Sir_Didymus

July 9th The temporary holiday traders have been removed from spawn as their timeline has expired.

The holiday traders have now departed - we hope you all managed to give them a visit!

We're going to close this topic now and focus on our Revision 23 preparations. Please note that any feedback given hereafter (through any medium) may not be taken into account for next revision, though it still valuable for more distant revisions after that. Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to give feedback here, on the subreddit, and in game. The current revision will run until at least September, so there is no need to panic - this is the "mid-rev" feedback thread after all! Plenty of time left, and plenty more events still to come!

June 30th New Holiday Traders have arrived at spawn (until the 8th July) - See here for details.

Some special holiday traders have arrived at the spawn museum! They tell me they are only around from the 30th June to the 8th July, and they seem obsessed with red, white and blue things for some reason. The traders have given me a list of their strangely specific inventory: Whizzy McBangbang 1x Firework - “The Patriot” Cost: 16 Seeds 1x Firework - “Red Glare” Cost: 16 Poppies 1x Firework - “Star Spangle” Cost: 16 Feathers 1x Firework - “Lady Liberty” Cost: 16 Oak Saplings 1x Firework - “The Vomit Comet” Cost: 16 Rotten Flesh 1x Firework - “Party Time!” Cost: 16 Beetroot Relisha Hamburg 1x Player Head: “Hamburger” Cost: 4 Coal Blocks 1x Player Head: “Beer“ Cost: 4 Coal Blocks 1x Player Head: “Non-Alcoholic Beverage” Cost: 4 Coal Blocks 1x Player Head: “Salad Bowl” Cost: 4 Coal Blocks 1x Player Head: “Post-Celebration Toilet Paper” Cost: 4 Coal Blocks Nova T. Aytems 1x Player Head: “Anxious Pet Tortoise” Cost: 16 Cactus Green 1x Player Head: “Baby Eagle” Cost: 16 Seeds 1x Custom Map: “Photo of Fireworks” Cost: 16 Gunpowder 1x Player Head: “King George III” Cost: 1 Gold Ingot 1x Custom Paper: “Declaration of Independence” Cost: 8 Ink Sac Jacques Le Cube 64x “Safety Sand™” Cost: 32 Granite 64x “Flameproof Gravel™” Cost: 32 Diorite 64x Red Concrete Cost: 32 Dirt 64x White Concrete Cost: 32 Cobblestone 64x Blue Concrete Cost: 32 Andesite These enthusiastic and seemingly slightly drunk traders have settled near the Archaeologists’ Guild at the Spawn Museum - I highly doubt you will be able to miss their very dramatic stalls but if you do get lost, you can find the traders at coordinates (32, -64). Enjoy the holiday if you have one! And if you don’t, we hope you enjoy these traders anyway and rescue as many of those terrified pet tortoises as possible.

Hi @Wozdaka, Thanks for participating in this feedback topic! I’m glad you have been enjoying spawn this revision - quite a lot of staff participated in the decoration of spawn - especially the top floor museum area and I have really enjoyed its reflection on some historic towns and events on P. I see you prefer a smaller map size - what size do you think would be the best choice for the upcoming revision? I would also be glad to see a vanilla map next revision as I do like them a lot - if we do end up going with vanilla I’ll be interested to see if there are any changes in the 1.13 generation (aside from the obvious). I don’t think I have played a vanilla generated map in a good long while! I like your thoughts on the End and the end dragon fight - it would be nice to have a little more to explore and make use of in that world. Hopefully Mojang will tackle the End or the Nether next! Do you think the custom dragon fight was a good addition this revision or do you prefer the vanilla experience? Portals are always difficult to decide about and you seem to have thought long and hard about them. It is almost impossible to successfully make everyone agree on what would be considered a “key town” - someone is always going to feel that sort of decision is unfair. Having lots of undeveloped portals is something we’d like to avoid too though, so getting some sort of balance right is important. This revision we trialled putting out new portal hunts over a period of a few weeks, but we still seem to have a number of undeveloped places - we’ll definitely need to discuss how we approach portals again in the upcoming planning meetings. I think your idea about having all the item available for trade upfront is something we can more seriously consider next revision if we choose to go that route. This revision there was a lot of trial and error in getting drop rates correct, and tracking just what sort of numbers of items people could collect in a given timeframe. Armed with that knowledge, we can hopefully better prepare any traders we choose to have at spawn next revision. I see you weren’t that enamored of the custom saddles - what sort of items would you like to see made tradeable at spawn?

Hi @Becquerine, Thanks for taking the time to reply to this topic! I notice your concerns about large empty claims - do you think rules around claims are good enough or are there things you’d like to see changed, especially if we decided to go with a smaller map? I’m glad you have enjoyed our custom drops so far - is there anything you particularly would like to see in our spawn trading area?

Hi @defiex, Thanks for the feedback defie - although don’t forget to finish it off! An island world sounds like it could be fun - it would certainly give us the opportunity to have a ton of ocean! Lack of gravel has been mentioned a few times during the rev - it’s something I tried to mitigate when we made the nether, but it still seems to be an annoyance for some people. We have also tried to add gravel as a contest prize as you have seen! Having a non-spawnable area at nether spawn might be something worth pursuing - we’ll definitely discuss it when we get into planning. However I’m glad you enjoyed exploring the nether overall! I’m quite amused that you have been trying to get away from portals and they have managed to pop up right next to you! But I take your point about forward planning. We haven’t yet decided how we will implement portals for next revision but it’s something we do need to think about in depth. Also, what on Earth are you going to do with all the feesh in 1.13?!

