranged combat in Minecraft is actually quite good.
The point here being that using some of the mechanics already in the game, weapons could be made a bit more specialized, and a bit less 'mash the attack button while charging your enemy like a maniac.'
Another possible option to make combat more interesting, (Probably working with the first), would be to add more customization for different combat styles.
Admittedly, new updates have added much in the way of new and interesting mechanics- such as using the off hand slot for food, shields, totems, potions, etc; tridents, crossbows, and the like. Enchantments also provide a wide range of options for enhancing gear, It would be neat if enchantments had actual visual effects on the equipment other than the classic glint- (Check out the Visual Enchants resource pack if this sounds cool), but this is purely cosmetic- the enchanting system is a fairly clever way of customizing gear without being needlessly elaborate. It certainly has its quirks, but overall I think it works pretty well.
As such, in this section I wanted to come up with some ideas for different combat niches, and various items and enchantments that could serve said niches. This is hardly the first time all this has been suggested, but it's worth noting that there are lots of options available.
Daggers ~ The number of times daggers or knives have been suggested is kind of staggering, but it's important to consider what purpose they'd serve, and how they'd fit into the base game. When crafted using a basic ingredient and a stick, (Flint for the stone dagger, to avoid clashing with the lever recipe), daggers have a couple of uses. Practically, killing animals with a dagger gives higher chances of hunting based drops. Holding the attack button allows them to be thrown like a trident, and this does a fair bit of damage, but also uses up a lot of durability. Daggers can be used to debark trees, and could also serve some sort of cooking purpose.
Finally, in terms of a basic weapon, daggers are a short range, low damage option with a very high attack speed. Daggers can be enchanted with Smite and Piercing, as well as some unique enchantments. Finally, they're a small weapon- meaning you can hold one in your off hand while also holding another weapon if you want.
Chakrams ~ Bear with me- I was considering the idea of a spear- that is, a craftable trident- but the whole idea is sort of messed up by the presence of the shovel, which seems like it would both look similar, and have a similar crafting recipe. Thus, Chakrams/Boomerangs- a weapon specificly designed for medium range throwing. (I personally just think Chakrams sound cooler. They're sort of a disc shaped throwing weapon... just look it up if you're curious, Minecraft has implemented weirder ideas before.) They're more powerful than bows/crossbows, but don't have anywhere near the range. They're also a bit expensive given how useful they are as both a short range melee weapon, and a decent throwing weapon- being crafted with a stick, and four of a base resource. They can be enchanted with Loyalty like a Trident, and would be a genuinely neat addition. Also like daggers, you can hold one in your offhand while using another weapon.
More Totems ~ The Totem of Undying is great, but... is it really that great? It's quite a challenge to obtain, and it only saves you if you're actually holding it when you die. (Or, more frequently, when you die, get healed a measly amount, and then die again.) It's a fair price to pay for Resurrection... but surely there could be more totems? 'More' isn't always the solution, (and is rarely the solution in game design, in my opinion), but there are some circumstances...
Totems would be a fairly rare treasure item that would generally be pretty difficult to obtain. There's quite a few possibilities, and they could be pretty powerful given that they'd take up your offhand slot. Consider a totem that causes you to explode violently on death, or a totem that grants you a brief period of complete invulnerability when used, or ambient totems that increase your strength, speed, swim speed, etc; when held.
More Enchantments ~ There's already quite a lot of enchantments available, and the vast majority of them make a fair bit of sense. (Save, perhaps, for bane of arthropods.) I'm not sure what could be added, but there's certainly possibilities. Specifically related to the new weapon ideas, (That is, new weapons, not new ideas), the Reaper enchantment could be applied to scythes (hoes) or daggers, and would cause the wielder to gain a bit of health whenever dealing damage with that weapon. The Ricochet enchantment could be mutually exclusive to loyalty, and would cause a chakram to bounce off of or between targets. A Seeking enchantment could cause the Chakram to adjust its course towards nearby entities. (This could also be cool, but probably far more difficult to design, for bows.)
...and Wolf Armor! ~ Seriously, who ever uses horse armor? Or horses for that matter? We need to protect our beloved companions! (On a more practical note, this could also allow them to do more damage- or could even be enchanted in some fashion.)
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You get the idea. What are your feelings regarding changes to combat?
