Idea Idea for archer (Reducing headshot spam)

Quite ironic considering you’re an elf main

 

I thought he was a Medic main.

 

I really like the XP meter charging idea, and I wonder if it can be potentially expanded a bit... Since the XP meter would be employed regardless, what if the snipe would only activate when the XP meter reaches full (the time it takes to fully draw the bow, plus an additional 4 seconds of time waiting for the meter to climb up to 100%), and firing an arrow at ANY point zeroes out the XP meter immediately. As a trade-off, if the meter is at 50+% the full-velocity bow/arrow gains Power I and if the meter is at 75+% the full-velocity bow/arrow instead gains Power II and Punch I. This would mean archers would NOT have Punch I all the time by default, so they wouldn't be able to benefit from Punch's knockback when quickly spamming arrows...however if they're patient enough and their shots are accurate enough, the gained Power would yield more damage even though each shot would take longer to fire off.

Gaining more XP meter power as the bow is fully drawn back for a longer period of time is intuitive enough for new players to quickly pick up on, and confining the Punch I to only apply on arrows that have been fully drawn for 3+ seconds (XP meter filled to 75+%) would quickly discourage players from spamming arrows at intimidating enemies who are probably charging in to drive an archer out of a prime sniping spot. The best way for the archer to survive if they only have a puny stone sword against a well-defended hard-hitter would be to abandon that snipe post and make a run for it...so the enemy would help their team by scaring that archer away or likely killing that archer off with far less dreaded bowspam overall.

In the spirit of changing up archers, I think archers should have to designate a target first...and this might be possible with the mechanics of endermen detecting when a player has an enderman's face in their crosshairs... If implemented I think the distance required for a successful snipe should be reduced to 25+ blocks, BUT the archer must hit the target that was last in their crosshairs and "targeted" so that multiple blind shots fired into a spawn area or some other map bottleneck area from far away will no longer award instant snipe kills. Because face it, just like when hunting, just because a target is hit from far away doesn't mean it was hit in a critical spot...but if an archer knows where his or her target is, the shot can be true and deadly. Perhaps some sound can be heard by the archer when a new target is selected (only when the bow is equipped). Unequipping and reequipping the bow would negate the target (so the archer would have to get that target in their crosshairs again after switching items).

 

I think this is a good idea because archer spams legit pisses me off.

 

Perhaps give it Power III at 100% as well just so it has a purpose outside of very long range.

 

I looked over what I suggested before and thought about how frustrating it can be to play as Archer sometimes. I think you're right about granting more Power, and even with Punch I all the time it's very difficult to keep enemies at bay even when all arrows miraculously happen to hit (simply because currently, the time it takes to draw a bow back far enough to shoot an arrow that will travel far enough to hit a target nearly 30 blocks away gives them plenty of time to run up closer than the distance that the Punch I would push them back...so sniping can never happen against a charging target who was too close to be sniped from the first arrow that hit them even with an uncanny 100% accuracy).

So instead of what I was thinking before, if the fully drawn bow would start to charge the XP meter with greater effect I think it should take up to 5 seconds with incremental benefits the longer it's fully drawn (somewhat like how the dwarf currently gains better abilities the higher level they power up to):

The bow would have NO BENEFITS when drawn less than full-strength or when fully drawn for less than 1 additional second. NO snipe.
If held full-draw for an additional 1-2 seconds, the bow becomes a Punch I bow (as it currently is all the time) for the single shot. NO snipe.
If held full-draw for an additional 2-3 seconds, the bow becomes a Power I + Punch I bow for the single shot. CAN snipe.
If held full-draw for an additional 3-4 seconds, the bow becomes a Power II + Punch I bow for the single shot. CAN snipe.
If held full-draw for an additional 4-5 seconds, the bow becomes a Power II + Punch II bow for the single shot. CAN snipe.
If held full-draw for an additional 5 or more seconds, the bow becomes a Power III + Punch II bow for the single shot. CAN snipe.

Once the shot is fired off, or the moment that another item is selected instead of the bow, the effects and XP Meter (or "Tension Meter"?) are immediately cancelled/zeroed out. Any Archer who fires off arrows like mad will lose a lot of potential. Perhaps to balance the introduction of much more damage output, the total arrow count may be reduced from 128 to 64 before needing a refill (it's rare to actually run out of arrows as an Archer before being drained of steak or being killed by a disgruntled veteran player who saw where the Archer sniped them from).

I still think Archers should have a weaker Wooden Sword with Knockback II (but no Sharpness) on it in case enemies get in close to have some chance of fighting back. Its enchantment won't be any use at a distance, and arrows that would gain Punch would take much longer to prepare. Like I suggested in my Archer rework post, Archers preparing for war would know that melee combat is their weakness so having a way to keep enemies at a distance would be something they would logically look into before willingly going on any CTF mission. A stone sword is already fairly useless against most classes, and having no knockback at all only encourages bowspam. If the sword had a USE then Archers would wield it more often, and although a stronger sword would encourage Archers to wield it more, it wouldn't be as useful as an effective Knockback enchantment (like Knockback II... or even Knockback III?).

Would also be nice to reduce the minimum snipe distance to 25+ blocks instead of 30+ blocks since archers would need to wait longer between snipe-capable shots (but mainly because 30 blocks is harsh when most players don't appear until they're within 35 or maybe 40 blocks away in hectic CTF combat).