Bedrock Powerups on blockwars need a rework.

[adrian525pl]

Welcome to another post in my (currently not very active) series of critising (giga) blockwars with the hopes someone will take at least one of these seriously if they ever choose to update the gamemode.


Todays topic? Powerups.


If you never played blockwars, you may not know what a powerup is.

Well, a powerup is usually an ingame effect (though it can also be an item on OP mode) that you can pick up during the game.

These powerups have preset spawn locations, but when and whether they spawn is completely random.

Currently these are the powerups that exist in the game:
Speed
Jumping
Slow Falling
Haste
Strength
Thorns
Totem of Undying (OP Mode only)
Knockback (OP Mode only)
Auto-Bow (OP Mode only)
Flame-Bow (OP Mode only)
Freeze Stick (OP Mode only, I forgot its actual name)
Leap Feather (OP Mode only)
TNT (OP Mode only)
Explosive Trap (OP Mode only)



I am not going to explain any of them in detail as they are pretty self explanatory in their names or they are just basic minecraft things with their default mechanics.


Okay, so why do they need a redesign?
Lets start with the smaller reasons and slowly get to the major ones.

Firstly, there is simply very few of them. On OP mode you get all 5 of them AND the OP mode ones on top of that. This leads to most normal mode games feeling very repetitive fairly quickly.

Secondly, those powerups do not actually make a massive difference. The ones on normal mode only make a relatively minor difference, they are ocassionally helpful I suppose, but not something that can be used to turn a game around or something. And the ones on OP mode are massively nerfed by the fact its OP mode, which leads to them not having an impact because its almost impossible to kill players there anyway.


Thirdly, the powerups are very inconsistent in their usefulness. Speed is a goat tier Powerup. Strength is good. Jumping and Haste are okay-ish. And then there is slow falling which is actually more of a punishment than an actual powerup. Lets just say plenty of deaths could have been avoided if slow falling was simply not in the game.

The OP mode powerups have a similar problem. The Totem of Undying, the TNT and the leap feather are all good. Auto-Bows and Knockback are alright. And the rest is kind of meh.



Something that is supposed to be a power-up should not be something you meh at, or something you actively view as a problem (like with slow falling).


A powerup should provide a temporary boost that grants a you significant advantage over players who do not have it.

I also think it would be good if they were buffed to make it easier to counter players in better gear as the game still has a massive balance problem which only got worse after diamond blocks were removed and replaced with diamond ores.



Now onto my Idea of redesigning it, which is gonna be a view additions, removals, buffs, nerfs, and other changes(for changes that I fail do not fit any of the previous 4 sections and ones that I fail to bring up in the right section).


NOTE: I am going to write this section as if it were patch notes, BUT with the added bonus of explanations behind some of the changes.

Second NOTE: I include changes for both 5v5 blockwars AND giga blockwars this time, changes that are not marked as "giga blockwars only" or "5v5 blockwars only" apply to BOTH. I am NOT including blockwars duels in any of the changes I discuss.

My Idea of a blockwars powerup redesign:

Lets start with REMOVALS:

Slow Falling goes.

I am sorry, there is just no way to make it function as even as little as a useful powerup. All it does is make you vulnerable to combos, makes you move insanely slowly, with the only good thing about it being the lack of fall damage.


What also goes away is the flame bow. Now that one is not actively a nuisance, unlike slow falling, its just that its barely an upgrade at all. On OP mode everyone wears prot armor anyway, so the damage is barely there, and setting someone on fire isn't really that useful or effective.




Lets Now Move onto BUFFS:

Firstly, Speed gets buffed to apply a speed II effect to ALL teammates, not just the one who picked it up, and it applies for 30(Normal)/45(Rush and OP) seconds. Don't worry about balancing this, I got that covered in the nerfs part.

Throns also gets applied to all teammates rather than the person who picked it up. And it gets applied for 20 seconds rather than 10.

Thorns gets buffed to its highest possible ingame level (Thorns III) on OP mode, It also lasts 5 extra seconds on OP Mode.


Strength is now buffed to Strength II on normal mode and rush, and Strength III on OP mode. And now lasts 20 seconds.

The Knockback effect on the players weapon given in OP mode is now "permanent" (stays until the players death). It also automatically gets applied to the strongest melee weapon in the players inventory (including tridents). The knockback effect now also starts turns into something I'd like to call an "upgrade" powerup.

An upgrade powerup gives your weapon a permanent (until death) +1 level to some enchantment on your weapon (or just level 1 of that enchantment if its not on your weapon/item). These types of powerups also apply ONLY to the person who picked them up.

The knockback upgrade would be stackable until KB II on normal and rush modes and KB III on OP mode.

The knockback changes apply to giga blockwars only.


The Freeze Stick now has a limit of 10 use.

The Leap Feather Powerup now gives 2 feathers on OP mode. (Giga Blockwars only)

TNT now has a slightly increased explosion radius AND slightly increased damage.



Now onto ADDITIONS:

Firstly, additions of already existing powerups into other gamemodes:

TNT and Leap Feathers are now added into Normal Mode and Rush Mode. (all blockwars modes)
Leap Feather only giving one Feather on Normal and Rush. (giga blockwars only)


Now the additions of completely new effects and powerups:

The basic premise of most of these is to allow players to have powerups that can allow them to massively upgrade themselves ingame, as well as make a significant impact on its results. Its also supposed to truly amplify the "Overpowered" nature of overpowered mode, while also increasing the amount of overall chaos.

Due to the removal of free falling, as a replacement, The Feather Falling enchantment is added. On Normal and Rush its Feather Falling II, on OP Mode Feather Falling IV.


A Sharpness Powerup is added to all gamemodes, basically: Once you pick it up, the strongest melee weapon in your inventory gets an upgrade of +1 Sharpness that does not get removed until you die. Stackable only until Sharpness II on normal mode and Sharpness VII on OP mode. (All blockwars modes, the stack limits are reduces by 1 level on 5v5s)


A Diamond Armor Powerup is added to OP mode. basically: you pick it up, and your armor gets instantly replaced with diamond armor. It also replaced armor even if you have diamond armor on you already to renew durability. Obviously that armor has the same prot level as all other armor in that gamemode. (giga blockwars only)

An armor upgrade powerup is added to rush and normal mode. Basically: if you are wearing leather, it turns into Iron, and if you wear Iron it turns diamond, and if you wear diamond, it turns into prot I diamond. (all blockwars modes, but without diamond and prot I diamond on 5v5s)


A "power" powerup is added to all gamemodes. Basically: it takes your (strongest) bow, and upgrades its power level by one. Stackable only until power III for normal and rush mode and Power VI for OP mode (all blockwars modes, but the power limit is reduced by 1 level on 5v5s)

A "chase teleport" powerup is added to all gamemodes on CTF only. Basic idea is: once you pick it up, you get an item you can use that will instantly teleport you close to the location of whoever happens to carry your teams flag. It can NOT be used if you are carrying a flag yourself. IT also can't be used outside of situations when your flag is not being held by someone. The amount of chase teleports per team is also monitored by the game, to ensure there are no more than 3 of these per team at the same time as a way of balancing it.* (GIGA BLOCKWARS ONLY)

*"chase teleport" receives further balancing changes in the "other changes" part


A "harming potion" powerup is added to all gamemodes. That one is self explanatory. For normal and rush its Harming I, for OP mode its harming II. (all blockwars modes)


A "potion of poison" powerup is added to all gamemodes. For Normal and rush its poison I for 16 seconds. For OP Mode its Poison II for 10 seconds.



A "slowness potion" powerup is added to all gamemodes. For normal its slowness I, for rush its slowness II and for op its slowness III.


A "trident" powerup is added to all gamemodes. For normal and rush its just a normal trident, for OP mode it has Sharpness V and Loyalty III. (giga blockwars only)


A "fire aspect" powerup is added to OP mode. Stackable until fire aspect II. (giga blockwars only)

An "efficiency upgrade" powerup is added to all modes. On normal it stacks until Efficiency III, on OP it stacks until Efficiency VI. It also gets applied to all tools rather than just one. (Giga Blockwars only)


A "protection upgrade" powerup is added to OP. It increases the prot level of your armor by one. Only stackable until prot V.

A "throwable creeper" powerup is added to OP.

A "regeneration" power up is added to all gamemodes. 20 second Regen I for normal and rush. 15 second Regen II for OP mode.

