Part of me can't believe this thread is still kicking.
The other half of me is not surprised.
The best thing I can think of to do about 1.9 combat is not to remove it like many say, but to have a "Combat Update 2" which would add some things desirable for PvP, which would make servers want the new things and at least try out the new combat system. But that's never going to happen.
I personally think a gamerule to revert to the old system would be better (heck, the community has been asking for one for over a year) because that way the big servers would be able to fully update without loosing their entire playerbase.
I personally think a gamerule to revert to the old system would be better (heck, the community has been asking for one for over a year) because that way the big servers would be able to fully update without loosing their entire playerbase.
I doubt a gamerule would really help. There's already a way to turn off the mechanics and even customize them, but everyone pretends it doesn't exist to favor in simply hating the new mechanics. I'd imagine they'd do the same to a gamerule. They'd ignore the fact it exists and wouldn't look past "Updating past 1.9?!!?!? WORST SERVER EVER NO LONGER PLAYING".
I remember reading a while back on a server forum with no combat/pvp gamemodes in place having to downgrade again because players basically judged the combat too much despite not even using it. So I doubt they're willing to listen now if we were to add a gamerule.
Block-hitting was glitch, so it cannot be counted as skill, and it was good thing, that Mojang got rid of it. And that's the purpose of shields! To make bows and arrows useless. Even though the new system is not (like I have stated many, many times earlier) perfect, but the old system was downright broken. Because of block-hitting, which yet again, was a glitch. And while the new system might of ruined the PvP side of the game, it enhanced the survival side, by making it more challenging, which again, was one thing majority of the Minecraft community wanted. Mojang delivered, and all of a sudden, it wasn't "needed".
I thought the majority of the community are pvper.
Skill!?!??!!? You think 1.9 takes skill?!?! Yeah so much skill walk forward click once...wait click again....wait click again.... Yeah so much skill. In games like HG or SW it will be ALL about whoever has the better armour will win cause in 1.9 you basically trade hits. But in 1.7 if someone has no armour vs a full iron you can actaully kill them using tactics like fishing rod, Strafing, Jittering etc. But in 1.9 it will be IMPOSSIBLE to kill someone who has better gear then you cause of the new cool down system. So therefore 1.9 doesnt invole any skill...
Skill!?!??!!? You think 1.9 takes skill?!?! Yeah so much skill walk forward click once...wait click again....wait click again.... Yeah so much skill. In games like HG or SW it will be ALL about whoever has the better armour will win cause in 1.9 you basically trade hits. But in 1.7 if someone has no armour vs a full iron you can actaully kill them using tactics like fishing rod, Strafing, Jittering etc. But in 1.9 it will be IMPOSSIBLE to kill someone who has better gear then you cause of the new cool down system. So therefore 1.9 doesnt invole any skill...
Or... you could use a shield, a bow, an ender pearl, build something to block, run away, strafe out of the way, use their cooldown to your advantage, use a lava bucket, a fishing rod...
Pretty sure those games are not vanilla Minecraft.
1.9 is about using your brain, not trading hits. Plan what to do, and you may just succeed.
Fishing rods still exist in 1.9.
Strafing is not a skill.
Jittering did nothing and continues to do nothing.
It is not impossible to kill someone with better gear. It is more difficult to kill players in general.
1.9 gives you more challenge, which forces you to be more skilled.
I also agree with Mastermined that a combat system in a game not designed around it cannot be judged solely by the skill it takes to master.
Another example of spreading misinformation. Anything that is true in this comment is taken out of context just to make 1.9 seem worse than it is. But of course someone will listen to it and won't play 1.9, and so won't get any updates ever again. How sad. I wonder if you even believe what you're saying.
Ugh, why are people still talking about this? It's [almost] 1.12, the new combat is old news by now.
People love to complain, even if what they're complaining about is practically nonexistent problems. It feels good to be "right," even if what you're talking about has no basis in reality. And it doesn't really matter that what you're complaining about is something that doesn't matter whatsoever.