Amusing Sidenote: The word 'combat' showed up a surprisingly economical 15 times in this thread, but still no longer sounds like a word. Wonderful.
I agree that axe damage is overpowered, but I don't think simply decreasing the damage they do should be the main solution. Mojang has been experimenting with new combat ideas for awhile, but none of it has really come to fruition. I'd rather see more specialized weapons than just having swords being the only really viable melee weapon. Each could have main proficiency, as well as some sort of special ability that takes awhile to recharge. For example, (Including both existing and purely theoretical ideas):
Swords ~ High Speed, Medium Damage, Medium Range- Special ability allows them to parry some incoming attacks similar to shields.
Axes ~ Low Speed, High Damage, Low Range- Axe damage remains the same, but they have a substantially shorter range than swords, and take longer to recharge. Their special ability, as suggested, would be higher knockback/the ability to disable shields.
Scythes/Hoes ~ Medium Speed, Low Damage, High Range- not the best weapon, has the highest range, but doesn't actually deal much damage. Has a special sweeping attack ability that attacks things in a wider range, but naturally takes awhile to recharge, lest it allow players to keep anything at bay indefinitely.
Shovel/Spear ~ Spears are essentially a craftable version of the trident- they have high range, can be thrown, and have decent speed, but aren't the highest damage weapon. I guess shovels could double as spears, but it might make more sense to just add a dedicated tool with a slightly different crafting recipe.
Daggers ~ Yes, I know how frequently this has been suggested! However, they make sense for this sort of proficcency things. Daggers are a very high speed weapon with low range and damage, but you can wield one in your off hand in addition to another weapon, (in place of a shield, totem, food, etc.)
Given that bees have an entire update to themselves, I think there ought to be a bit more to everyone's favorite insects! Honey blocks are great, candles are... decorative, and the waxed copper is... a cool idea, but kind of niche... and some of the honey themed blocks are good for decoration... but that's about it. Here, I'm going to compile some of my ideas regarding bees- feedback and additional ideas are appreciated!
I'll go from most feasible to most ridiculious, give or take:
Food Items involving Honey? ~ Perhaps using honeycomb with bread makes an especially filling sweet bread? Honey on its own is a fairly good food source- perhaps Sweetbread is made with one sweet berries, two honey comb, and three wheat. It's slightly more filling than honey bottles, can be stacked more, and also gives a small speed/health regen boost?
Beekeeper Villagers ~ A villager type, probably unique to the Plains and Taiga villages; uses a bee next block as a work station, and has a unique building with plenty of flowers and hives. The Beekeeper sells honey bottles, empty bottles, bee based blocks, etc; as well as some additional bee themed items that could be implemented.
Bee Nest Structure ~ Currently, Bee Hives generate exclusively in trees, and are most commonly found in flower forests. (Is this really a thing? I rarely see bee hives at all in the latest version, even in flower forests.) The Bee Nest would be a small, roundish structure, with an open space inside, and a single opening to the inside. They would be a somewhat rare structure that generates partially buried, and is most common in flower forests. The Structure consists of three to five bee hives, as well as honey comb blocks, and honey in the bottom. (Currently, honeycomb doesn't generate naturally, which I deem a real shame, it looks marvelous!) Damaging or intruding would likely aggravate the bees, (Which might pose an actual threat when there's more than one hive), but would be a great means of gathering more honey. Barrels with bee themed loot could occasionally be found inside?
Honey as a Brewing Ingredient ~ In the same way that fermented spider eyes are used to inverse a positive potion, (I think that's the case, don't count me on it), Honey could be used to invert negative potions into positive potions, resulting in potions of healing from potions of harming, potions of regeneration from poison, potions of speed from slowness, and potions of strength from potions of weakness. This could be a bit overpowered, but I don't think it would be excessively so- for one thing, honey isn't the easiest thing to farm, and for another, the additional ingredient and fuel necessary sort of makes up for the positive potions that are a bit more difficult to make.
...Bees as a Brewing Ingredient? ~ I'm just kidding! ...Sort of. You can move axolotls in buckets. It thus stands to reason that you can move bees using bottles! Using an empty bottle on a bee results in a bee bottle, which you can then use again to release your bee. In addition, if players used honey on an awkward potion, perhaps they could make a potion of the Bee Master- similar to the potion of the Turtle Master. When you drink said potion, all bees nearby attack any players or entities hostile to you. This, combined with a bunch of bee bottles, could make quite a substantial distraction.
