TV5 Difficulty

[Stevo]

With the update making mobs more challenging, I wanted to check the preferences of the players. So if you are a current resident of TV5, please vote!

[Flash]

Here are details from the wiki about the mob changes:
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/1.9#Mobs_2

I've heard lots of talk about them being harder to fight, but are there specifics laid out anywhere else?

[Boss Llama]

I'm not sure that the specifics are laid out anywhere except in the terms of the patch notes, as yet.

Basically, it seems to come down to two things:

1) No more rapid-fire swinging. When fighting mobs, it doesn't take any more swings to kill them than before, so long as you space them out! Give it half a second to a second between swings, and you'll deal your damage. If you rapid-click attack like we did in the past, you'll do pretty much no damage at all, and it will be very very very hard to kill things.

2) Smarter pathing. Mobs have gotten better at finding a way to get you. This is especially notable in the case of skeletons, who have acquired the ability to do rapid circle-strafes while firing. In a one-on-one fight, there's no real changes, but when you're dealing with multiple mobs, it has gotten significantly tougher.

We've also gained two things that help us fight back:

1) Shields. Shields, used properly, basically make skeletons unable to hurt you. You have to be a bit slower and more deliberate about how you kill them (no more just bum rushing them and flailing wildly), but if you have a shield, skeletons should not be a threat (unless you're facing more than a couple at once, in which case, reconsider).

2) Sweep attacks. The ability to do a mass knockback is great. If you have a pile of melee mobs like zombies stacking up on you, start using that sweep attack to simultaneously damage them all, and knock them all back far enough that the cool-down on your weapon isn't causing problems.


All in all, I think it's a reasonable set of changes, and the increased difficulty we're experiencing is much more a function of our being used to the old mobs than it is to any actual difference in our abilities to counter what's presented. With a week or two to get used to the new system and practice with it, I think we'll be fine. I already wander the deserts at night just like I did before, and my deaths are due to carelessness and my own foolish actions rather than any sort of upgraded mob.

[Calculon000]

I don't think combat is actually that much more difficult, it's just not as simple now. After a bit of a learning curve mobs shouldn't really pose any more of a threat than they used to.

The combat is a little more in depth now than just spamming mouse clicks as fast as possible and I like it personally.

[Flash]

Thanks guys. I found this video interesting. It is several month old and based on a snapshot, but gave me a little more insight into the changes: