Every reputable minigame server at this point has some variation of Skywars. Therefore, my intent with these suggestions is to offer a different gameplay experience to every other server out there. Therefore, it's likely you'll disagree with the majority of this. But that's okay, I'm simply posting it to offer a bit of uniqueness. Hopefully this will stimulate a debate of sorts, because I truly think Cubecraft's Skywars has been stagnant for years now.
The problem with kits is...
80% of them never get used! Swordsman and Iron Golem are what almost every player uses, minus the occasional Archer or Scout. This is because they offer so little, or only a limited benefit, compared to the best sword in the Normal and Basic game-types, and a full set of the second best armour right off the bat. Very few people are going to choose say, a fishing rod, over these advantages. Because of the blatant benefit to using these kits, the logical way to diversify early encounters is to buff all the other kits. After all, you can't just nerf these kits, because too many people use them; you'll have to refund everybody. Here's what I propose happen instead:
Suggestion: Primary and Secondary kits
Allow players to select two kits per game, one from the 'Primary' and one from the 'Secondary' category. The categories will contain the following kits:
Primary
-Swordsman (Free)
-Tank (Free)
-Archer (Buffed, see below) (Free)
-Scout (Renamed Mystic, buffed, see below) (2,500 points)
-Woodcutter (New kit, see below) (2,500 points)
Secondary
-Pyromaniac (Nerfed, see below)
-Farmer (New kit, see below)
-Diglett (New kit, see below)
-Enchanter (Nerfed, see below)
-Strategist (New kit, see below) (Blocks)
-Aphrodite (New kit, see below)
-Diverse quiver (New kit, see below)
-Blacksmith
-Resourceful (New kit, see below) (Ores)
-Superhero (New kit, see below) (Free)
-Rejuvenation (New kit, see below)
-Defender (New kit, see below)
Using this system, you give everybody a powerful kit off the start. Many of them will cancel one another out, such as the Swordsman, Woodcutter and Tank kits, which will all compete against one another without any unreasonable advantage on either side. Likewise, the Archer will be effective against these three from afar, but not so much from up close.
This system will benefit new players. This is because as a new player, you have no kits. Do you really think it's fair to give them nothing, and have them face off against somebody who has spawned in with a powerful set of armour? Or the best sword in the game (Minus Overpowered)?
The secondary kits add diversity. Sure, you could run at that kid in full iron using your grossly overpowered sword, but if they have any weapon of their own, you're dead. Instead, use the Aphrodite kit to give yourself some extra health, or the Pyromaniac kit to make them kick their screen in frustration.
So, the kits - what are they?
Primary
Swordsman - Unchanged
Tank - Unchanged
-Archer - Buffed - Now has sixteen arrows
-Mystic - Has two Speed II splash potions (1:30) , a Poison I potion (0:15), and a Strength I potion (0:20)
-Woodcutter - Has an iron axe with Efficiency IV. Fundamentally weaker than the Swordsman, but has an added purpose
Secondary
Pyromaniac - Nerfed - Has a lava bucket (500 points)
Farmer - Has three cow spawn eggs, eight chicken eggs (thrown), and four bread (Free)
Diglett - Has an iron pickaxe, feel free to change its name :< (500 points)
Enchanter - Has an enchanting table, 32 bottles o' enchanting, and 3 lapis lazuli (500 points)
Strategist - Has thirty-two sandstone blocks (500 points)
Aphrodite - Has a golden apple (500 points)
Diverse quiver - Has three arrows of poison (0:11), one arrow of harming I, and four arrows of weakness (0:30) (500 points)
Blacksmith - Unchanged (500 points)
Resourceful - Has seven iron ore, one diamond ore, six wooden planks, and one coal ore (500 points)
Superhero - Maxes out a random ability (Disabled when abilities are unavailable) (Free)
Rejuvenation - One Regeneration potion II (500 points)
Defender - A carrot with Knockback I (500 points)
Aegis - A shield with a green border, and a skull in the center (500 points)
Reroll - An extra chest with even more loot inside! (500 points)
Oceanic - A cute little water bucket c: (Free)
As you can see, there are multiple combinations, each being able to benefit its user. Let's take a few at random, and highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
Archer and Diverse quiver
Pros - Very large quiver, can use weakness potions to approach with a sword, and can poison opponents to prevent regeneration
Cons - You're sacrificing a very powerful sword, a whole set of armour, a strength potion, blocks, extra health, etc. If you're approached early on, you're dead for sure. Anybody else using this kit will also make quick work of you
Swordsman and Pyromaniac
Pros - Can annihilate players quickly. Can use the lava bucket to counteract heavily armed players
Cons - Without spawning in with any armour, you're going to be bullied by those archers, who will be wanting your sword. Also, you're relying on finding blocks and food inside of chests. If you don't, you're going to have a hard time approaching people, especially on larger maps
Mystic and Diglett