Bee Themed Enchantment ~ An 'adhesive' enchantment that causes the player to slide as if they were on honey whenever adjacent to walls, designed for boots. ...This could be kind of cool!
Bee Themed Record ~ The Nether update added a new music record... it's only fitting that there ought to be a bee themed record that has an extremely rare chance of being found in bee nests. (Yes, this is a bit ridiculous.) Maybe it makes incessant buzzing noises for the entire track.
Bee Themed DIMENSION ~ Chuck an ender pearl at a bee hive to be transported to an entire bee themed dimensions! Nope, sorry, this is too ridiculous even for me, but there is actually a mod that does this. It's called 'The Bumblezone, and you can check it out on curse forge.
Agreed- there are redstone systems for key operated doors if you're really big on security measures, but ultimately the issue remains that this wouldn't be an effective means of protecting your base under most circumstances.
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I think the main issue with copper armor or tools is that it doesn't really have a niche in the existing tier system. If copper is going to be easier to find than iron, it would presumably be weaker- but iron armor is already easy enough to obtain that adding in another tier between leather armor/stone tools and iron equipment would be kind of useless.
Which isn't to say that copper equipment couldn't be a thing! Rather that it would have to have some special niche or ability that makes it unique and interesting, apart from other tiers. (Maybe it can be 'charged' in some manner to offer a temporary boost in power, or has some other special abilities, at the expense of not being very durable.)
2
Agreed- I don't think the method is too important so long as it's renewable in the longterm. ...Possibly even farmable? Yeah, a dirt farm sounds pretty nonsensical, but it would certainly save a lot of effort whenever you want to do any landscaping whatsoever.
Rotten Flesh to dirt could definitely work; I also had a vague idea about making some sort of crafting recipe for different blocks that involves breaking down other renewable blocks, (Like stone and cobblestone.)
For example: Cobblestone can now be used to craft gravel in some respect, which can in turn be used to make sand; not as sure about dirt, but something along these lines, sort of like the various recipes for granite and andesite, except actually useful.
0
I get that Wandering Traders are technically a renewable method of obtaining things... but only in the loosest sense of the term. They're just generally an irritating mechanic. (This isn't the most strictly related to the OP, but I digress.) They show up randomly, and their trades, (Which are also randomized), are almost entirely useless. It seems like the solution to make things renewable by adding a Wandering Trader trade isn't exactly a balanced or long term solution.
...Maybe the toxic properties of rotten flesh could be utilized in some way? Or maybe a block of rotten flesh could actually boost the growth of crops nearby?
0
Personally, gotta say no. I can't think of many instances in which Minecraft needs more tools/weapons, or at least ones that are very similar to existing tools/weapons. I for one would love some sort of short distance ranged+melee weapon, like a boomerang or chakram- but battleaxes seem a bit redundant. Axes are already substantially more powerful than swords, even if they lose durability faster in combat. I still almost exclusively use axes in battle.
0
...I like the idea of copper having more niche technological uses, but I'm not really feeling all of the specific ideas. A system of powercells could be interesting, but it would be kind of irritating if you had to wait for thunderstorms whenever you needed power. Similarly, if you have a ranged weapon that uses a lot of power, but is essentially just a dispenser, it's not really worth making. As for a helicopter... I can see some sort of copper version of single use elytra, maybe, but not really a full blown helicopter.
However, the basic idea is good. Copper really doesn't have too many practical uses at this point, considering how common it is.
0
...These are decent ideas- rafts seem a little redundant, and not helpful for singleplayer games- as does the coconut helmet being similar to a turtle shell helmet. I can see improvements being made to beaches, but I think there are bigger fish to fry for 1.19. Most of the past few updates have been game changing overhauls of large areas of the game. (Update Aquatic, Village and Pillage, Nether Update, Caves, etc.)
1
Rotten flesh ought to work in a composter, (If it doesn't already? I'm pretty sure it doesn't.) This at least would give you some valid way of getting rid of the stuff if you have no other use for it. I guess I could see it being smelted into leather, but I'm pretty neutral on that point. Brewing? Maybe, but bearing in mind that rotten flesh is really, really common, I can't see it making an especially useful potion.
