User blog:Glflegolas/Beta 25 Combat Changes

As you may have read on the Facebook page, Mevans is announcing some major changes to combat for Beta 25 -- specifically, to melee combat.

Combat before Beta 25
Before Beta 25, (that is, in all mod versions up to and including the current version), combat (especially PvP) was pretty much the same as vanilla Minecraft combat; essentially a game of whoever could spam their left-mouse-button the fastest. That meant that there was no disadvantage to using warhammers and battleaxes, and many people used them simply because they were more versatile than the sword. Also, dagger-wielders were at a major disadvantage when compared to opponents with stronger swords.

The change
In Beta 25, all melee weapons will have a cooldown. Essentially, this means that no matter how fast you click, there will be a limit regarding how fast you can swing your sword. For most weapons (and your fists), this limit is one hit per second. But there are exceptions. Daggers, owing to their small size and weight, can be swung twice as fast as swords, and warhammers and battleaxes can only be swung once every two seconds. However, battleaxes will deal 1 HP more than the corresponding sword.

You can see when your weapon is ready to attack again by looking at your "melee attack delay meter" on the bottom right corner of the screen.



Any more coming down the pike?
Yes, there is, but according to Mevans, that won't come in Beta 25.

What do I think?
I, for one, am very happy about this change. Finally, I won't be killed by some kid wielding a flimsy sword whose only strategy is clicking faster than I can! It'll also help to make combat a little bit more realistic, something which I have always wanted.