Because of the added "efficiency" to pumpkins that was implemented into axes at the 1.0 release, I expected the same would be done for melons, but it has not been. A fix for this is extremely simple and would be a great thing to see in a vanilla environment without having to implement it myself.
What actually happened was...:
Here I am using a sword to break a melon block instead of an axe because it's quicker, when in all reality it should be quicker to use an axe.
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Yes, but WHY. It makes no sense that it works one way but not the other, melons and pumpkins are exactly the same >.>
Melons can be mined faster with a sword, but it takes two points of durability from the sword. (It also takes two durability points to use a sword on a pumpkin).
The sword also mines a pumpkin just as fast as a sword mines a melon, but the axe is faster.
It makes no sense that the sword should be the tool of choice for mining a melon.
It makes perfect sense that a sword is used to break a melon. A sword is just a big knife to cut the melon into slices.
A knife could also be use to cut a pumpkin stalk. Should we change the pumpkins tool too?
I might agree with you if the sword did not take two durability points and mines as fast as an axe on a pumpkin. But it does not.
Furthermore, in a recent update the fortune enchantment was fixed to work with melons. (It might be an older update). Can you get fortune on a sword in survival? No. (And looting does not work on melons.)
Based on this reasoning, and the reasoning in my previous post, I still think this bug post was closed in error and that the current system is not working a intended. A weak analogy won't sway me.
Please can it be reopened, or at least looked at by Dinnerbone, Jeb, Grum or Evil_Seph.
Ah, I understand what you are saying. I agree, a sword shouldn't have to take two damage from a melon since it is it's 'optimal' tool. Perhaps looting might be changed to include melons since fortune on a sword seems somewhat impractical. I wouldn't exactly consider this a bug, more like a suggestion.
Or change one line of code to make axes work fast for melons.
You get more benefits with fewer changes. Including instamining melons. (Swords don't have access to efficiency).
This issue is very similar to the wooden slab/pickaxe issue we had a few versions ago. Or the one where redstone always took ages to mine no matter what pick you had. I would class those as bugs.
This is not a bug. Pumpkins are mined the fastest with an axe, while melons are mined fastest with a sword.