An "extra heart" powerup is added to all gamemodes. Basically: the person who picks this up gets an extra heart of health (2 HP points) applied to them until death. Stackable to a maximum of 2 hearts on normal mode, and 4 hearts on OP mode.


An ender pearls powerup is added to OP and rush mode, but with a special mechanic to nerf it, which is discussed in "other changes".

A "tank upgrade token" is added to OP mode. Basically: it gives you an item that allows you to turn into a tank at will.

After a bit of inspiration from another thread on the topic of powerups: an "invisibility" powerup is added to all gamemodes. 10 seconds on normal and rush modes, 15 seconds on OP mode. It ONLY applies to the person picking it up, and on OP mode when picked up in the center it is buffed by an additional 15 seconds rather than the "default" 10. It also makes your armor invisible, so you won't be forced to get naked to make use of it.




Lastly, the Nerfs section:
Speed powerups now do NOT give teams a long lasting/permanent speed I effect and DO NOT affect players carrying flags, with those players having a slowness I effect applied for as long as they are carrying a flag.

Jumping effects are also lower by one level on normal mode. And also do NOT apply to flag carriers.

The only effects applicable to flag carriers are ones that have NOTHING to do with movement. Meaning that pickup up leap feather powerups AFTER taking a flag also do not apply. You can still grab leap feathers before taking flags though. Same applies for chase teleports, even despite the fact they are not usable as a flag carrier anyway.

The freeze sticks freeze also now lasts a bit shorter than normally to compensate for having more uses of it.







Now the section with other changes:


the amount of "powerup" spots per map INCREASES. Now each map features 8 such spots outside of middle, which respawn randomly and with random powerups. (GIGA BLOCKWARS ONLY)

Two of those slots are placed on the far-wide ends of each map, relative to the center, with them being outside the map completely in CTF maps that have a mid with a void on its sides.

The other two slots are both placed closer to each teams spawn than the already existing 4. They also have one special mechanic, which is that they only spawn powerups if the team that has their spawn closest to them is losing. This is a way of helping out the losing team. The chances of "upgrade" powerups are also higher on these than they are on the other 6 "normal" slots.


AND one special middle spot. That spot is specifically reserved for a select few very powerful powerups. (GIGA BLOCKWARS ONLY, 5v5 maps are too tiny for this and the way the gamemode works could lead to some of them powerups TOO overpowered)

A powerup picked up in that spot also is more powerful than it is by default:
Item powerups give one extra of that item. With armor-giving powerups, it means you get an extra set of armor to give to your teammates or something.
Effects last an additional 10 seconds longer than normally.
And "upgrade" powerups (power, sharpness, etc.) give II levels (if the maximum limit allows so) instead of one.


On normal mode those include:
Strength
Power
Sharpness
Chase Teleports (as another way to nerf it, it spawns ONLY in the middle spot)
Invisibility


On rush mode those include:
All the ones from normal mode
Speed
Leap Feathers

On OP mode those include:
All the ones from NORMAL mode
Ender Pearls (as a way of nerfing it, it can ONLY spawn on mid, and only a maximum of 2 times PER GAME, ender pearls also have a special mechanic where they can't be dropped from your inventory)
Regeneration
Totem of Undying
Extra Hearts
Knockback
Leap Feathers


Another special mechanic with the center spot is that the powerups in that spot respawn in regular intervals: once every 60 seconds.

If a powerup is not picked up by the time a new is supposed to spawn in, it will be replaced by a random powerup that is NOT the same powerup that was just there.


Powerups in the middle are also limited to spawn in a maximum of 3 times on it per game unless specified otherwise.


The game also notifies everyone in chat when a new powerup spawns in and tells you what powerup it is. Unlike other powerups, though, it can not be picked up with a bow, it requires you to walk into it and stand on it for at least 5 full seconds before its applied. This is a way to give players the ability to stop someone from picking it up, as well as force players to move there to get it and encourage trying to fight for it. Meaning that mechanics wise it functions very similar to flags on CTF.






That is it for this post. Normally I'd try to include a tl;dr, but here the tl;dr would basically just be a list of the things in the 5 sections before this sentence.

