Good day! So here is my idea for an additional mechanic for melee dual-wielding: parrying! It's actually pretty much like blocking with a shield, except that it requires precise timing to parry. It can be done by clicking both mouse buttons at the same time resulting an animation of the two weapons being swung at the same time, one with a downward motion, the other with an upward motion. Limitations: IMO it shouldn't do damage when it comes into contact with an enemy (way too overpowered if spammed) Rationale: Considering that dual-wielding is very aggressive in nature, a disadvantage for melee dual-wielding vs ranged dual-wielding is that melee dual-wielders has to approach their enemies in order to become effective. (Not sure what the melee two-hand users' advantage would be [though the suggestions for special attack may be neat]). This also adds to the offensive power of a dual-wielder and makes it more "expert-oriented" with the timing mechanics. Thoughts?
Sounds like a good idea, and allows for a dual wielder to be able to approach a ranged enemy. However, if it was to be implemented, I would assume it would have a cool down so one could not spam click and block everything. The only drawback I would see it it would make dual wielders be able to play exclusively with their two weapons, and when in the right hands would screw over any ranged person (that is if they are in pvp) instead of switching from ranged to dual when needed.
Actually, I don't like the idea of dual-wielding very much. I mean it's convenient to have, for example, access to both weapon and pickaxe at the same time, but with the weapons it looks a little bit imbalanced. I mean who will ever use single weapon? Except for people who like to roleplay In other cases it's just twice less effective to use one silver dagger instead of two. Therefore when crafting new weapons, people will forge two pieces by default. It just looks silly. The only way to balance that is by adding some penalties for using two weapons simultaneously (like in RPGs), but I am sure Chucklefish wouldn't complicate the game like that. If dual-wielding only allows the use of weapon+tool or melee weapon + long-range weapon, then everything is ok. Though I still don't think it's necessary. You can just swap between two weapons in quick slots, and use right mouse button for something more useful.
Considering this (link: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/melee-combat-and-mechanics.7662/#post-177192) I think dual-wielding melee compared to equipping a shield or going melee-ranged would have certain disadvantage on its own. If one is to go melee-ranged, even if your melee gets deflected, you can distance yourself and go ranged. If you are to go with a shield, getting deflected can prompt one to turtle. If you go dual-wield, you have a natural disadvantage of having no offense and defense for the downtime. I do agree that dual-wielding melee should have some sort of penalty though. Parrying would give dual-wielders incentive to go all-out, maximizing their damage output considering the pinch that they can get their selves into. I think quickswitching weapons should be limited to the delay or reload as well. It would be pretty imbalanced to have 3-5 weapons on your quickslot and use them all in rapid succession EDIT: Giving this mechanic to melee-dual wield makes it a high risk, high reward setup for advanced players
Wow, looks interesting, thanks for sharing. Is that official information, though? Or just a suggestion from users? I've just remembered one great implementation of dual-wielding — Demon Souls/Dark Souls. Also, it has pretty neat (though challenging) parrying mechanics. It would have been great if developers added difference between parrying/counterattacking and simply blocking in Starbound. Also, I just like stamina-based combat mechanics. You have a point I haven't thought about switching between more than two weapons, lol.
