The enchanting system really amazes me sometimes...

[darahalian]

A few days ago, I used 1 XP level to enchant my golden "crown" that I wear around my base. I really didn't care what it got, I just wanted to make it shiny. To my surprise, I got blast protection III on it... from just 1 level! And as if that wasn't enough, today I melted and reforged my steel armor, and started enchanting it again. I enchanted my steel boots with just 4 XP levels, and guess what I got? Feather fall IV and Fire protection III !

I ended up using just 15 XP levels on the whole set of armor, getting protection I(breastplate), protection II(helmet), and projectile protection IV(leggings), beside the enchantments on my boots that I already mentioned.

The blast protection III on my crown was surprising enough, but when I got such a good enchantment on my boots with just four levels, my jaw literally dropped. On the other hand, I've sometimes used 20 levels or more all at once to get something like protection I or II, and on test maps, I've sometimes used all 50, and gotten something equally mediocre.

Like I said, the enchanting system really amazes me sometimes.

[Husbag3]

Quite the opposite for me, no matter how high the level of enchantment, I still get the most awful enchants.

[Stormweaver]

With steel/gold armour, I tend to always stick to 5-10 levels when enchanting. It just works out better in the long run.

I always put in at least 5 levels of enchantment into all my stuff tbh - There's no reason not to.

[FlowerChild]

I just want to verify guys:

Does this seem to be a problem with general MC enchanting, or does it feel like something had changed recently (like when I made changes to the enchanting table awhile back)?

I too received a Silk-Touch/Unbreaking III enchant on a Mattock the other day, while enchanting it with only 2 levels.

While I was thinking this kind of thing was just happening occasionally due to normal variance, I'm beginning to think it may be more than that.

If the consensus seems to be that it's mod-related, I will dig into the enchanting code and try to find out what's going on here.

[Mrchaim]

Honestly not sure. I have noticed i keep getting "Dud" enchanemtns - I'll enchant the tool, loose the exp.... and get nothing. That said, i cant say for ceartin that it's a BTW thing, only that i noticed it happening after your enchanting changes went in - I may simply have been lucky enough to not have it happen prior to this.

[Stormweaver]

It's more a problem with the randomness of the vMC enchanting system; on average you'll be getting far better enchantments with high levels, but the ease at which you can just stick a <lvl10 on a mattock just makes it worth doing and when you get something really good on it, it stands out more.

In truth I tend to get a combination of Unbreaking II and Efficiency II when I use anything less than 10 levels, but when you get something good it's just bonus.

[embirrim]

Well, I think it's all about the vMC system; I would absolutely not mind at all if you dug into it and tried to make it less random: random, but much less random. I mean, I got unbreaking 2 on a steel pick with a 50 level enchant... and a unbreaking efficiency and fortune with like level 10. It's ridiculous.

A bit more on topic, I recently got so fed up with the system that I edited the XP settings and gave myself like level 500. I used all of the levels on enchanting picks and mattocks and MOST of them got good enchants, stuff like 3 enchantments, a few of them had the highest level combination of fortune efficiency and unbreaking.
I haven't noticed a difference since that specific release. Would like to notice difference, for less randomness. How it is now... f**king frustating.

[FlowerChild]

Well, while I'm not a fan of the excessive randomness either, I generally prefer to avoid making changes to vanilla systems unless I feel it's absolutely necessary.

One idea I have been tossing around though, is possibly an "advanced" enchanting table, which is an idea I'm liking even more now with the announcement of extended block IDs.

The basic idea is this table would require you to find enchantments in the world, as dungeon loot or what have you. Each of these would have a particular level associated with them.

This table would then allow you to mix and match enchantments by placing them in inventory slots within the table.

I'd probably also make these advanced tables more dependent on number of bookshelves, as I love what Mojang did with that, but think they kinda pussied out in limiting it to the number of bookshelves that they did. I'd love to see a need for constructing truly massive libraries around these things.

Anyways, it's just an idea. No promises.

[TheAnarchitect]

If you can set it up so that there isn't a single, optimal layout for the bookshelves, that'd be great. The designer in me hates that the only arrangement that works is a 5x5x2 room. Hell, I'd be happy if the number of bookshelves that counted stayed the same, but the detection area was about double in size.

[Stormweaver]

If we're going for advanced enchanting, I'd suggest that the layout should not only affect the overall quality of the enchantment, but also it's type; setting a room up in a particular ritualistic fashion giving a strong bias towards a type of enchantment.

[morvelaira]

Anyways, it's just an idea. No promises.

It's an idea I approve of, if that means anything.

[walker_boh_65]

Anyways, it's just an idea. No promises.

It's an idea I approve of, if that means anything.

Include me in the approval party, if that makes a difference.

[darahalian]

One idea I have been tossing around though, is possibly an "advanced" enchanting table, which is an idea I'm liking even more now with the announcement of extended block IDs.

