The Grappling Hook and how I think it can be improved:
I am not sure if there is an official grappling hook discussion page, but I feel like this would be a good place to start one.
Since the test servers and the first time I used a grappling hook, it has been a tool that I rush to be able to make. It has such amazing utility, I have no idea how I survive those first few hours without one. Do I think they can be better, yes.
Now I know a lot of people have thrown around their own 2 cents on how they can be improved. Better speed, longer range, attack on titan copy. But one suggestion I haven’t seen (maybe I missed it) is persistence. I play a lot of games where effects come and go, so I view the grappling hook as a tool that creates the effect of creating a tether between the player and 1 block, and allow them to close or lengthen the gap created by this tether. Then with the click of the mouse this tether is either initialized, or removed. However, equipping the tool also breaks this tether. Which I find both curious and problematic.
So what is my suggestion? My suggestion is allowing this tether to persist only until removed by the player. What I mean is, say I want to get to a block on a rock side, I have only 1 hammer left and just enough hammer hits to break 1 block. And this rock face has a ruby on it. I could cry myself to sleep and hope that it is still there when I return with a way to facilitate my harvesting it. Or the grappling hook could allow me to position myself in front of it, and then I can swap out my hook for my hammer, mine it, swap back to my hook and grapple down and go home.
Why do I think this suggestion warrants being looked at? Caving is really really dangerous, and sometimes there is a lot of reward to doing dangerous things. But we can only hold 2 items at once. Almost always 1 of these items is your trusty torch that will light the world for you. The other item is either a hammer or the hook. I just think it would be cool if the hook effect is player activated, and not equipment activated. So we can hook to the side of a cave and start mining while still being able to see what we are doing.
I know that there are ways around this. Placing the torch down. Using blocks to make a little platform. There are quite a few methods that would make this not necessary. I just think it would be cool. Just to me it doesn’t make sense that just because I am not holding the grappling hook in my hands, the tether just vanishes.