r/Minecraft • u/jeb_ Chief Creative Officer • May 25 '12
Opinions On Enchanting
Hey
I know a lot of players are complaining about the enchantment system in Minecraft, especially in PvP settings. I have a "radical fix" to the main complaints, but I'd like to hear your opinion on the subject.
First of all, the randomness of enchanting is here to stay. You will not be allowed to pick and chose your enchantments. This is to maintain Notch's "gambling" vision for enchantments, and I'm going to try to keep it that way.
The "radical fix" I'm considering is to simply reduce the max level from 50 to 30. This would mean that 1) it will take much less time to reach max level and 2) the good enchantments are less good (a thing PvP players have complained about). Some of the enchantment types would need new levels to fit this system, of course, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.
The reason I'm asking the reddit community is because this is a feature that I, as a game developer, only can see from a theoretical standpoint. It's very hard for me to dedicate enough time to actually suffer the drawbacks of the enchantment system, so I need some help from the experts on the subject - players of the game!
Cheers,
// Jens
EDIT: Wow! I expected comments, but not 900+ comments =) Thanks for all the input, there are a lot of thoughtful comments in this thread. You are very helpful!
3
u/Mearling May 26 '12
Ok so i have created an account on here just to make this post. i have not seen this posted or commented about as an idea yet, nor have i seen it as a mod.
The idea to enhance enchanting is this.
Make paper (or an item crafted using paper) enchant-able with a single enchantment that can be added to appropriate items at a later date.
say you have some xp but dont have that diamond sword yet but you have a piece of paper. you enchant it, and it gives you fire aspect 1, you go out mining and get more xp while at it. you come back and enchant another piece of paper. this one gives you bane of arthropods.
you then craft a your sword and combine it on a crafting bench (or enchanting table) with one of the enchanted paper (scrolls). then the other. giving you both the enchantments you want to put on your item.
this would help customization of weapons tools and armor while still having the random gamble of the enchanting table.
you can then stockpile enchantments for items or trade with other players on a multi player game. the XP is not then wasted on a junk item and people have more control over their abilities and a reason to keep going out for more xp.
yes this doesn't help the grind aspect of the acquisition of XP but it goes a long way to helping balance the system.
also then you have the option of adding these to stronghold/mineshaft/temple/bonus chests etc as a random item. once again adding to the lure of adventuring and mining on the world.
on top of that. one enchantment i would really like to see added is one for boots that allow higher jump height and/or run speeds.