Making Melee Types Unique

[ScorpioEric]

Recently DE has been releasing some unique weapons, and that's good, but where are the unique effects of melee weapons? Yeah, there are stances, but I'm not talking about stances, I think that every melee type should have their own unique effects, or purpose, rather than "highest dps, gotta use that". 

 

Melee combos,cool looking but... 

Loosely relates to the point of this thread.

-combos where you have to pause/hold e, don't work with fast attack speed.

     -only implement into heavy weapons(for charge attacks).

-lunges are too far into the combo; you already hitting the enemy by the time the gap closer occurs.

     -I am forced to do a 180 turn to hit the enemy I'm aiming for(I don't use melee assist, makes meleeing clumsy.)

     -make the lunge the first attack in combo(or something).

-locked direction/movement stances(hysteria/others?)

     -give ability to turn/unlock movement.

     -I start levitating if I go off an edge mid combo.

Special Stats

What the subtitle says, stats that make the weapon special.

-unique to a weapon

-changes/ adds to/enhances function of ability(s)

-weapons become unique/ have unique effects.

- things like: double projectiles, faster cast(basically natural talent), element type(converts/adds), etc

Examples

-dark dagger: converts 20% to radiation and adds 30% bonus as radiation.

-obex: converts 10% to magnetic, adds 15% bonus magnetic, and rag dolls.

-kestral: rag dolls, 10% increased power range.

-glaive/prime: 20% increased power range.

Thrown

No need for changes.

-already special, lets let other melees be special.

-they're thrown.

-already have exclusive mods.

Heavy

Charge attacks!

-Return of charge attacks

-can be used to start a combo(x3 multiplier) or within a combo(x6 multiplier) to deal even more damage.

     -has charge time, so finishing the combo will deal more damage than setting up and doing another charge, but good for initiating a combo chain.

     -doesn't allow to solely(back to back) charge attack.

          -goes into combo mode after the opening charge attack.

          -have to wait briefly before combo resets.

Daggers (ridiculous, but makes sense to me)

Basically wands.

-everyone says that abilities become useless late game soo...

-for casters, sacrifices a high DPS weapon for enhanced ability(s).

-melee stats affect abilities (str, duration, efficiency, range).

     -can be further upgraded by mods.

     -bases stats off melee stats:

          -channel damage=str, channel efficiency=efficiency, attack speed=duration, crit=range.

          -maybe something that makes more sense than that^.

*special stat(for all daggers): no cost for 1st ability.

     -a caster should not have to rely on mana(energy) for their basic attack.

Claws

Meat shields.

-have the ability to impale, and use enemies as meat shields.

     -over time enemy bleeds out, shield amount based on enemy health.

     -only able to impale during finishers/ stealth attacks.

     -hold e(melee) to impale.

Whips

They just feel like slightly longer swords atm.

-should have the ability to pull enemies.

-larger ranged attacks.

Pole arms

Dunno(Suggestions?)

-increased channeling efficiency?

-can't think of anything unique.

Fists

Super punches.

-Add rag doll on combo finishes

     -punches an enemy/enemies into other enemies, dealing damage based on melee.

-or maybe mini soul punch on combo finish.

Staves

Pole vaulting!

-already pretty unique with rag dolling on slide attacks.

-add ability to pole vault(replace dodging maneuvers?).

     -basically increased jump height.

Sparring

Jump kicks.

-already pretty unique with rag dolling on slide attacks.

-jump (slide) kicks scale off weapon damage.

Shields

Can block.

-should feel like you're blocking better than every other weapon.

-allows x damage before consuming stamina, requires time to recover.

     -makes blocking with shields feel better, but still requires caution about how much they block.

     -pretty much a secondary stamina bar just for shields.

-maybe add exclusive shield mods, like munitions absorb(absorbs and converts bullets into ammo), damage absorb(like energy channel, but with damage blocked)

Melee Types Not Mentioned

Swords, dual swords, other.

-they're the pure dps weapons.

-maybe increased channeling damage.

New Weapon Concept

Last point only makes sense if "Special Stats" tab is read.

Concept: a thrown weapon with a powerful magnet that is activated at end of its range, or on impact to return to the user, pulling enemies towards it as the magnet turns on, due to this powerful magnetic force the weapon is more lethal, and faster on its return.

-thrown(like glaive)

-at the end of range/ hits something causes enemies within x meters to rag doll towards the point of impact.

-if aimed correctly it can pull enemies into its return path to deal massive damage on return.

-magnetic and impact damage type

*special stat: damage abilities rag doll enemies toward impact point/ origin.

     ex. ripline pulls enemies within x meters to point of impact(where it hit).