Pros - Once you've made as much as a stone sword, your strength potion will chew through people. Speed also allows you to approach, escape and strafe easily, but may be counter-intuitive. Poison allows you to assure a kill on already weak players
Cons - No armour, no blocks, and once those potions are gone, you have no aspect left of your kit to work with
Tank and Superhero
Pros - If you're a noob, then Superhero is for you! It's free, meaning that one game you could be almost immune to fall damage, and the next game, you might have a huge chance of receiving double drops. The Tank also makes you a threatening force, that many players would rather avoid
Cons - No weapon, and cannot craft a weapon that will out-DPS the Swordsman kit. Your ability roll may also be unfortunate (i.e. Adrenaline rush)
Woodcutter and Aphrodite
Pros - You have a powerful weapon, and a tool for wood. The apple will also give you an unexpected health boost before fights. Moreover, if you've ever been critically hit with an axe, you'll know that it stings just a little
Archer and Resourceful
Pros - large quiver of arrows. Nobody is coming near you until you've extracted everything from those ores. Use them to craft a sword and a few pieces of armour, and you're set. Better yet, if there's a Swordsman-user adjacent to you, quickly shoot them to death and grab their sword! You can now engage in both knife and gun fights
Cons - Relies a lot on chest luck. Also, other archers could pick you off quickly if you aren't looking out for them
Swordsman and Aegis
Pros - Probably one of the smartest setups. You have no armour, but you're separated by islands. Your main threat is bows, so use the Aegis to not only protect yourself, but to waste other players' arrows
Cons - You're sacrificing very valuable secondaries, such as the Pyromaniac. Considering you spawn with no armour, that's risky
Woodcutter and Defender
Pros - Oh, that's a nice set of armour you have there. Oh, and you have a Sharpness II Iron sword too? Okay, just come a little closer... and... gone. Cya mate, say hai to Hades for me x
Cons - No armour, and the Defender can be unreliable. If the first strike fails, then you risk being predictable. Use this on small maps, or towards edges of islands
New vote option
Island degradation
Add an option to vote for island degradation. It'll be perfect for players who want a hasty game, or one without camping. In this mode, islands will begin to deteriorate after five minutes. To survive, you must rush to the middle. As you can imagine, bows are wonderful to use with Island degradation enabled x
Important: Obviously, the system discussed above will change the way that Skywars is played pretty largely. Please vote in the poll above to provide feedback. Don't feel bad voting no, I just want to see what everybody thinks about a system such as this.
@Efcluke94 @iLoveYouu @hub3rt
The problem with kits is...
80% of them never get used! Swordsman and Iron Golem are what almost every player uses, minus the occasional Archer or Scout. This is because they offer so little, or only a limited benefit, compared to the best sword in the Normal and Basic game-types, and a full set of the second best armour right off the bat. Very few people are going to choose say, a fishing rod, over these advantages. Because of the blatant benefit to using these kits, the logical way to diversify early encounters is to buff all the other kits. After all, you can't just nerf these kits, because too many people use them; you'll have to refund everybody. Here's what I propose happen instead:
Suggestion: Primary and Secondary kits
Allow players to select two kits per game, one from the 'Primary' and one from the 'Secondary' category. The categories will contain the following kits:
Primary
-Swordsman (Free)
-Tank (Free)
-Archer (Buffed, see below) (Free)
-Scout (Renamed Mystic, buffed, see below) (2,500 points)
-Woodcutter (New kit, see below) (2,500 points)
Secondary
-Pyromaniac (Nerfed, see below)
-Farmer (New kit, see below)
-Diglett (New kit, see below)
-Enchanter (Nerfed, see below)
-Strategist (New kit, see below) (Blocks)
-Aphrodite (New kit, see below)
-Diverse quiver (New kit, see below)
-Blacksmith
-Resourceful (New kit, see below) (Ores)
-Superhero (New kit, see below) (Free)
-Rejuvenation (New kit, see below)
-Defender (New kit, see below)
Using this system, you give everybody a powerful kit off the start. Many of them will cancel one another out, such as the Swordsman, Woodcutter and Tank kits, which will all compete against one another without any unreasonable advantage on either side. Likewise, the Archer will be effective against these three from afar, but not so much from up close.
This system will benefit new players. This is because as a new player, you have no kits. Do you really think it's fair to give them nothing, and have them face off against somebody who has spawned in with a powerful set of armour? Or the best sword in the game (Minus Overpowered)?
The secondary kits add diversity. Sure, you could run at that kid in full iron using your grossly overpowered sword, but if they have any weapon of their own, you're dead. Instead, use the Aphrodite kit to give yourself some extra health, or the Pyromaniac kit to make them kick their screen in frustration.
So, the kits - what are they?