I really wonder, how difficult would it really be if Mojang added in a gamerule to revert the combat, but ignored rebalancing the game? I mean, think about all the other gamerules, do they rebalance the game at all to accommodate for what they do? And really, a lot of what you can do to revert it manually takes more work than what it would take Mojang; I mean, if we had a gamerule to disable the cooldown, it could theoretically be done with a line to see if the gamerule is false and another to set the remaining cooldown to zero every tick, which I would say is far easier than dealing with all the headaches command blocks bring, especially if your not familiar with them.
I really wonder, how difficult would it really be if Mojang added in a gamerule to revert the combat, but ignored rebalancing the game? I mean, think about all the other gamerules, do they rebalance the game at all to accommodate for what they do? And really, a lot of what you can do to revert it manually takes more work than what it would take Mojang; I mean, if we had a gamerule to disable the cooldown, it could theoretically be done with a line to see if the gamerule is false and another to set the remaining cooldown to zero every tick, which I would say is far easier than dealing with all the headaches command blocks bring, especially if your not familiar with them.
As mentioned multiple times, we already have a way to toggle it.
Yeah it's not "Gamerule IDontWant19 False" simple, but it's still incredibly easy and quick to do, with tools out there to do the work for you if you don't understand how to change it. You can already independently modify the cooldown of every single weapon, even give multiple different times of cooldown on the same weapon type. Gamerules are "Balanced" around the fact that it's map-making tools. Which means the features exist in a way that benefits map makers most. The reason why we don't have a gamerule for the cooldown is because it would be useless compared to the map maker creative freedom manually modifying the cooldown would be.
If anything, think of it as a "Lesser evil". You can't lazily type a single phrase, but literally everyone benefits from the slightly more complex method of modifying the cooldown as opposed to a toggle that only benefits whoever hates the combat.
As mentioned multiple times, we already have a way to toggle it.
Yeah it's not "Gamerule IDontWant19 False" simple, but it's still incredibly easy and quick to do, with tools out there to do the work for you if you don't understand how to change it. You can already independently modify the cooldown of every single weapon, even give multiple different times of cooldown on the same weapon type. Gamerules are "Balanced" around the fact that it's map-making tools. Which means the features exist in a way that benefits map makers most. The reason why we don't have a gamerule for the cooldown is because it would be useless compared to the map maker creative freedom manually modifying the cooldown would be.
If anything, think of it as a "Lesser evil". You can't lazily type a single phrase, but literally everyone benefits from the slightly more complex method of modifying the cooldown as opposed to a toggle that only benefits whoever hates the combat.
There's no exact tutorial, but each item has its own attributes, this includes "generic.attackSpeed" of many things. For example, if you wanted a diamong sword with no attack speed, you'd use this command:
Note that you have to change all existing attributes of a weapon to get your intended effect. If I didn't modify the attack damage in the command, the game would of defaulted to fist damage. Any number that is 0 or higher will result in your default, fastest attack speed. (Spamclicking), but if you use a negative number, it slows it down. So here's a sword with a very slow attack speed:
Putting -4 or higher seemingly puts the attack meter to a complete halt, and your weapon will never charge.
You can also change the cooldown of held items, so once a player crafts a sword, it will instantly change to a sword with no weapon recharge, however the last time I tried this, I couldn't get it to work, but with advancements heavily increasing map maker abilities, it's very much a possible thing with enough work.
But I did manage to get something to work. A while back I made a contraption of sorts that reduces the cooldown of any weapon if you drop it on the ground. I also made it revert axe damage if you drop that too. You're free to use it here. All you do is copy/paste the entire thing in a command block and run it.
And one more thing, slightly off topic. Yes, this is truly slightly more advanced for the average player, but the fact that the tools exist are very great for those that do understand these types of things, such as plugin makers for larger servers is good enough of a reason to keep it this way. The tools existing means that there are better ways to "fix" the cooldown. All it takes is for a plugin maker (Or one command block creator, mod maker, etc.) to step in and make the change.
People love to complain, even if what they're complaining about is practically nonexistent problems. It feels good to be "right," even if what you're talking about has no basis in reality. And it doesn't really matter that what you're complaining about is something that doesn't matter whatsoever.
