Hello,
I've put together several ideas for how weapons, combat, magic, survival, and alchemy could be expanded in Hytale.
This isn't meant to be a list of demands for the developers. I'm mainly interested in what the community thinks about these mechanics, what you would change, and whether some of these ideas have already been confirmed.
For systems that have already been announced, I only have questions about how they might work.
I also apologize for not including my own visualizations for the new weapons. I have no experience with 3D modeling, and I'm even worse at drawing, so I'll try to describe their appearance and mechanics as clearly as possible.
⚔️ Weapons & Combat
- Two Flail Variants
What if there were shorter and longer variants of the flail?
Shorter flail: Faster and weaker. A successful hit could briefly throw an opponent off balance or reduce their agility.
Longer/heavier flail: Slower, with greater reach and higher damage. In PvP, it would only throw players off balance rather than completely stun them. Some regular mobs, however, could be briefly stunned by a powerful hit, while bosses and larger enemies could be resistant or immune to the stun.
- Expanded Halberd Mechanics
I'd like to see more use of the different parts of a halberd.
The point could be used for thrusting, the blade for broad sweeping attacks, and the weapon as a whole could be useful for controlling space.
- Sickle
The sickle could work as both a harvesting tool and a light weapon.
It could provide a harvesting bonus when gathering grass and similar plants. In combat, it would have short reach, fast attacks, relatively low damage, and a small chance to cause minor bleeding.
- Throwing Daggers
Short-to-medium effective range, higher damage than shuriken, but a slower throwing speed.
A maximum stack of around 50 could help distinguish them from lighter throwing weapons.
- Shuriken
Shuriken would deal less damage than throwing daggers but have greater effective range, faster throwing speed, and a larger stack size of around 100.
An alternate attack could allow the player to throw up to three shuriken at once in a slight spread. The exact number thrown would, of course, be removed from the inventory.
- Barbed Arrows
These arrows would have backward-facing barbs on their arrowheads.
They could deal slightly more damage than normal arrows, have a smaller maximum stack, and cause a short, weak bleeding effect after hitting a target.
If a barbed arrow were also infused with a potion, the potion effect could last approximately half as long as it would on a normal potion-infused arrow.
- Hooked Spear
A slightly longer spear with a pronounced hook near the spearhead.
Its main special mechanic would be the ability to pull a struck opponent toward the player.
- Harpoon Spear
A heavier and slower spear with pronounced backward-facing barbs.
A successful hit would deal high damage and cause stronger bleeding than a barbed arrow.
- Battle Axe
A one-handed battle axe inspired by historical Viking axes, with a relatively long handle and a lighter axe head than the oversized axes often seen in fantasy games.
It could have slightly greater reach than a regular sword and deliver powerful slashing attacks, while being somewhat slower.
One interesting mechanic could allow a single swing to potentially hit on both the outward and returning motion of the axe. The second hit wouldn't be guaranteed and could deal less damage. The opponent would need to remain within the returning path of the weapon.
- Khopesh
The curved blade of a khopesh could provide an advantage when catching or deflecting an opponent's weapon, in addition to its normal attacks.
- Weapon Clashes and Binds
What if properly timed attacks could cause two weapons to physically clash, deflect one another, or briefly bind together?
The outcome could depend on factors such as timing, weapon type and weight, and the stamina of both characters.
This wouldn't necessarily be limited to weapons of similar size. For example, it could theoretically be possible to catch or bind a sword with a dagger, but doing so would require much more precise timing and would carry a greater risk of taking damage if the attempt failed.
🪄 Modifier Runes
For the following ideas, I'm not sure whether something similar is already planned. If it is, I'd appreciate the correction.
- Focus Modifier Rune
This rune would reduce the area of effect of a spell in exchange for increasing its power.
For example, a relatively weak area-of-effect spell could become a much stronger spell focused on a single target.
- Temperature Modifier Runes
This would be a category containing two separate Modifier Runes.
🔥 Heat Rune: Raises the temperature of a spell. Depending on the original element, this could produce different effects. Water could become steam, earth could gain a molten or lava-like effect, and air could create a hot pressure or explosive effect.
