[MC-284] Mobs are difficult to hit with sword without them getting a hit first

Expected behavior:

Swinging a sword will give a good chance to hit the mob before the mob hits you.

Actual behavior:

More often than not, the mob will get the first hit. Seems to happens especially with spiders, but happens with other mobs too.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Spawn a bunch of mobs
2. Try to hit them without getting hit first

Linked issues

is duplicated by 1

MC-2627 Enderman and Pigman hitbox Resolved

Comments 10

Caleb Coleman 2012-10-24T23:53:26Z

I experienced something very similar to this in the 1.4.2 pre-update.
However when I struck them with a weakness potion I wasn't able to hit the mobs at all until the potion effect wore off.
I think this is more than a "minor" problem though.

Robert Prado 2012-10-24T23:57:31Z

this happens the worst with large slimes and magma cubes, they hit us like 4 or 5 times before we can hit them back.

Geoffrey Cly 2012-10-24T23:57:52Z

This has happened to me, it is more of a problem with slimes though. I think mojang messed up the hitboxes on big slimes during an update because now they are merely impossible to hit

Caleb Coleman 2012-10-25T00:00:16Z

Didn't try slimes, the only mob I haven't had problems with is the skeleton.

Carey Tilden 2012-10-25T00:03:45Z

I've had this problem with spiders, zombies, endermen, slimes, magma cubes, etc. Anything with a melee attack. It seems like they have real long arms. 🙂

Jens Bergensten 2012-10-29T09:11:41Z

Problem with client-side prediction

Carey Tilden 2012-10-29T17:31:17Z

Acknowledged as problem with client side prediction but closed as wontfix? Unless I'm missing something, that means we'll have to live with it for the time being.

Robby Lee 2012-11-01T19:25:55Z

I think the "client-side prediction problem" is your lack of sword skill.

Talven81 2012-11-01T19:32:24Z

@Robby Lee - Seeing how it's Jeb's comment, I'm going to say he has been playing much longer than you.

I have noticed this recently too, and does seem to be a prediction issue as the only way it seems, to get in the first hit, is to strafe. Since the motion of the mob is predicted on the client side, any change in momentum will require an update. More noticeable on remote servers when attempting to attack the mob in a straight forward/back movement. Side-to-side seems to have a higher avoidance rate as the client has not received information that the mob is facing a different direction, or the momentum has changed until the next packet is received.

Carey Tilden 2012-11-01T20:07:04Z

@Robby Lee - I admit I am no great expert at Minecraft combat, but I've heard this complaint many times from others and witnessed such problems in many LPs. It seems to have started with the SMP/SSP merge. It used to be easy to time attacks in SSP and hard in SMP. Now it's hard in both.