Uh, what? The opinions of people who prefer older versions matter just as much as people who prefer newer versions. Also, kind of ironic how you say that if feels good to be "right" and that doesn't matter in reality, when that is pretty much what you are doing right now.
I really wonder, how difficult would it really be if Mojang added in a gamerule to revert the combat, but ignored rebalancing the game? I mean, think about all the other gamerules, do they rebalance the game at all to accommodate for what they do? And really, a lot of what you can do to revert it manually takes more work than what it would take Mojang; I mean, if we had a gamerule to disable the cooldown, it could theoretically be done with a line to see if the gamerule is false and another to set the remaining cooldown to zero every tick, which I would say is far easier than dealing with all the headaches command blocks bring, especially if your not familiar with them.
Exactly. I still don't see why a gamerule or some default option to remove it is that big of a deal. There is peaceful mode which disables the hunger bar so I don't know why a gamerule would be the end of the world.
Uh, what? The opinions of people who prefer older versions matter just as much as people who prefer newer versions. Also, kind of ironic how you say that if feels good to be "right" and that doesn't matter in reality, when that is pretty much what you are doing right now.
Nothing you just said invalidates anything I have just said. And while I admit to enjoying being right, I equally enjoy being proven wrong. I'd rather have my understanding of reality match reality than "win" any given disagreement.
I could explain why an opinion, despite being as valid as any other opinion, should change in certain situations, but that would be off-topic. PM me if you want to discuss that.
Personally, I preferred the old method, mostly because I stood a chance against the monsters. The way I see it, Minecraft was never designed to be a combat game. The controls are too clunky for fine character control, the terrain itself can hinder you by the fact that you're dealing with blocks instead of smooth gradation, and the fact that monsters can spawn literally from thin air behind you makes it easy for the player character to be surrounded while having a combat system that wasn't designed for handling hordes of monsters at once. It's not great when I feel like I have to fight the game mechanics themselves just to survive.
When I first started playing, I thought Normal difficulty was a good compromise between exciting adventure and calm building. I still play on Normal difficulty, but it's so obnoxiously hard sometimes that part of me wants to turn it down to Easy, but that seems like the coward's way out, so I continue to struggle along, with the occasional ragequit after having died to yet another skeleton who stunlocked me before I could get enough hits off to kill him.
In my opinion, Minecraft shouldn't try to be a combat game. It just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the game's mechanics. At the very least the new combat style should be balanced out by letting the player stun the enemies with a power strike. It would make the combat feel at least a little bit more fair.
Personally, I preferred the old method, mostly because I stood a chance against the monsters. The way I see it, Minecraft was never designed to be a combat game. The controls are too clunky for fine character control, the terrain itself can hinder you by the fact that you're dealing with blocks instead of smooth gradation, and the fact that monsters can spawn literally from thin air behind you makes it easy for the player character to be surrounded while having a combat system that wasn't designed for handling hordes of monsters at once. It's not great when I feel like I have to fight the game mechanics themselves just to survive.
When I first started playing, I thought Normal difficulty was a good compromise between exciting adventure and calm building. I still play on Normal difficulty, but it's so obnoxiously hard sometimes that part of me wants to turn it down to Easy, but that seems like the coward's way out, so I continue to struggle along, with the occasional ragequit after having died to yet another skeleton who stunlocked me before I could get enough hits off to kill him.
In my opinion, Minecraft shouldn't try to be a combat game. It just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the game's mechanics. At the very least the new combat style should be balanced out by letting the player stun the enemies with a power strike. It would make the combat feel at least a little bit more fair.
Sweep attack is there for a reason, problem #1 solved.
Now, even though Skellies are basically aimbots now, you should use the shield to block their arrows, problem #2 solved.
And yes, again, like I have said multiple times before, the new system is not perfect, and in few cases the old system were better (dealing with baby zombies) but the new system is much better, with the swipe/sweep attack knocking the monsters back few blocks, which gives you time to recharge the cooldown. Plus if you put knockback to your sword those monsters are knocked back even more. Also, Smite and Sharpness will help you deal with zombies and skellies faster, like you already knew. And by the way, there is power attack, just jump and strike the mobs when you're coming down, blamo, critical strike, that deals lot of damage. Or, if you have Smite and sharpness on your sword, it will kill both zombies and skeletons with 1 strike. I've been doing that alot, and it works.