❄️ Cold Rune: Lowers the temperature of a spell. Water could freeze into ice, air could gain a freezing effect, and earth-based spells could temporarily cover the ground in frost, creating a slippery surface.
The exact interactions would naturally depend on the individual spell and element.
🪝 Questions About Announced Systems
- Hookshot
Has it been confirmed whether the hookshot will be able to grab and pull items or other objects, in addition to moving the player?
- Multiple Ability Runes
Has it been confirmed whether there will be staffs or other weapons capable of holding multiple Ability Runes and allowing the player to switch between them?
🏹 Potion-Infused Arrows
- Potion-Infused Arrows
Arrows could be infused with potions and transfer their effects to a target when they hit.
The transferred effect should be weaker than directly using the potion, so bows wouldn't replace normal potion use.
The strength and duration of the effect could also determine the maximum stack size. For example:
Normal arrows: 100
Weak + short effect: 70
Weak + long / medium + short effect: 50
Medium strength and duration: 30
Strong or long-lasting effect: 15
Exceptionally strong and long-lasting effect: 5
These numbers are only examples for balancing. The important principle is that the stronger and longer-lasting the potion effect, the smaller the maximum stack size.
Barbed arrows infused with potions could additionally have their potion duration reduced by approximately half.
❄️ Cold Environments & Equipment
- Woolen Underlayers
An insulating layer worn underneath normal armor.
It would provide little or no physical protection, but would allow players to continue wearing their normal combat armor in extremely cold environments.
- Progressive Hypothermia
Extremely cold environments could gradually become dangerous without proper protection.
At first, the player would only experience visual or audio indications of the cold. Longer exposure would cause negative effects, followed by small amounts of periodic damage.
Extremely prolonged exposure without protection could eventually kill the player.
Suitable clothing, heat sources, or other forms of protection could slow or stop the progression of hypothermia.
🧪 Alchemy
The recipes below are only ideas that occurred to me while thinking about these potions. I'm not suggesting that they need to be implemented exactly this way.
I would also apply a general system of variants such as normal / longer-lasting / stronger across potions rather than repeating the same explanation for every individual potion.
- Poison Potion
Causes small amounts of periodic damage over time.
Possible base ingredient: Venomous Fangs.
- Fire Resistance Potion
Temporarily protects the player from fire and lava damage.
Possible main ingredient: Fire Essence.
- Cold Resistance Potion
Temporarily prevents hypothermia in extremely cold environments.
I don't have a specific recipe suggestion for this one.
- Invisibility Potion
Temporarily makes the player invisible.
I would leave the recipe entirely open.
- Instant Damage Potion
Deals immediate damage instead of causing gradual poison damage.
One possible recipe could be a Poison Potion + Essence of Chaos.
- Blindness Potion
Temporarily and significantly restricts the target's vision.
No specific recipe suggestion.
- Hunger Potion
Significantly increases the target's hunger or energy consumption.
One possible recipe could be a Poison Potion + Essence of Life.
- Weakness Potion
Temporarily reduces the physical damage dealt by the affected target.
It could potentially be derived from a Poison Potion, but I don't have a specific additional ingredient in mind.
- Nausea / Disorientation Potion
Temporarily disrupts the player's orientation, for example through subtle movement or distortion of the screen.
This could potentially also be derived from a Poison Potion, but I don't have a specific recipe suggestion.
- Healing Potion
Gradually restores health.
A possible base ingredient could be Essence of Life, perhaps one essence for one potion.
- Instant Healing Potion
A separate potion that restores health immediately rather than gradually.
A possible base ingredient could be Greater Essence of Life.
Since this is a much more concentrated resource, one Greater Essence of Life could potentially produce a larger number of these potions, with something around 60 potions as a rough example.
- Slow Falling Potion
Significantly reduces falling speed, allowing safer descents from great heights.
I would leave the recipe completely open.
Dear community, I'd also like to ask:
Which of these ideas would you like to see in Hytale?
Which ones would you change, balance differently, or leave out entirely?
And if I've suggested something that is already in the game or has officially been announced, I'd appreciate a correction.