So, I wanted to post this suggestion for quite a while and figured it was time to do so. So here is how I figure it would work. Left click would be the normal attack, and right click would be able to use your special weapon ability that would be default to every weapon. Of course, there would also be some combos, as well to add to some usefulness of weapons so you would be encouraged to use different weapons rather than staying with a certain one, plus it adds some style to those who are looking to use certain weapons over others. I do know there are weapon mods, and such but yeah. There would also probably be a tech point use or something to prevent endless spamming. [Weapon Type] - [Weapon Ability] Broadsword - Block (this would let you be able to block incoming damage by a certain percentage, block defense rates would depend on the weapon and how strong it is, could be useful since a Broadsword is 2 handed) Sword - Downward Thrust / Upward Thrust [S + Right Click] / [ W + Right Click] (stabs an enemy from above or below, upward thrust being particularly useful against jumping enemies while downward thrust could deal more damage if you're currently jumping) Spear - Jump Twirl [Jump + Right Click] (you would twirl your spear around when you jump upwards and would deal extra damage to flying enemies, twirling speed would depend on the weapons swing rate. It also would be nice to see spears have a bit faster of a swing rate, as well since they're too slow normally to use) Dagger - Multi Stab (you would stab an enemy multiple times, possibly causing them to bleed or just have a life loss DoT (if you don't want to use 'bleed') and this would deal extra damage if you are attacking from behind an enemy giving some stealth options) Hammer - Spin (you spin around dealing damage to nearby enemies while also having a chance of stunning them for a short period) Feel free to suggest your own combos to use, as well. These are just some base ones I thought of.
I'll bump this, and add something. I agree that a bit o flavor to each kind of weapon would be really nice for people to make their own builds around. I know personally that some different combinations have some pretty different strengths and weaknesses, but even so, many of the weapons are just cosmetically different. Maybe adding basic characteristics to each weapon type? Like, having spears with armor penetration, hammer debuff (stun, or defense down?), dagger have DoT (as you said). Even though the simple balance between Damage and ASpd currently does control a bit the weapon of choice, I believe it could be a bit more worked on.
That would be also good to add, and the weapons can come with random characteristics on them but probably in a certain range while still offering it to be random (like higher tiers would generally come with higher characteristics or chance to do so and so).
My personal gripe with the melee combat is the difficulty countering enemies directly above you while on the ground(at least with one handed weapons, i like dual wielding), and enemies below you while you're in the air, Giving different weapon types an active ability would be quite interesting. I feel that the dagger could be made very useful if you could do a dodge roll (dodge through attacks, cannot attack while dodging) as it would help you get closer your opponent to safely land the small hotbox that daggers come with, and make you feel like a swift ninja. The hammer could have the ability to charge a strong smash, stunning enemies/ hitting in a larger area, and cracking the ground a bit the way guns do, but deeper l like your idea for the sword having a zelda 2 style up-stab and down-stab Big swords are a bit harder to think about regarding what they could do, perhaps they could have the same as the one handed swords but with a bigger hitbox. Spears could allow you to stab in the direction that you are moving, allowing you to stab enemies out of the air if you aim a jump properly or hit enemies below you by charging at the from above. Axes are slashy like swords, but are in no way stabby, perhaps an upward swing to knock enemies upward (and proceed to juggle with guns)?
I made a post about that issue too... :C Its about being able to aim your spears and other weapons with really small hit boxes. I really wish i didnt have to make it, being able to aim your spear/daggers up and down seems like a no brainer but apparently not Melee definitely needs some rethinking, especially with how smooth, viable and easy guns are. When you play melee its like playing a broken robot who cant do anything but swing left and right who cant aim, its like playing a completely different game - its just so much harder and its not fair for the people who want to be a melee player but can't because choosing a gun over melee is just obvious at the moment *EDIT i suppose thats unrelated, but it could be compromised into different abilities, weapons just need more viability than straight in front of you, maybe an upward and downward strike with the W and S keys combined with click?
I would talk about being able to aim melee weapons like you aim guns, but this thread is about active abilities being assigned to weapons
Yeah I mainly wanted to suggest something for melee because of the new balance update and it would be pretty cool to give them an active skill or different combos, its much easier to use a ranged weapon for sure as its more reliable but for someone who wants to hack n' slash their way across the universe then for the time being its kind of so-so.
I was going to link your thread exactly right now haha I agree that currently, adding actions to deal with enemies directly above and directly under you would be a change melee could have, especially when using one-handed weapons (I simply can't let go of my dual wielding, either). That would be some variation that could already make a nice change on how we percieve melee fights right now. While I do believe that, aside from the mechanics that play against the player, active abilities based on weapon type don't seem unfeasible and would help characterize each kind pretty well. Yeah, I could really see that working ^^
Why only one special ability for each type? Some spears should spin, some should have a heavy stab, others maybe even a lance charge. Some daggers could have a jump strike etc. Doing that sort of thing would help with weapon variance so even if two spears have the same stats their move-set would be different.
Although a good idea, Right click for activation makes little sense as it ruins dual wielding builds. They'll probably have some kind of keyboard command for it
That is also a good point and it would add variation to weapons, too. Maybe for dual wield types maybe there could be combination abilities of the two weapon types like lets say one weapon has the ability to knock up an enemy then the other has one where you can do an aerial slash sort of thing, but of course the weapons would have a randomized ability to it.
Right click on one-handed weapons wouldn't work because of this. It could still work on two-handed weapons though.
Well there will be a keybind option since Tiy is working on that sort of thing, so maybe he'll add that for secondary attacks anyways?
I wrote about almost the same, for example, making spears directional weapons, But i lile the addon to make the spear do more damage if jumping-stabbing motion (instead of spamming into a corner). Swords also directional but keep the forward attack if you pointing the mouse that way ofcurse, and upattack if poiting it up! Also, the hammers should have rightclick attack and leftclock, one attack, makes the hammer attack as it does, but the other a swinging motion from bellow making it possible to launch enemies in the air.