Sweep attack is there for a reason, problem #1 solved.
Now, even though Skellies are basically aimbots now, you should use the shield to block their arrows, problem #2 solved.
And yes, again, like I have said multiple times before, the new system is not perfect, and in few cases the old system were better (dealing with baby zombies) but the new system is much better, with the swipe/sweep attack knocking the monsters back few blocks, which gives you time to recharge the cooldown. Plus if you put knockback to your sword those monsters are knocked back even more. Also, Smite and Sharpness will help you deal with zombies and skellies faster, like you already knew. And by the way, there is power attack, just jump and strike the mobs when you're coming down, blamo, critical strike, that deals lot of damage. Or, if you have Smite and sharpness on your sword, it will kill both zombies and skeletons with 1 strike. I've been doing that alot, and it works.
And while the sweep attack is charging up, the zombies are hitting me, or a creeper is approaching. I'm saying I should be able to dispatch the skeleton without having to wait for the sweep, or at the least the sweep attack needs to be buffed.
As far as I'm aware, Smite and Sharpness are mutually exclusive unless you're cheating, which I don't do. I already have Sharpness V on my diamond sword, but it takes three sweep hits per zombie to kill them. Incidentally, I remember diamond swords being significantly better than iron swords before 1.9, but now the difference seems marginal. Moreover, I did some research, and basically everyone who commented on the Knockback enchantment said it was bad, so I'm not keen to use it on my irreplaceable diamond sword.
The shield annoys me, but that's less criticism of the combat mechanics than personal preference. There's a reason I play a rogue, mage, or gunner in the other games I play. I don't much like having to use a shield in games, and will avoid doing so as much as possible.
I didn't know about the jump attack, though, so that is useful. Does a plunge attack exist too? I once dropped off a ledge onto a witch just for fun, and when I hit her, the game made a sound that seemed to indicate a power hit. That was something that I only had one good opportunity to do, so I haven't tested that since.
And while the sweep attack is charging up, the zombies are hitting me, or a creeper is approaching. I'm saying I should be able to dispatch the skeleton without having to wait for the sweep, or at the least the sweep attack needs to be buffed.
Not, if you move while your cooldown is recharging. Plus with sword it's only 0.1 secs slower, than the damage immunity each mob has.
As far as I'm aware, Smite and Sharpness are mutually exclusive unless you're cheating, which I don't do. I already have Sharpness V on my diamond sword, but it takes three sweep hits per zombie to kill them. Incidentally, I remember diamond swords being significantly better than iron swords before 1.9, but now the difference seems marginal. Moreover, I did some research, and basically everyone who commented on the Knockback enchantment said it was bad, so I'm not keen to use it on my irreplaceable diamond sword.
Oh, sorry my bad. I meant Smite and Fire aspect. Again, my bad. Yes. Or Sharpness V with Fire aspect, both deal a lot of damage. And Knockback is not bad enchantment, as I mainly use it to deal with Creepers, when I don't want to be bothered with them. But it actually do knock all mobs back few blocks more with sweep attack's knockback effect. But that's again one of the good old preference questions, which really can't be contested.
The shield annoys me, but that's less criticism of the combat mechanics than personal preference. There's a reason I play a rogue, mage, or gunner in the other games I play. I don't much like having to use a shield in games, and will avoid doing so as much as possible.
How it annoys you? Like how much it takes off from your view? Because you can edit how much it takes off from your screen from NBT data tags, if I remember correctly... But yes, indeed there's few times for me too, when that thing is just plain annoying.
I didn't know about the jump attack, though, so that is useful. Does a plunge attack exist too? I once dropped off a ledge onto a witch just for fun, and when I hit her, the game made a sound that seemed to indicate a power hit. That was something that I only had one good opportunity to do, so I haven't tested that since.