The basic idea is this table would require you to find enchantments in the world, as dungeon loot or what have you. Each of these would have a particular level associated with them.

This would be really cool if you decided to go along with it.

[DaveYanakov]

The basic idea is this table would require you to find enchantments in the world, as dungeon loot or what have you. Each of these would have a particular level associated with them.

This is sort of what I was expecting from Mojang in the first place. Learning that the text of an enchantment had nothing to do with the effect caused me to die a little inside.

[Robilar]

On the original topic, if steel has the same value as gold for the purposes of enchantment, I can see why you're getting such neat enchantments at such low levels. Gold is naturally level 22 (25 for armor), so it's a minimum of 23 with just a level 1 enchantment. The vMC system then multiplies that number by anywhere from .75 to 1.25. Since hitting 25 with a level three is the average, and the bottom of the ranges for both unbreaking 3 and silk touch is 25, it's not too surprising; the main problem would be "rolling" well enough to get multiple enchantments (about a 25% chance of getting a second).


On the advanced table, I think that'd be a lot of fun. I'd end up hoarding the vessels that contain said enchantments, should they be items, but that's just as fun for me as making a super weapon from my hard work.

(I pulled all my numbers from the Minepedia enchanting page; some numbers appear to be off on the wiki, but that's the closest I can find)

[echo off]

rofl, i just had this vision of going to the fire palace to get fire protection enchantments... sounds good XD

[TheAnarchitect]

If you decide to go with finding items that hold enchantments, might I suggest they be books? It fits the current theme and I think it's cool to go dungeon-delving to find ancient tomes.

[Poppycocks]

Sounds amazing.

All of it, the ancient tomes, the ritualistic bookshelf layout. All of it.

Should've been done like that in the first place.

Did anyone else learn the alphabet before findin' out it doesn't mean jack shit?

Yeah.

[gftweek]

Sounds amazing.

All of it, the ancient tomes, the ritualistic bookshelf layout. All of it.

Should've been done like that in the first place.

Did anyone else learn the alphabet before findin' out it doesn't mean jack shit?

Yeah.

Yep, I learned the alphabet from the Commander Keen games where it was created, so I learned it 20 years ago (wow, that sounds scary).

Likewise I was baffled that the text has no relevance to the enchantments, that and the almost complete randomness of the system has meant I have refused to ever use it. So I too would be in favour of a system that was more slightly more predictable.

[Gargantuan_Penguin]

I was going to learn the alphabet until my brother told me that it meant nothing. so thanks bro.

also I am really loving the idea of an advanced enchanting table. of course I am a magicaboo so my approval of magic related things means almost nothing. but I would love it if you went for it.

[FurkeyRefills]

Anyways, it's just an idea. No promises.

It would be really cool if you put your own spin on the enchanting system, if you can call it a system :/

[Wgurgh]

I just wonder how much of our (little) remaining humanity we would have to sacrifice for it...

Not that it would slow me down any

[Mason11987]

I got projectile protection IV and feather falling III on level 6 steel boots.

It MIGHT be worth investigating whether there was some bug in enchantment. That seems WAY too high.

[finite8]

I've always had this as an idea for an enchantment system:

One problem with the systems of other games I've noticed is that there is no correlation between the materials used in the enchantment and the resulting effect. WoW is the best example of this. It doesn't make any bloody sense. Making an enchantment should be like cooking a meal; adding different spices to the pot changes the outcome, the order they are added effects how they are blended and the proper cook will be able to properly combine them for the desired result.

To this end, enchanting should be a system closer to how "Magika" spells work, by combining different elements to yield different results only this should be expanded further to include the "order" they are added. i.e: Fire and Ice should not be mutually exclusive but instead, must be added in the proper sequence and method to yield the right result. Such a system shouldn't be inaccessible to those who don't fully understand it either. Ideally, someone should be able to learn the system by experimenting with it in game or if not, just the basics would do too.

Materials should be sourced from just about anywhere. something as mundane as "Ground Yellow flower petals" could have as equal a value in an enchantment as "Cursed Gold dust". Some combinations might be unstable while others are risky but with enough "experience" can be made stable and consequently very powerful. Risk = Reward but also Being Smart = Reward.

Obviously such specifics would need to be fleshed out as to what effects and materials could be involved, but i think it would make an interesting enchantment system that would provide the framework for an enchanting system that is equally as diverse as what you can build out of blocks in minecraft.

[Katalliaan]

For the folks who aren't sure about the enchants they're getting, I'd suggest checking the math behind it. For example, I used Mason's level 6 enchant on steel boots, and I found that it could have a range of "modified enchantment levels" (what the wiki calls them) of 5 to 40. The ranges for the two enchants he got were 21-36 (projectile protection 4) and 17-27 (feather falling 3), so his was likely somewhere between 21 and 27, well within the realm of possibility. Not sure about the probability of getting two enchants, though - that formula on the wiki is not in a format I recognize.