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Try to reintroduce sword blocking back to the combat snapshots!

No, I don't want to make shields useless/obsolete. I want sword blocking back due to these reasons: 1. Early PvE: It could help players who wield wooden or stone swords to partially block incoming attacks when they don't have shields yet. 2. It's a 1.8 PvP mechanic. Your main goal is to unify PvP and persuade those who prefer 1.8 and 1.9 to come together, right? Most use the sword blocking mechanic in 1.8 while attacking which requires some skill. 3. It is a gesture of some sort. I used to use it for friendly gesture. This is just some nostalgia of old players, could be an invalid point, but a legit reason for me.
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  • 40
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    Yes. To make it so it works well with shileds though there should be certain conditions.
    1. Swords can only protect from up to 2 damage. That way shieleds still work well when blocking up to 5, and if you can duel wield and block with swords then you still don't reach the shiled level of protection only blocking up to 4 damage.
    2. Swords will block the same ammount no matter what they are blocking whether its an arrow, melee attack, or an explosion unlike shileds which can block 100% of arrows and explosions.
    3. Shileds can use enchantments to increase there damgenlimit unlike swords

  • 8
    Registered User commented
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    Funny how I was thinking the exact same thing earlier. One thing they should do however if they do reintroduce sword blocking is to nerf it.

  • 18
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    I play 1.8 pvp competitively, and it really upsets me that Mojang isn't re introducing block hitting. Its something that takes a bit to learn, but that's all. 

    Additionally Mojang could make it so shields act as a sprint reset, so similar to sword block hitting, you hit then block with a shield to increase there knock back. 

    I know this will help persuade a few 1.8 pvpers including myself. 

  • 12
    Registered User commented
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    You have to right click to use sword block which may screw several off hand mechanics

  • 11
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    And I think it should only work when you have the second hand free (not specifically the offhand).

  • 7
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    Similarly to how sheilds can only block so much damage: Sword Blocking should only block a small amount of damage, maybe 1 (1/2 Heart) or 2 (1 Heart)?

  • 23
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    If it were to be added back, there are a few thoughts I have on it.

    • Have you ever tried blocking a projectile with a thin blade?  It isn't as easy as the Jedi make it look, so I think only shields should be able to block non-melee attacks such as arrows, or tridents.  Even for minecraft, deflecting arrows with swords seems a bit too far out there.
    • it should produce a slight bit of knockback, but nothing too major, as you would most likely stumble or at least step backwards when clashing blades if you are the person blocking the hit.
    • Shields would still need to have clear advantages over just blocking with a sword, so things like explosions would also not be resisted at all by swords, doing full damage.

    Those are just the things I can think of that should be taken into consideration if sword blocking were to ever make a return, which I don't think it has a high chance to begin with.

  • 5
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    Why can't we have sword blocking? It was already hard to block incoming projectiles, as you'd have to correctly position the block to deflect the arrow. Plus, if they add the feature back, we all know that no one is counting on sword blocking being able to block explosions. It is mainly for sword fighting and projectile blocking. If you block an attack, it would disable the sword for a few seconds before you could block again, kind of like Sea of Thieves. When an arrow is flying towards a player, the only way for it to block is if it actually hits the sword, not the front of you, like how the shield does. If two players hit at the same time, it should be locked into a clash, whereas the first person to click again launch backward. The sword should block arrows, snowballs, and llama spit, but not fireballs. Deflecting with a sword should stun the player.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    Your three points have convinced me. Im totally for this idea. However, the amount of damage, and area that can be covered by a sword when sword blocking needs to be reduced maybe a lot from 1.18