Well, the plunge attack is pretty much same as jump attack, as you strike the mob you are targeting with your sword or axe. It's called critical strike, and because you have sharpness on your sword, it will probably kill off the mob with 2 blows, and if you have flame in it too, it will be 1 hit kill, as. Well, the crit hit already deals hefty amount of damage and it added with damage from Sharpness and Flame enchantments makes it really doubtful, that you need to swing that sword again... Of course, you need to manage to hit the mob you are targeting.
I personally think a gamerule to revert to the old system would be better (heck, the community has been asking for one for over a year) because that way the big servers would be able to fully update without loosing their entire playerbase.
I doubt a gamerule would really help. There's already a way to turn off the mechanics and even customize them, but everyone pretends it doesn't exist to favor in simply hating the new mechanics. I'd imagine they'd do the same to a gamerule. They'd ignore the fact it exists and wouldn't look past "Updating past 1.9?!!?!? WORST SERVER EVER NO LONGER PLAYING".
I remember reading a while back on a server forum with no combat/pvp gamemodes in place having to downgrade again because players basically judged the combat too much despite not even using it. So I doubt they're willing to listen now if we were to add a gamerule.
just on page 1: 11 in favor of 1.9+, 7 against. somewhat even spread, so it isn't decided yet
Used to avoid it. Now i got used to it.. ;D
It takes some getting used to but it's better.
I thought the majority of the community are pvper.
Skill!?!??!!? You think 1.9 takes skill?!?! Yeah so much skill walk forward click once...wait click again....wait click again.... Yeah so much skill. In games like HG or SW it will be ALL about whoever has the better armour will win cause in 1.9 you basically trade hits. But in 1.7 if someone has no armour vs a full iron you can actaully kill them using tactics like fishing rod, Strafing, Jittering etc. But in 1.9 it will be IMPOSSIBLE to kill someone who has better gear then you cause of the new cool down system. So therefore 1.9 doesnt invole any skill...
Or... you could use a shield, a bow, an ender pearl, build something to block, run away, strafe out of the way, use their cooldown to your advantage, use a lava bucket, a fishing rod...
Pretty sure those games are not vanilla Minecraft.
1.9 is about using your brain, not trading hits. Plan what to do, and you may just succeed.
Fishing rods still exist in 1.9.
Strafing is not a skill.
Jittering did nothing and continues to do nothing.
It is not impossible to kill someone with better gear. It is more difficult to kill players in general.
1.9 gives you more challenge, which forces you to be more skilled.
I also agree with Mastermined that a combat system in a game not designed around it cannot be judged solely by the skill it takes to master.
Another example of spreading misinformation. Anything that is true in this comment is taken out of context just to make 1.9 seem worse than it is. But of course someone will listen to it and won't play 1.9, and so won't get any updates ever again. How sad. I wonder if you even believe what you're saying.
If you are planning to make a suggestion, please read this.
If you want to know more, you can read this.
For those who complain about post-Beta generation, you might want to see this.
Ugh, why are people still talking about this? It's [almost] 1.12, the new combat is old news by now.
People love to complain, even if what they're complaining about is practically nonexistent problems. It feels good to be "right," even if what you're talking about has no basis in reality. And it doesn't really matter that what you're complaining about is something that doesn't matter whatsoever.
If you are planning to make a suggestion, please read this.
If you want to know more, you can read this.
For those who complain about post-Beta generation, you might want to see this.
I really wonder, how difficult would it really be if Mojang added in a gamerule to revert the combat, but ignored rebalancing the game? I mean, think about all the other gamerules, do they rebalance the game at all to accommodate for what they do? And really, a lot of what you can do to revert it manually takes more work than what it would take Mojang; I mean, if we had a gamerule to disable the cooldown, it could theoretically be done with a line to see if the gamerule is false and another to set the remaining cooldown to zero every tick, which I would say is far easier than dealing with all the headaches command blocks bring, especially if your not familiar with them.
Want to see my suggestions? Here they are!
I am also known as GameWyrm or GameWyrm97. You can also find me at snapshotmc.com
As mentioned multiple times, we already have a way to toggle it.