     -deals 25% ability damage as magnetic to affected enemies.

New

Heavy(2.0), Machete, Scythes, Tonfas. (added after post)

Heavy Weapons

High risk high reward (attempt 2.0)

-in response to:

Agree with everything exept return of charge attacks

 

-massive damage combos(x8(?))(with drawbacks)

-affects attacks where you have to hold E

-stances will be adapted to this mechanic, such as cleaving whirlwind(hold E to spin).

-if a combo is failed by holding E too long or not long enough(duration of swing animation) weapon momentum knocks(pulls) you down in direction of swing(knocks you down face first)

-deals damage to enemies you collide while being knocked down, knocking them down(as if they were slide kicked).

or

-get staggered like cleaving whirlwind.

*Cannot be knocked down by enemy attacks, requires sure footing to use such a massive weapon, but can knock yourself down on failed combos.

Machetes

Cleaving.

Cleave: split or sever (something), especially along a natural line or grain.

-ability to literally disarm enemies, visually and game play wise(enemies are forced to kick).

-100% slash(bleed) proc

Scythes

Reaping.

-to cut/ gather 

     -pulls enemies

or

-receive (a reward or benefit) as a consequence of one's own or other people's actions.

     -innate life steal.

Tonfas

Auto parry.

-grip provides protection or brace along one's forearms.

     -add auto parry vs melee attacks at a x% chance(or something that increases blocking).

Yes, I do realize that most(maybe even all) of these suggestions may sound ridiculous, but I do believe that melee types should be unique, and should serve their own purposes. Maybe not use the numbers I gave, or even the points I made, just make melee types unique from one another. Suggestions/Feedback?

Edited September 24, 2014 by ScorpioEric

[PiefPoefPaf]

Sounds cool! Melee weapons do feel the same right now :)

[Raptorator]

Nice idea +1

 

Here are some suggestions:

 

Dagger-Backstab

 

When standing behind an enemy, you allways have the option to perform a stealth attack on him, no matter if the enemy is alerted or not.

 

Shield-Shield Charge

 

When sprinting while blocking your shield equipped, all enemies in your way are knocked back.

 

Polearm

 

Maybe give them a high counter chance or a small chance to  auto-block incoming damage.

[Altey]

Agree with everything exept return of charge attacks

[Dokusi]

I love the idea of unique weapons.

I for one would like heavy weapons to get that heavy and loads of power feel, cause what's the point of having a giant sword or hammer without that "oh sh*t" factor to the enemies. Give me a reason to want to use a galatine or gram over dakra prime or the nikanas.

All weapons need their utility and advantages, and they all need to be useful to give this game more sense of personality

[ScorpioEric]

Agree with everything exept return of charge attacks

Yeah, I guess charge attacks wouldn't make much sense since there are multipliers in combos, although I still think that the pause and hold combos should only be for heavy melee weapons. It's almost not possible to do those type of combos when using pretty much anything that increases attack speed, whether it be mods or buffs.

 

Edit: Suggestions for making heavy weapons unique?

Edited September 23, 2014 by ScorpioEric

[Mokkania]

quite good, ideally that's what U13 could have been, but it'd need a lot of work to do all of that.

 

 

Yeah, I guess charge attacks wouldn't make much sense since there are multipliers in combos, although I still think that the pause and hold combos should only be for heavy melee weapons. It's almost not possible to do those type of combos when using pretty much anything that increases attack speed, whether it be mods or buffs.

 

Edit: Suggestions for making heavy weapons unique?

on the contrary I think charge attacks fit quite well for heavy.

 

else a special jump attack or a special ground finisher

[Lukap99]

DAGGERS:

Can use the stance combos if single handed melee is equipped.

Can also block some bullets if zoomed in with single handed melee.

It'll take some work on DE's part but I think it's nice.
 

You should add an enemy section. You can't make a game with a complicated melee system without enemies that are made to fight that.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Lukap99

[Phyrak]

2H heavy:

Cleaving strikes

Every X strikes - let out a wave of energy (3-5m) doing 50-75% melee damage

[RIOT]

cool ideas.  I don't agree with all of them (daggers mainly) but some of these are neat.


Interestly enough, I actually made a thread like this last Friday.


edit: yay 400th post

Edited September 23, 2014 by RIOTx

[ScorpioEric]

cool ideas.  I don't agree with all of them (daggers mainly) but some of these are neat.

-snip-

I can see why, daggers are melee weapons, not wands, although since I am biased toward my own suggestion I still think that it should be a concept that should be looked into(sacrificing something to enhance abilities, could even be a primary).

Edited September 23, 2014 by ScorpioEric

[TisEric]

+1