...I'm not really sure what all the talk about fish is about given the OP; but I can see it having something to do with fish... if from a completely different direction. Maybe fishing rods can have bait equipped to them- with various types of bait increasing the chances of some catches, or offering other benefits. Rotten flesh, when used as bait, would just overall decrease the time it takes for fish to bite.
...Nothing quite beats a lengthy discussion about what probably amounts to one of the grossest parts of the game.
0
Wait, you think disturbing and distorted noises that play randomly based on darkness and depth underground shouldn't be obligatory?
...In all honesty, I personally like the cave noises, but I can see why some people wouldn't.
0
Just an idea I had for a new functional storage/decorative block. A basket is crafted using six bamboo and one leather in... a baskety shape, and can be placed as a composter-ish block, (It sort of resembles scaffolding), as well as stored in the inventory. The basket has the following useful properties:
-It can store two stacks of an ingredient materials. (Fruits and Vegetables like apples, potatoes, carrots chorus fruit, and beetroot; Golden Fruits/Vegetables like golden apples, golden carrots, glistering melons?; Potion ingredients like spider eyes, mushrooms, glowstone dust, redstone dust, etc; Various types of seeds; eggs; and so on and so forth. There are also various things it specifically cannot hold, such as meat, rarer ingredients, etc.
-It continues to hold stored materials even when broken, allowing you to carry more of this stuff than usual.
-It has a different model depending on what resource it is holding, and how full it is- with a unique appearance for empty, slightly full, half full, and nearly full.
-Right clicking on the basket causes it to drop a single item from its contents. Shift clicking causes it to drop all of its contents. This could make it quite useful for easy storage systems in kitchens or crafting areas. (You could put baskets up there as cabinets of a sort, or on a table as ingredient containers.)
-Baskets are deliberately intended to give another use to bamboo. (Maybe they can also be crafted with sticks?) It seemed like they ought to be a bit of a middle game sort of convenience.
-Baskets emit a comporator signal, can be filled with a hopper, and retain their contents when moved by pistons. This could make for some really interesting redstone contraptions!
Ideas? Thoughts? Concerns?
0
The issue here is that iron is just easy enough to find that, without some very major rebalancing to ores, there's no need for a middle tier metal between iron and leather gear. (It's sort of like how the wooden tier of tools is almost completely unnecessary because of how easy it is to get stone tools, even on the first day.) Instead, copper seems to be tending towards decoration blocks, and various special uses- such as the spyglass and the lightning rod.
As such, I'd certainly like to see more niche uses for copper- such as scopes, (Which I think have a decent chance of being implemented.) Some other ideas I had involving copper include redstone powered, retractable spike blocks; shulker turrets that can be made to fire at various enemies, (See linked article); maybe something to do with the upcoming addition of archaeology?
0
"Fear the Moon."
"This is the Spawning of the Cage and Aquarium."
"Blocks, Stanley?"
"Tubular"
"Pancakes not Included."
"Interesting Rocks!"
"Many Blocks. Such adventure. Very Minecraft."
"8888888888888888888888888888888888888. 8."
"Strange."
"Now with extra moss!"
"Thirty Two Footsteps."
"Yes."
1
The Combat Update- or at the very least, some sort of improvement to the game's combat system; has been something Mojang has been experimenting with for quite some time now, without any especially solid results. We've recently gotten shields and crossbows, one of which changes things dramatically... but that's about it.
Firstly, I'd like to say that this seems to be something of a contentious topic, and one that I'm not the most invested in- I feel like there are bigger parts of the game that are more of a priority than combat. (Such as, say, the entire End dimension.) I have my opinions regarding combat- namely that the existing system is kind of comical. (Consider that you can trap pretty much any mob in a boat, rendering it harmless, or pillar upwards to avoid the vast majority of threats.) However, I wanted this thread to be more of an open discussion. Obviously, I think there's room for improvement, or I wouldn't have written this.
I generally see two main issues that prevent combat from really excelling as a game mechanic. (And, let's be honest, Minecraft is not exactly known for it's fantastic combat system. Improving any one of these areas, or, indeed, all three; would be more than welcome.I was originally going to include poor Mob AI as an issue, but this really only effects PVE, and furthermore... a lot of the mob design is really clever. Minus the Pillagers, who could genuinely use some work. (But I digress.)