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Yeah please! I miss sword blocking soo much. It's important to readd this to satisfy the 1.8 players.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    1. How will this harmonize with the potentiall ltiered shielld implementation? With the combat snapshots, Jeb tried to test them out by adding more defence to banner shieds. If the shield meta follows the normal gear progression procces, ie. wood to stone, iron, diamond, and then to netherite, where is the place for sword bllocking? You mentioned this idea for early game progression, so will swordblocking only be an early game method? Will Netherits swords defend worse than wooden shields?
    2. What if shields worked just like swordblocking? What if shields worked just like swordblocking? What if we could blockhit with a sword/shield combo? 1.8 didn't even have the offhand anyways, so if you want to recreate the nostalgic experience, you can just never let the shield out of your offhand. And speaking of the offhand, it also has PVP mechanics. You could use a bow/sword combo to increase DPS, you can use a bow on your offhand and switch between different arrow types at will, you can use an axe and shield combo, and you can even use a snowball/sword combo to deal constant knockback and damage to the opponent. With the sword having a right click functionality as you suggested, these new mechanics could be sacrificed. 
    3. I think sneaking has already taken over sword blocking as a gesture, and in Bedrock, a full blown emote system has already taken over. I don't think there is still a need to add the old feature back just for nostalgia. 
  • 3
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    Personally, I don't see myself using sword blocking the way 1.8 players intend to, if it were to be readded. However, as someone who does a lot of commands/datapacks, I would love to see it coming back (assuming there is a scoreboard criterion/predicate for it, similar to the sneaking ones) as it would allow for a simple right-click detection alternative that does not rely on the unintended nature of the carrot on a stick criterion etc. This would be especially useful if one wants to develop, let's say, a custom sword with a special ability that is triggered upon blocking. Therefore, I can definitely see this feature being useful not just for 1.8 combat players, but for command/datapack creators as well.

    There obviously should be differences between shield and sword blocking so that both can be useful in their own unique way. One potential issue with the reintroduction of sword blocking is how it is going to be able to function, since normally the mainhand right click functionality is prioritized. I personally think an easy fix for this would be to make an exception for swords so that all right click functionalities in the offhand come before sword blocking. This is currently a problem with tridents as well, which already have a right click functionality that makes dual wielding inconvenient.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    This is something I miss from the early days of Minecraft as a long-term player. To elaborate on what you said; I think blocking with a sword should reduce damage from swords, axes, and mobs, however, they can not resist arrows (unless the arrow hits the sword), resist explosion damage, and have a weak knockback resistance when compared to shields. Shields should still have a place but it’s your choice not to have one. You could free up your other hand for snowballs or splash points this, in turn, adds more strategy to combat.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    some one made an idea on teired shields i just feel like thats better

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    As is, swords seem fairly balanced, so they might have to lose some of their strengths to make up for this. I've got to say though, skeletons are a terror in the early game if you don't have a shield; having some option to handle ranged attacks would be very good.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    You can just spam click shields, this is already a dynamic. 

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    Here’s an idea:
    1. Blocking, with a sword or shield, gives the player a “block bar.” This absorbs a majority of damage, the exact amount depending on the material of the sword or shield.
    2. Only fully-charged hits could deplete the block bar, and after it is depleted, the defender is vulnerable to quick, uncharged strikes.
    3. Shields absorb more damage than blocking with swords, but swords can hit while blocking to perform a “parry,” which, if timed right, could deflect an attack completely. That way, a sword fighter could be more nimble without a shield if s/he chose, or opt for better protection on average by using a shield.
    This, I feel, makes shield use more nuanced, providing the “nerf” many say they need, without making them useless. It also balances spamming attacks, while providing a context in which they are effective (when someone’s guard is down.) Finally, it provides a reason to make shields tiered (in that, the lowest tier won’t be just as effective as the highest.)

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    Yes, the universal sign of peace should return. Maybe it could block 1/3 of melee damage, 1/10 of explosions and be useless against projectiles?

  • 1
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    Whenever I play PVP I always do it in 1.8! A lot of players won't see these changes and want to switch over. If the goal is to get old players playing newer versions this will help convenience people not wanting change myself included to upgrade when playing PVP. I'll still play non-pvp Minecraft in newer versions and the new caves look amazing but that's not enough for everyone!

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I think, it would be interesting if all weapons could block but with swords having the better blocking.

  • 2
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    Blocking with a sword in any case should be weaker than a shield, but the better the sword, the better the blocking.
    The Netherite sword has more locking than a diamond sword, but smaller than a shield.

