I think these are all great ideas, and would go well with a reduction in the delay between blocking and swinging a sword.
It would be pretty cool if we had something like this, except it's a personal force-field. an HP bar that goes down first before our main HP is hurt. our main HP doesn't auto regen but the force-field will.
I would prefer a simple system ... something like ... a shield equiped alwas does 1% dmg reduction, no matter what as long as you are holding it - if you block activeley, the dmg will be reduced by 10% , after a 3 second cooldown the shield flashes and can be used again. Something like this ... % values could be balanced better for sure, but i think u get what i mean.
I think shields should give a fair amount of defence, depending on how big it is. Obviously a large shield would give out more defence since it's larger. All shields should give a little passive defence when equipped, and you get the full amount while actually blocking, kind of like this. I wouldn't mind if you couldn't block all year round. That would be a fine counter balance.
All of my yes. I always use shields in games whenever available, but shields in starbound currently are kind of weird. This is the way I thought shield were going to work initially.
Wow, the amount of views this got is incredible but shields are only part of the problem with the clunky melee mechanics, aimable weapons such as spears is another key factor to get a fluid experience I made a post here if anyone was interested in that But this is also great, I'm really unhappy with the way melee combat is, it really needs some love. I don't think many people even know how the shields work at the moment, I don't know why some monster attacks are blocked and some aren't.
Considering you'd have to wait through the swing time of both weapons to make it worth switching, I don't think downtime is the biggest issue.
I would actually prefer if the shields functioned more like how they are in King Arthur's Gold. I understand that such a way could make destroying mobs very easy, they still are easy to kill though, and sometimes slow at attacking which can get annoying sometimes. Anyways... I don't like the fact that any attack of greater damage can go through the shield. Sure it makes sense if you think of shields as tier based objects, but shields are meant to protect you from damage, as of right now it's not at it's best in my opinion. It feels too risky to use the shields, I think you're supposed to feel at least safer when using the shields, not having to worry if the enemy is going to hit through your shield and kill you even though you are blocking with your shield like a spartan. Edit: Skill over values please, that's what I ask for. I suck at math, would rather want to rely on the fighting mechanics instead of thinking about what tier my current shield is as opposed to the creature that's about to hit me. Edit2: Adding a "shield bash" function for the shields would be a good improvement. Right now the shield is very limited and boring, but it's still just the first stage of the beta so I guess it has room for improvements. Edit3: Almost forgot, I don't think I have been knocked back while shielding before, still getting knocked back would give a greater sense of actually being hit by a strong attack, instead of just standing in the same place seeing that you got hit and the enemy going right through you as if you weren't even there at all.
If shields are going to be tied to a resource it is best to tie them into your energy pool. Using a shield needs to have an effect on your character overall. Every extra boon your character gains needs to be tied to a bane that affects the other aspects of your character.
Or just some functions with mod creators to make bars extra if they intend to then players could craft some great ideas and we could see them in action