 

[WorriedSkate940]

I'm really sorry, I didn't read it all, way too long of a post. What I did catch was that speed should be reworked. It's exactly how it should be. When 1 person picks up speed, everyone on the team gets speed and it lasts till you die. And since some of the games where we catch speed are 45ish seconds long, the length of the powerup doesn't need to be changed to 45s.

And the only powerups that should be added are double points and tnt to speed mode. Nothing else should be changed. Maybe slow falling, but in scrims it's kind of a strat to for example hide behind the powerup cuz everyone knows that picking it up leads to death

 

[adrian525pl]

I'm really sorry, I didn't read it all, way too long of a post. What I did catch was that speed should be reworked. It's exactly how it should be. When 1 person picks up speed, everyone on the team gets speed and it lasts till you die. And since some of the games where we catch speed are 45ish seconds long, the length of the powerup doesn't need to be changed to 45s.

"Its exactly how it should be"

so... cancelling the slowness effect on flag carriers, and disappearing seemingly randomly as it absolutely does not seem to be related to death with it even being able to randomly disappear while I am still very much alive. And all that while having extremely varying degrees of usefulness based on which gamemode you happen to be playing.


Yeah, no, a change is needed, usefulness should not vary that much, and speed should not cancel out slowness as the slowness effect is very important for making it possible to catch flag carriers on CTF.

Not to mention the thing with it randomly disappearing I noticed might even be a bug, but so could be the speed I effect being permanent in other situations.

I also have no Idea how you get 45 second games without being a massive sweat or playing in strictly competitive settings. Both possibilities make what you say irrelevant, as the majority of players aren't sweats, and the majority of all players do not play blockwars in a highly competitive setting.

And the only powerups that should be added are double points and tnt to speed mode. Nothing else should be changed.

Why not? Right now, the powerups on normal and rush modes have relatively minor effects except for like 2 of them, with 1 of the 6 effects being something any smart player will avoid, and the usefulness of the OP mode effects ranging from "meh" to "Imma win a game with this".

Powerups should be... well, powerups. They should all be strong things that can have an impact on the game while by providing some form of boost of upgrade.

Also remember that a lot of the changes I suggested are meant to apply to either 5v5s only or Mega blockwars only, not always both, and the changes I suggest for each of these make sense given the nature of these gamemodes.


Not to mention some of the OP mode powerups could be implemented very well into normal mode and rush mode as valuable and fairly balanced additions. Especially TNT, there is no reason to have TNT on OP mode only given how many other ways of breaking blocks fast OP mode offers as well as how little of them Normal Mode offers (Rush is kind of a grey zone here as there you at least have Efficiency II diamond pickaxes if you can craft them, which is not the fastest, but its not too slow and it can be very strong with a haste powerup).

Maybe slow falling, but in scrims it's kind of a strat to for example hide behind the powerup cuz everyone knows that picking it up leads to death

I've said it many times before (usually in relation to eggwars, though), and I'll say it again: the convenience of the rest of the community matters, always mattered and always will matter more than the competitive community, simply due to the fact its much larger and due to the fact it is the part of the community that allows the server to continue existing and possibly grow.

So mentioning anything related to said competitive play is almost irrelevant to whether or not changes are needed unless the gamemode was specifically made for highly competitive play (blockwars is far from that, so are all other minigames on cubecraft).

Also: THAT is the exact reason why powerups need changes, especially slow falling, as powerups should be something you want to pick up, not something you couldn't be bothered thinking about or worse: something you actively avoid picking up.

 

[WorriedSkate940]

"Its exactly how it should be"

so... cancelling the slowness effect on flag carriers, and disappearing seemingly randomly as it absolutely does not seem to be related to death with it even being able to randomly disappear while I am still very much alive. And all that while having extremely varying degrees of usefulness based on which gamemode you happen to be playing.


Yeah, no, a change is needed, usefulness should not vary that much, and speed should not cancel out slowness as the slowness effect is very important for making it possible to catch flag carriers on CTF.

Not to mention the thing with it randomly disappearing I noticed might even be a bug, but so could be the speed I effect being permanent in other situations.

I also have no Idea how you get 45 second games without being a massive sweat or playing in strictly competitive settings. Both possibilities make what you say irrelevant, as the majority of players aren't sweats, and the majority of all players do not play blockwars in a highly competitive setting.