    However, the other hand has priority over blocking with the sword. This means that blocking with a shield, drawing a crossbow, placing a block will take precedence over blocking with a sword.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    It is indeed necessary to re-add this feature, but it must be weakened to guide players to use shields more. For example, the damage it can block is much lower than that of shields, it cannot block explosion damage, and the swords have a narrower arc, like 60 degrees, or even 45 degrees.
    If the player holds a shield in his left hand, the game will give priority to using the shield instead of the sword when the player holds the right mouse button.

    But it should also have some advantages, such as raising the sword faster than the shield.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    This has been suggested multiple times before. It just wouldn't work, it would make swords much much better than axes or tridents ( even more than now ).It would be a nightmare trying to balance it out with axes and tridents which don't have that mechanic, and even if you made it not that 'good' and just made it block like 2 dmg as said above; what would be the point of it then if it's that bad ? And yes they do want to unify both player bases by adding mechanics and strategies from both versions, but this addition would just break a lot of stuff as said before. The third point in my opinion is in fact invalid since you can already gesture with crouching or hitting with a fist or even shield spamming. The mechanic is really interesting and does take skill to use but I just don't see it being good. BUT if you really would like that mechanic and you have played the latest versions of CTs (v8c) you would know that now you can effectively blockhit with a shield and a sword, so as a another counter point I'd say that it's already been added

  • 2
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    Shields are already very easy to obtain in early pve. Only costing 1 iron and 6 wood you can easily get a shield in the first 3 minutes of the game, far before you need to worry about fighting mobs. As for early EARLY pve, then it is best to not have a blocking mechanic in the first place as it forces you to more strategically defeat early game mobs which you can still do easily with any type of sword. The only example I can think of using this in really early pve is if a creeper is about to blow up, but I think we all know that sword blocking (if it were re-introduced) should not block any explosion damage at all. It also wouldn't make sense if you are fighting a skeleton, because of how hard it would actually be to block an arrow with a sword irl. This would only be useful if it blocked explosion damage and projectiles, but doing that would make it ridiculously overpowered. I am also a 1.8 pvper, and although I liked the sword blocking feature in the past it has no place in new Minecraft. If you truly want to bring back 1.8 and 1.16 players, you need a NEW system that is balanced, not just sprinkling a couple 1.8 features here and a couple 1.16 ones there. Sure, there will be 1.8 players that won't play the new system because it doesn't have block-hitting, there will also be 1.16 players who won't play because the attacks are too fast, but adding the mechanic that needs serious rebalancing just to make it work for nostalgia isn't going to unify the pvp community.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Eh. Its kind of unnecessary, because shields kind of fulfill that role. the block less damage and knock back, and they can only block said damage in a 100 degree space ahead of you, instead of 180 degrees. atm, shields (kind of) perform the same role. and to your point on helping players in the early game, before they have a shield - shields are really cheap, something you can get in the first night of mining. not having a shield can make the first mining trip really dangerous and exiting, but that's just my opinion.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I mean it could have a slight defensive bonus and that would be enough...

    The friendly gesture needs to come back!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I agree with this idea. It would have to be nerfed (not block half of all damage, maybe just a third or something) but I do like it.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    How it could Work:
    Blocking with a Sword reduce melee demage about 1 hearths.
    Blocking reducess Projectile and explosion damage about 50% instead of the 100% with a shield.
    Swords can't get disabled with axes which makes it possible to attack-block.
    Anything in the offhand will get priority over swords (maybe eaven with Tridents ).

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    For me, I'm satisfied because sword block is just like armor only reducing damage.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    If sword blocking were to be re-implemented, I'd like for it to have a different use than just being a nerfed shield. You can already craft shields early game so if sword blocking was just a weaker form of it, it wouldn't really be used.

    Maybe a parry system could be implemented? Like, if you block an attack, both you and the opponent get pushed backwards, and the damage dealt to you is reduced by 50%. Could be a way to put space between you and them.

    It could also be a toggleable thing, where when you block, you enter some sort of counter 'state' where you can't move, but if you are attacked, you will block the damage and counter back, similar to this: https://feedback.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/community/posts/360076848951-Sword-Parrying-Mode-

    This would make it have some worth over just using a shield.