Weapon combat as a whole just feels like you ONLY use the skills and never actually the weapon. I would actually like to see weapon combat be viable since when magic weapons come out, it could be incorporated pretty nicely. If you’re gonna implement it, you might as well make it good. The main concept is trying to give weapons aerial utility while also making combat as a whole fun.
Shift Lock on Weapons
Custom shift-lock should be a thing whenever you equip a weapon, this gives MUCH more precision than the current system. You don’t have to move in order to swing in a specific way and can gain much better movement precision.
Increase Weapon Range
Range for weapons is currently lacking quite a bit. I’d say buff weapon range quite a bit to make them a bit more usable due to the amount of mobility we have. Make sure to make it obvious when something is gonna hit through visuals.
Improved Animations
Weapon animations feel a bit off and can mess with the hitboxes. Alongside this, the start-up animation is quite a bit hard to tell easily. Exaggerate the animations start-up and swing (ex. raise the sword way higher for a diagonal slash) and make the m1 combo less about swinging all around and be more straight forward (diagonal, horizontal, and verical swings)
Stamina Related
Attacks should not take stamina as this would create a ton of annoyance between attacking and staying mobile. A system like this works in a grounded slow combat system like Dark Souls, but wouldn’t work in WoM.
Micro Stun
Whenever you attack someone, they get stunned for a tiny bit and can’t attack but can still defend. This is meant to reward players that have better reactions and get the first strike, as this would cancel the other opponents. This micro-stun only cancels melee attacks and nothing else.
Aerial Utility
Weapons are only useful on the ground. If you’re on the ground, you should get a slight boost in the specific direction your mouse is pointed at and swing. You will fall after around 3 m1s to prevent massive stalling.
Original Idea: https://forum.worldofmagic.dev/t/melee-attacks-for-weapons-rework-melee-vs-airborne-targets/38110
Parry System
Perfect blocking an attack honestly leaves you in a worse situation then just dodging. Making perfect blocks a parry would actually give players a reason to take defensive measures and counter. You will not be given a free hit, but it’ll block 100% of all damage.
Original Idea: https://forum.worldofmagic.dev/t/make-melee-perfect-block-against-melee-attacks-be-a-parry/37095
I do think that the weapon combat system should be more simplified compared to other games that have a major focus on them, but seeing them actually having utility seems fine to me.