Hello, I'm N8thanH, and welcome back to Across the Map! Minecraft 1.9, as revealed to be the Combat Update by an Easter Egg [small secret in a program] in an April Fool's snapshot, is currently in the works! This is exciting news; in my opinion, combat is definitely one of the weaker aspects of the game. Today, I'm going to discuss what we know is coming, and what this means for Minecraft's gameplay.


It was recently stated sword blocking has been removed, at least at the time being. The reason for that is so that the current dual-wielding system can work its magic. As the system works right now, right-clicking uses the function of the object in your main hand as usual. But, if it has no right-click function, then the the item in the off-hand is used instead. To replace sword-blocking, we're getting shields. I think that makes a lot of sense, but I'm sure a lot of Minecrafters will miss sword-blocking, including myself. A lot of players use it as an unspoken signal. It just looks like a friendly gesture.


I think that the shields have a lot of potential. It'd be great if we could move faster than we can with sword blocking right now, but maybe with a short animation of the character putting down the shield when you can't do anything. I think it'd be good to have some ending lag on other actions, too. A lot of fighting games use ending lag as a way for competitors to get a chance to hit the person experiencing it. Spam-clicking is a big issue in Minecraft, and there really should be a way to punish people doing that. Having their weapon bounce away if they strike your shield would be excellent.


Personally, I think that the amount of knock-back in the game is a flaw in combat. I think having a little is healthy, but it needs to be mostly horizontal. The way most fights go at present (trust me, I know from experience) is that one person takes a hit, and the other gets knocked into the air. If the person getting hit doesn't get launched far enough, the hit player can often return the hit immediately. But, if the person getting hit does get hit out of range, they have to predict their opponent's next movement (which isn't hard at all), dodge it, and try to hit their opponent. This repeats until one person dies.


I think that players taking hits should just be knocked a little bit and receive a little bit of stun; just enough so that the other player has a chance to prepare his next move, and the one that was hit isn't at a disadvantage. On another note, it would be great if arrow knock-back was influenced by the amount you charge it.


Most mobs are defenseless if you hit them, walk up, and hit them again. The exception is creepers, which will blow up in your face if you don't kill them quickly. Instead, you just have to sprint-hit them out of their fuse range, and then hit them again. Monsters need to be smarter about evading your attacks (or at least more resistant). Before they updated the mob AI, skeletons and creepers used to strafe around you clockwise. Mind you, they'd often fall off cliffs trying to do that. At least it was a start. Developer Dinnerbone posted a video of  work-in-progress animation work on skeletons. Perhaps there will be more work done on mobs.


This far, in the way of weaponry, we have been promised the shield, a quiver, which uses a sprite that's been in the game for years, and several different types of arrows. The one we know the most about is one with a golden tip. As indicated by a tool-tip seen in a video, it's a "Spectral Arrow." Dinnerbone has stated that "Spectral arrows are utility, not very good at hurting." As far as we can guess, they could do anything, but the name implies they're ghost-related. Jeb, the lead developer of Minecraft, has tweeted that he's working on a new dungeon "with blocks and mobs, very different from the other dungeons." My theory is that ghosts might be coming, and Spectral Arrows are the only things that will hurt them. Kind of like Pols' Voices in the Legend of Zelda, except yelling at them if you have a microphone won't kill them.


Screenshots have been released containing several other types of arrows, but we don't know anything about them yet. Having different options for players to choose from could lead to the rise of new strategies, and a more advanced level of play. In other words, Minecraft could develop a metagame! However, I think there still needs to be a consequence to using strong armor materials, and some new types of unique melee [close-range] weapons.


Various screenshots of a strange, dark psychedelic-patterned block have been posted, with all of them containing subtle, but strange effects.

The strange effects can be seen at the very edge of these screenshots. Notice the colors of the block behind the experience orb-like lights in the top screenshot.

Searge, another developer of Minecraft, asked the following on twitter: "How about a block that players can't get, can't be found in the world, but it's effect to the world is visible and exciting?" It's unknown if this relates to the strange, darkly-colored block also shown by him. It's possible that it's only of interest to mapmakers, whom continue to be blessed with more and more features.

Personally, I've always wished more people were interested in Survival Mode. I'll admit that when I first saw a video on Minecraft, I thought it'd be a game about trying to survive monsters that become increasingly more dangerous, so you'd have to do your best to keep becoming more efficient. I still think that would be awesome. In a way, it's in the game, but it only affects how likely monsters are to spawn with armor, the spawn rate of slimes in swamps, and the chances of spiders spawning with potion effects (on Hard difficulty).

I've noticed my friends getting bored with no adventures to go on. I think I can speak on behalf of them that Minecraft needs more ongoing goals in survival. One thought I had: anyone can craft empty books and an enchantment table, but what if you had to find an enchanted book for a certain enchantment in a dungeon in order for the enchantment table to bestow it? Like, once you find Efficiency, you can use it. Maybe you'd need multiple for higher levels? (I'm sure people playing Ultra Hardcore and other sports wouldn't appreciate it.) I think personal quests like that would be awesome.


Well, that's all for today. For now, we'll just have to keep an eye out for new information, and wait for the first snapshot. As always, I appreciate your thoughts and opinions, and thanks for reading!
I'll see you all next post. Until then!