Shields

[HamBatter]

Brainstorming:

-hand slot

-blocks attacks 225 degrees in front of entity

??-light stun on block

-low durability (maybe 3-4 blocks for the lowest tier) to burn resources

???-can swing for weak attacks at cost of durability

-fire/ice staff projectiles have no effect on impact

-other ranged projectiles (except Weather Pain??) can get 90~100% damage blocked, but impact reduces durability

-melee attacks can get 80~100% damaged blocked, attacker stunned until the earlier of 2-3 free hits or stun timeout unless immune (e.g. shadow creatures, some bosses immune)

-reduces damage and durability but does not cause stun in AoE situations like Bearger or explosives

-prevents burning from torch hit and explosions

-does not block tooth traps

?-pigs and bunnymen can equip, still have ability to kite in addition to block

 

-boss based on mechanic, can regenerate shield

[Electroely]

10/10 idea should be made as a mod if Klei doesn't implement in the game

[Ecu]

9 hours ago, HamBatter said:

Brainstorming:

-hand slot

-blocks attacks 225 degrees in front of entity

??-light stun on block

-low durability (maybe 3-4 blocks for the lowest tier) to burn resources

???-can swing for weak attacks at cost of durability

-fire/ice staff projectiles have no effect on impact

-other ranged projectiles (except Weather Pain??) can get 90~100% damage blocked, but impact reduces durability

-melee attacks can get 80~100% damaged blocked, attacker stunned until the earlier of 2-3 free hits or stun timeout unless immune (e.g. shadow creatures, some bosses immune)

-reduces damage and durability but does not cause stun in AoE situations like Bearger or explosives

-prevents burning from torch hit and explosions

-does not block tooth traps

?-pigs and bunnymen can equip, still have ability to kite in addition to block

 

-boss based on mechanic, can regenerate shield

Given the current game, I think this should be something left to mods.  However, if Klei was to have interest in making combat more diverse and adding additional ranged enemies, I feel shields would be a must.  Currently though, I think adding shields would be a poor choice as the current combat system is basically based off telegraphed attacks and dodging primarily (with armor for those instances you fail to dodge well).  Given this existing combat ecosystem, I feel shields would be too strong of a tool.

[HamBatter]

Paving the way to more diversity is the point of this suggestion. It is meant to shake things up - adding value to cooperation, followers, and certain weapons - without adding more 0s to HP or increasing the swarm.

Given the intended low durability it would be more likely reserved for important situations rather than trading say, 4 Boards and 3 Ropes for an easier time at getting 1 Meat. The numbers aren't set in stone though, so perhaps melee damage reduction could be set around 30% to encourage wearing armor while using it and make it even more costly.

 

??-can still work while sleeping, impact wakes up

???-not sure about freezing

[Ecu]

47 minutes ago, HamBatter said:

Paving the way to more diversity is the point of this suggestion. It is meant to shake things up - adding value to cooperation, followers, and certain weapons - without adding more 0s to HP or increasing the swarm.

Given the intended low durability it would be more likely reserved for important situations rather than trading say, 4 Boards and 3 Ropes for an easier time at getting 1 Meat. The numbers aren't set in stone though, so perhaps melee damage reduction could be set around 30% to encourage wearing armor while using it and make it even more costly.

 

??-can still work while sleeping, impact wakes up

???-not sure about freezing

While I understand that your intent is to pave the way for more diverse combat, the combat itself would need to be diverse for your idea to make sense.  Right now, shields would be kind of out of place and in fact incredibly powerful.  Whereas, with an adequately overhauled combat system could allow them to feel quite well.

Perhaps you have some thoughts as to how to overhaul the combat system itself more?

[HamBatter]

In what way would they be out of place? Even with such an item, I do not see it as the go-to strategy for everything much like dart spam is discouraged by component scarcity.

I see the idea as a layer compatible with the current system. There's no need to be drastic with an overhaul, which is more suitable for a mod or new game.

