INCOMING WALL OF TEXT !
I. Combat :
So right now there is 2 main opinion
"olol clickfest vaporwarez"
and
"stfu raise your skills and talk later"
But let's face it, even if it's not really a clickfest, it's far from being really interesting to fight (well the context, like hunting a guy, big battles, etc makes it fun, but it's not the combat itself that is fun, it's how you do it)
So i thought about some improvements to do :
A. Make blocking more useful !
Problem : Right now in combat you can only block/parry depending on the weapon speed, you have to wait your weapon finish it's move to be able to block/parry. So blocking gives you no advantage in melee
ex : 1) A guy attacks you, 2) you block, 3) if you attack him back so will he and you go back to 1), if you continue to block, you loose more stamina an go back to 1) => conclusion, you had a stamina drain in 2 but no advantage in counterpart for your successful block.
Solution : The blocking speed should be increased, so that you can block right after landed a blow, and be able to land a blow right after a successful block. So what i suggest is : if you block/parry a hit, if you click just after, you get a very quick attack independant of the weapon speed.
B. Make player skill more important !
Problem : too many people argue the melee combat is a clickfest, even if it improves with skill (both player's and character's one) I think it's not enough
Solution : Add the timing factor in the melee combat, with COMBOS, you all know that often in 3rd person RPG (ex The Witcher) you can make combos by clicking at the right time between attacks. I suggest you make the same in DF, if you click too fast it will break your combo, slowing your next swing, and if you have the right timing, your hits speed ups (no need to make uber animations, the same as now would be fine for now). This can lead for future further improvements of melee with special combos with different abilities, but let's stay realistic ^^
C. About Archery
Problem : Aim and shoot, some passive skills, well that's fine, but i feel something is missing
Solution : Add more arrow types ! currently there is only one sort of arrow (may be there is more, but i didn't see them), like wooden arrows, iron arrows, bone arrows, explosive arrows, magical arrows, etc... and that lead me to crafting issues
II. Crafting
A. Diversification against linear boredom !
Problem : Crafting/harvesting is too much linear, macroing fest ... You go to the nearest ressource node and start harvesting until you have enough, for crafting you gather the component listed and click, attributes of your craft are too much random (and btw what the point of having 0,023543543768765 damages ? 0,0235 would be fine i think ^^)
Solution : Add more ressources type ! There shouldn't be 1 type of wood, 1 type of stone, 1 type of ore ! that's the most idiot thing i've ever seen in MMO's crafting ! So what i suggest is to have Iron, Copper, Gold, Silver, Adamantium, Mithril, and all the good ol' ores, to have Oak trees, Pine trees, Ash trees, Chestnut trees, etc .. to have granite stones, obsidian stones, etc.. well i think you understand my point : there should be more diversity in Crafting/harvesting ! Ressources nodes would be in specific places (next to clan cities/hamlets) Now you have different kind of wood in example, you can choose which one you want to use for your craft.
With this the economy would be really interesting ! "Hey hyperion have a city that produce Mithril ores, we need them to create some warhammers, let's raid/trade !"
Obviously, the different kind of ressources gives different attributes to items, and you can't use rare ressources at low skill, your skill will have still an influence on the item attributes, and same for randomness, but far lesser than now !
B. Spice it up !
Problem : Experimentation come only with enchanting, let's extend the concept farther !
Solution : Add a Mysterious component slot to add special properties to items you craft, i.e. : adding sulfur to arrows make explosive arrows, obviously some components won't do anything to a certain type of crafts (as adding sulfur to a sword ....). If you don't wanna use special component, you can do without of course.
C. Add VENDORS FFS !
well the title is clear enough, we need some shops/bazaar terminals/whatever for players to sell their damn things without sitting on the bank vault.
TL : DR
=> Improve blocking/parrying
=> Add combos in melee combat
=> Add different arrows types
=> Add different ressources node with different kind of ressources with different attributes for crafting.
=> Add the possibility to add "special component" to crafts