Why not? Right now, the powerups on normal and rush modes have relatively minor effects except for like 2 of them, with 1 of the 6 effects being something any smart player will avoid, and the usefulness of the OP mode effects ranging from "meh" to "Imma win a game with this".

Powerups should be... well, powerups. They should all be strong things that can have an impact on the game while by providing some form of boost of upgrade.

Also remember that a lot of the changes I suggested are meant to apply to either 5v5s only or Mega blockwars only, not always both, and the changes I suggest for each of these make sense given the nature of these gamemodes.


Not to mention some of the OP mode powerups could be implemented very well into normal mode and rush mode as valuable and fairly balanced additions. Especially TNT, there is no reason to have TNT on OP mode only given how many other ways of breaking blocks fast OP mode offers as well as how little of them Normal Mode offers (Rush is kind of a grey zone here as there you at least have Efficiency II diamond pickaxes if you can craft them, which is not the fastest, but its not too slow and it can be very strong with a haste powerup).


I've said it many times before (usually in relation to eggwars, though), and I'll say it again: the convenience of the rest of the community matters, always mattered and always will matter more than the competitive community, simply due to the fact its much larger and due to the fact it is the part of the community that allows the server to continue existing and possibly grow.

So mentioning anything related to said competitive play is almost irrelevant to whether or not changes are needed unless the gamemode was specifically made for highly competitive play (blockwars is far from that, so are all other minigames on cubecraft).

Also: THAT is the exact reason why powerups need changes, especially slow falling, as powerups should be something you want to pick up, not something you couldn't be bothered thinking about or worse: something you actively avoid picking up.

Speed makes a really big change in capture the flag, when you are capturing the flag, and makes scoring pits faster. So it does a big enough change in my opinion. And strength makes you 3 hit, and that is a really big change. You can probably 1v2 or even 1v3 people with around the same skill as you if you got strength and they don't. That can be game changing in ctf

 

[adrian525pl]

Speed makes a really big change in capture the flag, when you are capturing the flag, and makes scoring pits faster. So it does a big enough change in my opinion. And strength makes you 3 hit, and that is a really big change. You can probably 1v2 or even 1v3 people with around the same skill as you if you got strength and they don't. That can be game changing in ctf

That is two powerups out of 6 that are useful. Then there is jump, which isn't bad, but not exactly the most useful. I did mention nerfing it by one level in the first post, but thinking about it now I think it could actually use a bit of a buff.
There is also haste, which only really has a use once if you are lucky enough to get it near an opponents defense, so not a bad powerup, but its extremely situational.
We also got Thorns, which don't even seem to work correctly tbh, I've never seen anyone take damage from it, and it disappearing after only 10 seconds prevents that from happening all that often.

And of course there is slow falling, which is a guaranteed death sentence, and regardless of what other changes would and would not be good, has to be removed as fast as possible.

If only 2 out of 6 powerups are useful, then the other 6 either have to go or have to receive some buffs.

And even here I'd like to point out that speed on bridges, and on ctf outside of times when you are holding a flag, isn't that useful as its very likely your opponents have that same speed effect too, which makes everyone equally fast, which makes it less a powerup (a powerup is supposed to be an advantage), and more just a way to speed up the game over all, which is game changing, but not in the way of "I have an advantage now" and more in a way of making the game faster for literally everyone.


If we did it the way I suggest, with a temporary speed 2 effect for everyone, rather than a permanent speed I, and if we made it unable to affect flag carriers, then we'd have something worthy of calling a powerup while also not making it too powerful as you'd be able to chase down flag carriers more effectively, get away from opponents or chase opponents better, which would ultimately make it more useful than it actually is right now.

Right now, its only good purpose and only time you do have an advantage over your opponent, is when carrying flags because of the fact speed removes the slowness.

 

[lh201202729]

Real,i still dont know what is throns is

 

[adrian525pl]

Real,i still dont know what is throns is

Basically: its supposed to deal a small amount of damage to anyone who hits you. On survival its a pretty good enchantment for when you end up being hit, as it makes the mobs take damage. If your armor is very strong at stopping damage you can even kill mobs by just standing AFK and waiting until the damage from thorns ends up killing them.

In blockwars its an almost completely useless temporary effect which does almost nothing and is applied for an amount of time so short you'll almost never be able to make any use of it anyway.