[JohnWatson]

It would either be too strong or too expensive, I could presume.

If it's too strong, then you could just equip a shield when dodging then equip your weapon when attacking then repeat. This can already be done with the Walking Cane if you want to kite the Dragonfly better.

If it's too expensive, then armor already fulfills its role and you don't have to equip/unequip every time, not to mention Pig Skin, Logs, and Ropes are particularly cheap.

[Ecu]

8 hours ago, HamBatter said:

In what way would they be out of place? Even with such an item, I do not see it as the go-to strategy for everything much like dart spam is discouraged by component scarcity.

I see the idea as a layer compatible with the current system. There's no need to be drastic with an overhaul, which is more suitable for a mod or new game.

The current system utilizes a dodge-based mechanic for avoiding damage.  Adding an additional block-based mechanic for avoiding damage without overhauling the sources of damage and how they are handled, means that you're essentially just adding additional defence.

In addition, a majority of the time it is individuals that go out to fight creatures, not groups (with the exception of bosses).  As such, this would actually primarily reduce your damage dealt, but not generally increase the defense factor of the character (given the character would otherwise just dodge the attack instead).  All in all the mechanic just isn't a good one without an overhaul to the combat mechanics as they are.

I could totally see doing an overhaul of such mechanics and would love to see you sit down and give some thoughts as to how you personally envision said mechanics playing out, but I just cannot agree with shields in the current ecosystem.

[HamBatter]

First you suggest "it's too strong", then you suggest "I'd rather kite". I think then, that having this extra option is in line with adding variety.

Most current mobs can be left vulnerable to such a mechanic, while new content can be built with it in consideration. It's not meant to be put on non-boss mobs, but if one or two are included you'll know to stay away from them until you're more prepared (and defeating them should mean you're getting a better reward).

 

The biggest positive would be a way to deal with ranged attacks, allowing introduction for more ranged enemies (e.g. boss familiars). Now the only options to deal with things like Clockwork Bishop appear to be to stay away from its guaranteed hit radius, have it target something else, or tank it with armor.

[Ecu]

4 minutes ago, HamBatter said:

First you suggest "it's too strong", then you suggest "I'd rather kite". I think then, that having this extra option is in line with adding variety.

Most current mobs can be left vulnerable to such a mechanic, while new content can be built with it in consideration. It's not meant to be put on non-boss mobs, but if one or two are included you'll know to stay away from them until you're more prepared (and defeating them should mean you're getting a better reward).

 

The biggest positive would be a way to deal with ranged attacks, allowing introduction for more ranged enemies (e.g. boss familiars). Now the only options to deal with things like Clockwork Bishop appear to be to stay away from its guaranteed hit radius, have it target something else, or tank it with armor.

I agree that it would be a great tool for expanding combat.  Combat needs to be expanded then though, that is all I am saying.  If this is to be added, it should be added as part of a combat overhaul and not just by itself.  This is all I've been saying.

[Trenix]

You'd have to have another equip slot and possibly a button to press in order to block. I'm assuming you want this for PvP purposes, but for that to work we need more items which impact a player's movement speed, some even for early game. Adding shields to improve combat is a good start to improve PvP. I got this game hoping that PvP would get some recognition, so far we've gotten nothing. Cannibalism was awesome, but they kept it back for modders to take advantage of. So anything that improves PvP, I'm all for. To balance it out, blocking with a shield should not block out damage, but reduce incoming damage. Ice and fire probably should have effect unless you maybe have some rarer higher tier shield.

[HamBatter]

It's meant more as "something for everyone". I don't know about extra buttons and slots over hot swapping, but then again the latter does give more advantage to hotkey users.

Yes, the suggested ranges and abilities are a bit broad and lean more to the what the higher tiers could have, but some testing would have to be done to see how they work in practice. On damage reduction, it could probably be additive to the max armor value of headgear or armor, allowing for damage immunity in some cases.