Ultimately, it would just be interesting to have a discussion regarding changes to combat! These are just some of my own ideas.
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1) Improve Weapons using Existing Balancing
It isn't really that existing weapons aren't balanced; so much as the fact that the existing weapons don't really have much to balance in the first place. If you want to have a melee weapon, you have two options- a sword, or an axe. It's worth noting here that while swords are supposedly faster and wider ranged, axes deal more damage. And it's not just a little bit more damage, it's a substantial amount, to the point where a Stone axe is as powerful as diamond sword. In fact, I've rarely used swords at all, which might just be my loss.
If you want a ranged weapon, options have recently gotten a bit more varied, with the addition of crossbows and tridents. Tridents are a bit of an oddball, really- they're one of the only genuinely unique weapons in the game. Crossbows are... well, crossbows. I personally don't really like crossbows, but I can see their advantages, and they offer a viable alternative to bows. There's also a lot of tipped arrows available, but these require incredibly expensive lingering potions, and don't exactly seem to be worth the effort.
Let's start with the axe and sword example- axes have two drawbacks; namely that they're not as durable as swords, and they're slightly slower. And that's about it. I don't think the solution here is to simply decrease the amount of damage axes do, but rather to make them a bit more specialized, by playing with their attributes slightly. For example:
Sword ~ Medium Range, Medium Damage, Medium Knockback, Fast Cooldown. Swords could also have a parry ability that can deflect certain types of incoming attacks if timed right.
Axe ~ Short Range, High Damage, High Knockback, Slow Cooldown. As in, substantially slower, I've never noticed much of a difference between axe and sword speeds, possibly due to I-frames. (Even though axes cool down slower, you can't do continuous damage with the sword because the enemy is briefly invulnerable between attacks. This might not be the case, I'm just guessing here.) Axes could also have increased knockback, which would serve two purposes- it could be considered a benefit, or a disadvantage, as it naturally makes it harder to continuously attack an enemy using an axe. Finally, axes could disable shields for longer with critical hits. (This has already been partly suggested in the form of the Cleaving enchantment.)
This specalization idea could also be expanded to other existing tools. For example:
Hoe/Scythe ~ High Range, Low Damage, Medium Knockback, Medium Cooldown. Hoes would have the longest range of any weapon, but wouldn't do much in the way of damage. They might also have a special sweeping attack ability that damages all enemies nearby, but takes a while to cooldown. (The danger with any high range melee weapon is the ability to hold off any other melee hostiles indefinitely.
Pickaxe ~ I initially wasn't sure how this ought to be specialized, (It's hardly an optimal weapon.) Perhaps the Pickaxe can deal damage through armor, making it a viable option for heavily armored foes? Maybe it also has high knockback.
In fact, Bows and Crossbows already fit this memo. Bows require a bit more skill to aim, and have to be reloaded with each shot; whereas crossbows can be fired instantly, but have to be loaded in advance, and take much longer to do so. (And, of course, crossbows can shoot fireworks. Because... why not?) This makes both of them useful in different situations, offering players more options. Indeed, ranged combat in Minecraft is actually quite good.
The point here being that using some of the mechanics already in the game, weapons could be made a bit more specialized, and a bit less 'mash the attack button while charging your enemy like a maniac.'
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2) Add New Content for Different Combat Styles
Another possible option to make combat more interesting, (Probably working with the first), would be to add more customization for different combat styles.
Admittedly, new updates have added much in the way of new and interesting mechanics- such as using the off hand slot for food, shields, totems, potions, etc; tridents, crossbows, and the like. Enchantments also provide a wide range of options for enhancing gear, It would be neat if enchantments had actual visual effects on the equipment other than the classic glint- (Check out the Visual Enchants resource pack if this sounds cool), but this is purely cosmetic- the enchanting system is a fairly clever way of customizing gear without being needlessly elaborate. It certainly has its quirks, but overall I think it works pretty well.
As such, in this section I wanted to come up with some ideas for different combat niches, and various items and enchantments that could serve said niches. This is hardly the first time all this has been suggested, but it's worth noting that there are lots of options available.