Yeah it's not "Gamerule IDontWant19 False" simple, but it's still incredibly easy and quick to do, with tools out there to do the work for you if you don't understand how to change it. You can already independently modify the cooldown of every single weapon, even give multiple different times of cooldown on the same weapon type. Gamerules are "Balanced" around the fact that it's map-making tools. Which means the features exist in a way that benefits map makers most. The reason why we don't have a gamerule for the cooldown is because it would be useless compared to the map maker creative freedom manually modifying the cooldown would be.
If anything, think of it as a "Lesser evil". You can't lazily type a single phrase, but literally everyone benefits from the slightly more complex method of modifying the cooldown as opposed to a toggle that only benefits whoever hates the combat.
where is the tutorial on this change?
There's no exact tutorial, but each item has its own attributes, this includes "generic.attackSpeed" of many things. For example, if you wanted a diamong sword with no attack speed, you'd use this command:
/give @p minecraft:diamond_sword 1 0 {AttributeModifiers:[{AttributeName:"generic.attackDamage",Name:"generic.attackDamage",Amount:7,Operation:0,Slot:"mainhand"},{AttributeName:"generic.attackSpeed",Name:"generic.attackSpeed",Amount:4,Operation:0,Slot:"mainhand"}]}Note that you have to change all existing attributes of a weapon to get your intended effect. If I didn't modify the attack damage in the command, the game would of defaulted to fist damage. Any number that is 0 or higher will result in your default, fastest attack speed. (Spamclicking), but if you use a negative number, it slows it down. So here's a sword with a very slow attack speed:
/give @p minecraft:diamond_sword 1 0 {AttributeModifiers:[{AttributeName:"generic.attackDamage",Name:"generic.attackDamage",Amount:7,Operation:0,UUIDLeast:605139,UUIDMost:126204,Slot:"mainhand"},{AttributeName:"generic.armor",Name:"generic.armor",Amount:0,Operation:0,UUIDLeast:328067,UUIDMost:277253},{AttributeName:"generic.attackSpeed",Name:"generic.attackSpeed",Amount:-3.9,Operation:0,UUIDLeast:561958,UUIDMost:537266,Slot:"mainhand"}]}Putting -4 or higher seemingly puts the attack meter to a complete halt, and your weapon will never charge.
You can also change the cooldown of held items, so once a player crafts a sword, it will instantly change to a sword with no weapon recharge, however the last time I tried this, I couldn't get it to work, but with advancements heavily increasing map maker abilities, it's very much a possible thing with enough work.
But I did manage to get something to work. A while back I made a contraption of sorts that reduces the cooldown of any weapon if you drop it on the ground. I also made it revert axe damage if you drop that too. You're free to use it here. All you do is copy/paste the entire thing in a command block and run it.
And one more thing, slightly off topic. Yes, this is truly slightly more advanced for the average player, but the fact that the tools exist are very great for those that do understand these types of things, such as plugin makers for larger servers is good enough of a reason to keep it this way. The tools existing means that there are better ways to "fix" the cooldown. All it takes is for a plugin maker (Or one command block creator, mod maker, etc.) to step in and make the change.
Uh, what? The opinions of people who prefer older versions matter just as much as people who prefer newer versions. Also, kind of ironic how you say that if feels good to be "right" and that doesn't matter in reality, when that is pretty much what you are doing right now.
Exactly. I still don't see why a gamerule or some default option to remove it is that big of a deal. There is peaceful mode which disables the hunger bar so I don't know why a gamerule would be the end of the world.
Nothing you just said invalidates anything I have just said. And while I admit to enjoying being right, I equally enjoy being proven wrong. I'd rather have my understanding of reality match reality than "win" any given disagreement.
I could explain why an opinion, despite being as valid as any other opinion, should change in certain situations, but that would be off-topic. PM me if you want to discuss that.
If you are planning to make a suggestion, please read this.
If you want to know more, you can read this.
For those who complain about post-Beta generation, you might want to see this.
