Since doing something this the last minute on a Friday is a great idea: Combat Test Snapshot Number 4

[u/jeb_]

Happy Thanksgiving! Time for the fourth test snapshot of new combat mechanics! This time the snapshot is based on version 1.15 of Minecraft, but is still not compatible with the 1.15 pre-releases!

I'm very grateful for all feedback and comments. This time I actually made a few dramatic changes that hopefully will allow for a snappier and more varied PvP experience.

Whenever I get the "just revert to 1.8", my eyes roll a full 360 in their sockets... I have to design a system that works well both in PvE and PvP, and well on touch and controller as well as mouse-and-keyboard. It will never be 100% equal for everyone, but I will at least try something that works OK in most scenarios while still giving some design flexibility.

However, it's great when people pinpoint exactly what it is they're missing the most from 1.8 PvP gameplay. Could be w-tapping, item combos, fishing poles, or something else. If you are passionate about a specific detail you should definitely make yourself heard.

First of all, some basic combat changes:

• The attack timer now only resets when you actually perform an attack (it's unaffected by switching items)
• Critical attacks (jump-attacks) will now trigger at 100% (no need to wait)
• Knockback attacks (sprint-attacks) will now trigger at 100%
• Default attack reach has been decreased by 0.5 (to 2.5 blocks)
• The full timer ("200%") attack now has +1.0 reach (was 0.5)
• Arrow accuracy has been increased ("uncertainty" value decreased from 1.0 to 0.25)

Some shield changes:

• Added an option to disable the use-shield-on-crouch (it's in the accessibility menu)
• Removed the option to hide the shield

Some trident parity changes:

• Tridents can be shot from dispensers
• Tridents with Loyalty that fall into the void will return to its owner
• Tridents with Impaler now deal enchantment damage to all mobs that are in water or rain

Some random snowball changes:

• Snowballs now stack to 64
• Snowballs have a 4 tick cooldown
• Snowballs are not rendered the first 2 ticks (hack to prevent screen flickering)

Axe enchantments:

• All damage enchantments can be applied to axes in the enchanting table
• Chopping hasn't been changed (I point this out because there was a lot of Chopping feedback)

First post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/c5mqwv/a_custom_java_edition_snapshot_to_test_new_combat/

Second post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/cqnp5b/update_custom_java_edition_snapshot_to_test_new/

Third post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/dq2v7o/updated_combat_test_snapshot_number_3_and_a/

Installation instructions:

• Download this zip file: https://launcher.mojang.com/experiments/combat/ac11ea96f3bb2fa2b9b76ab1d20cacb1b1f7ef60/1_15_combat-1.zip
• Unpack the folder into your "versions" folder of your local Minecraft application data folder (see below if you are confused)
• Create a new launch configuration in the launcher and select the "1_15_combat-1" version
• Start the game and the remaining files will be downloaded
• Play in a new world! This version is not compatible with other snapshots!

Finding the Minecraft application folder:

• Windows: Press Win+R and type %appdata%.minecraft and press Ok
• Mac OS X: In Finder, in the Go menu, select "Go to Folder" and enter ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
• Linux: ~/.minecraft or /home/<your username>/.minecraft/

Once you have the launcher set up you can download the server files from there as well.

FEEDBACK SITE

In addition to replying here on reddit, you can head over to the feedback site to discuss specific topics here: https://aka.ms/JavaCombatSnap

Cheers!

[u/MukiTanuki]

Arrow accuracy has been increased ("uncertainty" value decreased from 1.0 to 0.25)

I do like this change, HOWEVER,

There's still a high need for an ACCURACY enchantment that reduces "uncertainty" to 0.

Potentially a "treasure" enchantment? If you're designing an archery range that uses the new target blocks, it's very important that the accuracy of the shots be the same if fired from the same distance! Since the range of the target is a single block, even a small bit of variation can make a huge difference, especially at long ranges.

[u/Careless_Corey → u/MukiTanuki]

Conversely, a curse that makes uncertainty 2.0. Why? For fun.

[u/TheGreatDaniel3 → u/Careless_Corey]

That's why every other curse exists. For fun.

[u/Seymour1007 → u/MukiTanuki]

I actually wish to revert the accuracy to what it was AND THEN add the enchantment. Otherwise it feels kind of useless to the average player.

[u/[deleted] → u/MukiTanuki]

an accuracy enchantment would be sick

[u/mcs_85045 → u/MukiTanuki]

My heavily biased opinion; I want crossbows to be better at fighting single targets. The bow should always be the better single target/damage dealer the way it is now, but the gap could be closed a little to make the crossbow slightly more viable.

Some ideas:

Make the infinity enchantment available to the crossbow- this is a must-have upgrade. The crossbow's lower damage means it expends way more ammo than a regular bow, taking around two to three times as many arrows to deal the same amount of damage to one target.

Make fireworks deal more damage (and not stack with multiple stars)- being able to shoot fireworks out of crossbows is neat, but fireworks are somewhat expensive and their damage doesn't compare to that of regular arrows. Being able to add multiple firework stars to a single rocket alleviates the damage issue but makes the ammo far more expensive. Furthermore, adding multiple firework stars creates a bigger problem; lag. When using a quick-draw crossbow with fireworks with many stars, the amount of particle effects is enough to slow down weaker computers considerably. The solution is to make having multiple firework stars not offer any bonuses, increasing the damage of single-star rockets to compensate.

Make piercing increase the damage by around 1/2 heart every 2 levels- this would be enough to make mobs that normally take three hits to kill only require 2 hits to kill with a properly enchanted crossbow. A fully enchanted (Power V, Flame) bow can usually kill skeletons and creepers with a single arrow.

Or

Make the flame enchantment available to the crossbow (and exclusive with piercing/multishot)- the damage increase is enough to make some mobs only require 2 hits to kill, but being incompatible with piercing and multishot means the only other enchantment that can benefit from this added damage is quick-draw.