Daggers ~ The number of times daggers or knives have been suggested is kind of staggering, but it's important to consider what purpose they'd serve, and how they'd fit into the base game. When crafted using a basic ingredient and a stick, (Flint for the stone dagger, to avoid clashing with the lever recipe), daggers have a couple of uses. Practically, killing animals with a dagger gives higher chances of hunting based drops. Holding the attack button allows them to be thrown like a trident, and this does a fair bit of damage, but also uses up a lot of durability. Daggers can be used to debark trees, and could also serve some sort of cooking purpose.
Finally, in terms of a basic weapon, daggers are a short range, low damage option with a very high attack speed. Daggers can be enchanted with Smite and Piercing, as well as some unique enchantments. Finally, they're a small weapon- meaning you can hold one in your off hand while also holding another weapon if you want.
Chakrams ~ Bear with me- I was considering the idea of a spear- that is, a craftable trident- but the whole idea is sort of messed up by the presence of the shovel, which seems like it would both look similar, and have a similar crafting recipe. Thus, Chakrams/Boomerangs- a weapon specificly designed for medium range throwing. (I personally just think Chakrams sound cooler. They're sort of a disc shaped throwing weapon... just look it up if you're curious, Minecraft has implemented weirder ideas before.) They're more powerful than bows/crossbows, but don't have anywhere near the range. They're also a bit expensive given how useful they are as both a short range melee weapon, and a decent throwing weapon- being crafted with a stick, and four of a base resource. They can be enchanted with Loyalty like a Trident, and would be a genuinely neat addition. Also like daggers, you can hold one in your offhand while using another weapon.
More Totems ~ The Totem of Undying is great, but... is it really that great? It's quite a challenge to obtain, and it only saves you if you're actually holding it when you die. (Or, more frequently, when you die, get healed a measly amount, and then die again.) It's a fair price to pay for Resurrection... but surely there could be more totems? 'More' isn't always the solution, (and is rarely the solution in game design, in my opinion), but there are some circumstances...
Totems would be a fairly rare treasure item that would generally be pretty difficult to obtain. There's quite a few possibilities, and they could be pretty powerful given that they'd take up your offhand slot. Consider a totem that causes you to explode violently on death, or a totem that grants you a brief period of complete invulnerability when used, or ambient totems that increase your strength, speed, swim speed, etc; when held.
More Enchantments ~ There's already quite a lot of enchantments available, and the vast majority of them make a fair bit of sense. (Save, perhaps, for bane of arthropods.) I'm not sure what could be added, but there's certainly possibilities. Specifically related to the new weapon ideas, (That is, new weapons, not new ideas), the Reaper enchantment could be applied to scythes (hoes) or daggers, and would cause the wielder to gain a bit of health whenever dealing damage with that weapon. The Ricochet enchantment could be mutually exclusive to loyalty, and would cause a chakram to bounce off of or between targets. A Seeking enchantment could cause the Chakram to adjust its course towards nearby entities. (This could also be cool, but probably far more difficult to design, for bows.)
...and Wolf Armor! ~ Seriously, who ever uses horse armor? Or horses for that matter? We need to protect our beloved companions! (On a more practical note, this could also allow them to do more damage- or could even be enchanted in some fashion.)
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You get the idea. What are your feelings regarding changes to combat?
Amusing Sidenote: The word 'combat' showed up a surprisingly economical 15 times in this thread, but still no longer sounds like a word. Wonderful.
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I agree that axe damage is overpowered, but I don't think simply decreasing the damage they do should be the main solution. Mojang has been experimenting with new combat ideas for awhile, but none of it has really come to fruition. I'd rather see more specialized weapons than just having swords being the only really viable melee weapon. Each could have main proficiency, as well as some sort of special ability that takes awhile to recharge. For example, (Including both existing and purely theoretical ideas):
Swords ~ High Speed, Medium Damage, Medium Range- Special ability allows them to parry some incoming attacks similar to shields.
Axes ~ Low Speed, High Damage, Low Range- Axe damage remains the same, but they have a substantially shorter range than swords, and take longer to recharge. Their special ability, as suggested, would be higher knockback/the ability to disable shields.
Scythes/Hoes ~ Medium Speed, Low Damage, High Range- not the best weapon, has the highest range, but doesn't actually deal much damage. Has a special sweeping attack ability that attacks things in a wider range, but naturally takes awhile to recharge, lest it allow players to keep anything at bay indefinitely.