Primary
Swordsman - Unchanged
Tank - Unchanged
-Archer - Buffed - Now has sixteen arrows
-Mystic - Has two Speed II splash potions (1:30) , a Poison I potion (0:15), and a Strength I potion (0:20)
-Woodcutter - Has an iron axe with Efficiency IV. Fundamentally weaker than the Swordsman, but has an added purpose
Secondary
Pyromaniac - Nerfed - Has a lava bucket (500 points)
Farmer - Has three cow spawn eggs, eight chicken eggs (thrown), and four bread (Free)
Diglett - Has an iron pickaxe, feel free to change its name :< (500 points)
Enchanter - Has an enchanting table, 32 bottles o' enchanting, and 3 lapis lazuli (500 points)
Strategist - Has thirty-two sandstone blocks (500 points)
Aphrodite - Has a golden apple (500 points)
Diverse quiver - Has three arrows of poison (0:11), one arrow of harming I, and four arrows of weakness (0:30) (500 points)
Blacksmith - Unchanged (500 points)
Resourceful - Has seven iron ore, one diamond ore, six wooden planks, and one coal ore (500 points)
Superhero - Maxes out a random ability (Disabled when abilities are unavailable) (Free)
Rejuvenation - One Regeneration potion II (500 points)
Defender - A carrot with Knockback I (500 points)
Aegis - A shield with a green border, and a skull in the center (500 points)
Reroll - An extra chest with even more loot inside! (500 points)
Oceanic - A cute little water bucket c: (Free)
As you can see, there are multiple combinations, each being able to benefit its user. Let's take a few at random, and highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
Archer and Diverse quiver
Pros - Very large quiver, can use weakness potions to approach with a sword, and can poison opponents to prevent regeneration
Cons - You're sacrificing a very powerful sword, a whole set of armour, a strength potion, blocks, extra health, etc. If you're approached early on, you're dead for sure. Anybody else using this kit will also make quick work of you
Swordsman and Pyromaniac
Pros - Can annihilate players quickly. Can use the lava bucket to counteract heavily armed players
Cons - Without spawning in with any armour, you're going to be bullied by those archers, who will be wanting your sword. Also, you're relying on finding blocks and food inside of chests. If you don't, you're going to have a hard time approaching people, especially on larger maps
Mystic and Diglett
Pros - Once you've made as much as a stone sword, your strength potion will chew through people. Speed also allows you to approach, escape and strafe easily, but may be counter-intuitive. Poison allows you to assure a kill on already weak players
Cons - No armour, no blocks, and once those potions are gone, you have no aspect left of your kit to work with
Tank and Superhero
Pros - If you're a noob, then Superhero is for you! It's free, meaning that one game you could be almost immune to fall damage, and the next game, you might have a huge chance of receiving double drops. The Tank also makes you a threatening force, that many players would rather avoid
Cons - No weapon, and cannot craft a weapon that will out-DPS the Swordsman kit. Your ability roll may also be unfortunate (i.e. Adrenaline rush)
Woodcutter and Aphrodite
Pros - You have a powerful weapon, and a tool for wood. The apple will also give you an unexpected health boost before fights. Moreover, if you've ever been critically hit with an axe, you'll know that it stings just a little
Archer and Resourceful
Pros - large quiver of arrows. Nobody is coming near you until you've extracted everything from those ores. Use them to craft a sword and a few pieces of armour, and you're set. Better yet, if there's a Swordsman-user adjacent to you, quickly shoot them to death and grab their sword! You can now engage in both knife and gun fights
Cons - Relies a lot on chest luck. Also, other archers could pick you off quickly if you aren't looking out for them
Swordsman and Aegis
Pros - Probably one of the smartest setups. You have no armour, but you're separated by islands. Your main threat is bows, so use the Aegis to not only protect yourself, but to waste other players' arrows
Cons - You're sacrificing very valuable secondaries, such as the Pyromaniac. Considering you spawn with no armour, that's risky
Woodcutter and Defender
Pros - Oh, that's a nice set of armour you have there. Oh, and you have a Sharpness II Iron sword too? Okay, just come a little closer... and... gone. Cya mate, say hai to Hades for me x
Cons - No armour, and the Defender can be unreliable. If the first strike fails, then you risk being predictable. Use this on small maps, or towards edges of islands
New vote option
Island degradation
Add an option to vote for island degradation. It'll be perfect for players who want a hasty game, or one without camping. In this mode, islands will begin to deteriorate after five minutes. To survive, you must rush to the middle. As you can imagine, bows are wonderful to use with Island degradation enabled x
Important: Obviously, the system discussed above will change the way that Skywars is played pretty largely. Please vote in the poll above to provide feedback. Don't feel bad voting no, I just want to see what everybody thinks about a system such as this.
@Efcluke94 @iLoveYouu @hub3rt
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