Personally, I preferred the old method, mostly because I stood a chance against the monsters. The way I see it, Minecraft was never designed to be a combat game. The controls are too clunky for fine character control, the terrain itself can hinder you by the fact that you're dealing with blocks instead of smooth gradation, and the fact that monsters can spawn literally from thin air behind you makes it easy for the player character to be surrounded while having a combat system that wasn't designed for handling hordes of monsters at once. It's not great when I feel like I have to fight the game mechanics themselves just to survive.
When I first started playing, I thought Normal difficulty was a good compromise between exciting adventure and calm building. I still play on Normal difficulty, but it's so obnoxiously hard sometimes that part of me wants to turn it down to Easy, but that seems like the coward's way out, so I continue to struggle along, with the occasional ragequit after having died to yet another skeleton who stunlocked me before I could get enough hits off to kill him.
In my opinion, Minecraft shouldn't try to be a combat game. It just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the game's mechanics. At the very least the new combat style should be balanced out by letting the player stun the enemies with a power strike. It would make the combat feel at least a little bit more fair.
Sweep attack is there for a reason, problem #1 solved.
Now, even though Skellies are basically aimbots now, you should use the shield to block their arrows, problem #2 solved.
And yes, again, like I have said multiple times before, the new system is not perfect, and in few cases the old system were better (dealing with baby zombies) but the new system is much better, with the swipe/sweep attack knocking the monsters back few blocks, which gives you time to recharge the cooldown. Plus if you put knockback to your sword those monsters are knocked back even more. Also, Smite and Sharpness will help you deal with zombies and skellies faster, like you already knew. And by the way, there is power attack, just jump and strike the mobs when you're coming down, blamo, critical strike, that deals lot of damage. Or, if you have Smite and sharpness on your sword, it will kill both zombies and skeletons with 1 strike. I've been doing that alot, and it works.
And while the sweep attack is charging up, the zombies are hitting me, or a creeper is approaching. I'm saying I should be able to dispatch the skeleton without having to wait for the sweep, or at the least the sweep attack needs to be buffed.
As far as I'm aware, Smite and Sharpness are mutually exclusive unless you're cheating, which I don't do. I already have Sharpness V on my diamond sword, but it takes three sweep hits per zombie to kill them. Incidentally, I remember diamond swords being significantly better than iron swords before 1.9, but now the difference seems marginal. Moreover, I did some research, and basically everyone who commented on the Knockback enchantment said it was bad, so I'm not keen to use it on my irreplaceable diamond sword.
The shield annoys me, but that's less criticism of the combat mechanics than personal preference. There's a reason I play a rogue, mage, or gunner in the other games I play. I don't much like having to use a shield in games, and will avoid doing so as much as possible.
I didn't know about the jump attack, though, so that is useful. Does a plunge attack exist too? I once dropped off a ledge onto a witch just for fun, and when I hit her, the game made a sound that seemed to indicate a power hit. That was something that I only had one good opportunity to do, so I haven't tested that since.
Not, if you move while your cooldown is recharging. Plus with sword it's only 0.1 secs slower, than the damage immunity each mob has.
Oh, sorry my bad. I meant Smite and Fire aspect. Again, my bad. Yes. Or Sharpness V with Fire aspect, both deal a lot of damage. And Knockback is not bad enchantment, as I mainly use it to deal with Creepers, when I don't want to be bothered with them. But it actually do knock all mobs back few blocks more with sweep attack's knockback effect. But that's again one of the good old preference questions, which really can't be contested.
How it annoys you? Like how much it takes off from your view? Because you can edit how much it takes off from your screen from NBT data tags, if I remember correctly... But yes, indeed there's few times for me too, when that thing is just plain annoying.
Well, the plunge attack is pretty much same as jump attack, as you strike the mob you are targeting with your sword or axe. It's called critical strike, and because you have sharpness on your sword, it will probably kill off the mob with 2 blows, and if you have flame in it too, it will be 1 hit kill, as. Well, the crit hit already deals hefty amount of damage and it added with damage from Sharpness and Flame enchantments makes it really doubtful, that you need to swing that sword again... Of course, you need to manage to hit the mob you are targeting.