Shovel/Spear ~ Spears are essentially a craftable version of the trident- they have high range, can be thrown, and have decent speed, but aren't the highest damage weapon. I guess shovels could double as spears, but it might make more sense to just add a dedicated tool with a slightly different crafting recipe.
Daggers ~ Yes, I know how frequently this has been suggested! However, they make sense for this sort of proficcency things. Daggers are a very high speed weapon with low range and damage, but you can wield one in your off hand in addition to another weapon, (in place of a shield, totem, food, etc.)
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Given that bees have an entire update to themselves, I think there ought to be a bit more to everyone's favorite insects! Honey blocks are great, candles are... decorative, and the waxed copper is... a cool idea, but kind of niche... and some of the honey themed blocks are good for decoration... but that's about it. Here, I'm going to compile some of my ideas regarding bees- feedback and additional ideas are appreciated!
I'll go from most feasible to most ridiculious, give or take:
Food Items involving Honey? ~ Perhaps using honeycomb with bread makes an especially filling sweet bread? Honey on its own is a fairly good food source- perhaps Sweetbread is made with one sweet berries, two honey comb, and three wheat. It's slightly more filling than honey bottles, can be stacked more, and also gives a small speed/health regen boost?
Beekeeper Villagers ~ A villager type, probably unique to the Plains and Taiga villages; uses a bee next block as a work station, and has a unique building with plenty of flowers and hives. The Beekeeper sells honey bottles, empty bottles, bee based blocks, etc; as well as some additional bee themed items that could be implemented.
Bee Nest Structure ~ Currently, Bee Hives generate exclusively in trees, and are most commonly found in flower forests. (Is this really a thing? I rarely see bee hives at all in the latest version, even in flower forests.) The Bee Nest would be a small, roundish structure, with an open space inside, and a single opening to the inside. They would be a somewhat rare structure that generates partially buried, and is most common in flower forests. The Structure consists of three to five bee hives, as well as honey comb blocks, and honey in the bottom. (Currently, honeycomb doesn't generate naturally, which I deem a real shame, it looks marvelous!) Damaging or intruding would likely aggravate the bees, (Which might pose an actual threat when there's more than one hive), but would be a great means of gathering more honey. Barrels with bee themed loot could occasionally be found inside?
Honey as a Brewing Ingredient ~ In the same way that fermented spider eyes are used to inverse a positive potion, (I think that's the case, don't count me on it), Honey could be used to invert negative potions into positive potions, resulting in potions of healing from potions of harming, potions of regeneration from poison, potions of speed from slowness, and potions of strength from potions of weakness. This could be a bit overpowered, but I don't think it would be excessively so- for one thing, honey isn't the easiest thing to farm, and for another, the additional ingredient and fuel necessary sort of makes up for the positive potions that are a bit more difficult to make.
...Bees as a Brewing Ingredient? ~ I'm just kidding! ...Sort of. You can move axolotls in buckets. It thus stands to reason that you can move bees using bottles! Using an empty bottle on a bee results in a bee bottle, which you can then use again to release your bee. In addition, if players used honey on an awkward potion, perhaps they could make a potion of the Bee Master- similar to the potion of the Turtle Master. When you drink said potion, all bees nearby attack any players or entities hostile to you. This, combined with a bunch of bee bottles, could make quite a substantial distraction.
Bee Themed Enchantment ~ An 'adhesive' enchantment that causes the player to slide as if they were on honey whenever adjacent to walls, designed for boots. ...This could be kind of cool!
Bee Themed Record ~ The Nether update added a new music record... it's only fitting that there ought to be a bee themed record that has an extremely rare chance of being found in bee nests. (Yes, this is a bit ridiculous.) Maybe it makes incessant buzzing noises for the entire track.
Bee Themed DIMENSION ~ Chuck an ender pearl at a bee hive to be transported to an entire bee themed dimensions! Nope, sorry, this is too ridiculous even for me, but there is actually a mod that does this. It's called 'The Bumblezone, and you can check it out on curse forge.
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Agreed- there are redstone systems for key operated doors if you're really big on security measures, but ultimately the issue remains that this wouldn't be an effective means of protecting your base under most circumstances.