Hi @saberfysh, Thanks for participating in our feedback process. You mention that you feel terrain is important when it comes to multiple people cooperating together and building in one area. What do you consider “good terrain” in this context? I’d assume flat open plains would be popular in this regard but then again I have seen some great examples of people making use of rougher terrain in a similar manner. More ocean and more desert have been regular calls during feedback and we’ll definitely be discussing how we can best accommodate everyone - especially with all the 1.13 features incoming. The current End Dragon fight was designed to be soloable, and that has been achieved by a number of players this revision so far. However, I recognise that not everyone has the experience to do this (I myself am definitely no End Dragon fighter!). Do you support keeping a custom fight of some variety, or would you like to see us return to the vanilla experience in the End? - it’s unlikely both could be accommodated, but that is certainly an interesting idea too.

Hi @teli_pinkerton, Good to have your feedback! I’m glad you have enjoyed the custom ore drops this revision - do you have any particular items that you would like to see become tradeable at spawn? Elytras have definitely been a talking point this revision and we have all learned a lot from the experience. If we retain a custom dragon fight would you like to see it change to something new, or be similar to this revision? A few people have mentioned to us the desire to have one individual iron golem spawner be upgradeable. That’s something we shall talk about in our preparation meetings for Revision 23, so thanks for bringing it up here for the record!

Hi @Kirstae, Thanks for your feedback, kirstae! I think most people would agree that vanilla terrain with 1.13 features is preferable to 1.12 custom terrain for the upcoming rev. I’m very much looking forward to all the new things in 1.13 regardless of how terrain is implemented, though the new hostile mobs are terrifying! I’m interested in your experiences with the custom dragon fight, since it is essentially an enhancement of the vanilla one. We’ve hopefully fixed the EoF drop experiences people were having in the earlier part of the revision. Are you strictly in favour of a return to a vanilla fight, or would you like to see a different custom dragon fight? If so, do you have any ideas on what you’d like to see changed? You say you’d like to see more portals next revision - what do you think is an optimal number? Having portals placed in spots chosen by players is something we have looked into before, with various factors to be taken into consideration such as uneven spread, portal placement disputes, or multiple portals being claimed by one person or set of townspeople. It is, nevertheless, something we will bring to discussions again when we have our planning meeting. I’m glad you enjoyed our custom drops this revision. I’ve heard a few people say they would have preferred all trades to be available from the start of the revision - is this something you’d like to see for next revision? It’s definitely more possible to achieve now that we have better information on the kinds of numbers people manage to dig up over a time period. Your ideas about pre-built roads sound intriguing, but I feel they take something away from the spirit of PvE. I very much prefer to launch people out into the wilderness and see what they make of it. That’s part of the fun! Pre-built roads would certainly help with early travel but there’s no real community achievement - and I think having the opportunity for people to work together in that way is important. I respectfully disagree with your suggestion that we chose to listen to only a vocal minority. We compiled every single piece of feedback we could find going as far back as Revision 17, into a huge document that each padmin read through and then we discussed it all in detail. You’re absolutely right that we can’t read the minds of players, and we have to work with the feedback we can see and hear. We make many attempts on all our social media to ensure that people know feedback opportunities are available. This time around, we have also begun individually contacting regular players to ensure they know this thread exists. Hopefully with wider feedback, next revision will be a more positive experience for everyone.

Hi @pez252, Thanks for your in depth feedback on the revision so far! We still need to experiment with OTG and BB to see how far it can accommodate 1.13, and that is something we will look into as part of planning. Even if we could hack something together, I’m not sure if OTG would handle other features like shipwrecks or buried treasure, nor whether it would understand to generate temperature based oceans. I’ve already established that WorldPainter is not yet 1.13 ready, so hopefully we will see a quick update to both when 1.13 hits. However, personally I’d be alright with a vanilla map if that’s the way we have to go - I always feel quite nostalgic in vanilla terrain! I’m glad you enjoyed the custom nether. Do you have any areas in particular that you found interesting to explore? Nether spawn rates have always been a hot topic and I note you support keeping custom spawners out of the nether. Do you feel there are better ways to implement mobs in the nether that have yet to be tried? There have been a number of comments requesting that the custom dragon fight remain, but change to better accommodate players with a poorer connection, as the number of mobs that can stack up during the fight is considerable. Do you support this idea, and do you have any ideas about how this fight could be implemented differently? The custom drops needed to trade for elytra at spawn was clearly a system that didn’t suit some people. What sorts of items would you like to see available at spawn? And is your preferred method of implementation for elytra to have them drop directly from the dragon fight? If so, do you still support increasing the difficulty of the dragon fight, given that it doesn’t as closely approximate a vanilla amount of difficulty in getting elytra?

Hi @I_c_e_, Thanks for participating in this feedback process! I’m really looking forward to seeing a 1.13 PvE revision too - just from running various tests and experiments ready for rev prep, I have already become obsessed with collecting fish… Not sure I’m looking forward to the new enemy mobs though! I’m glad you enjoyed the rainbow caves in the nether - they were my favourite bit to make as well! I hope you didn’t ride around for too long - perhaps you got hypnotised by the colours. Do you have any ideas about different ways to implement the dragon fight? Would you prefer it was a regular vanilla fight, or a different custom one? Your feedback on elytra echoes many other people in this thread and we will definitely be reviewing its implementation for the upcoming revision. Do you have any preference on how elytra should be acquired on a multiplayer server? And do you agree with the assertion that having or not having elytra has little negative effect on other forms of transportation? - as we have also seen mentioned a few times this revision and elsewhere in this feedback topic.

Hi @Herr_Fawkes, Thanks for participating in this feedback thread! Spawn embassies have been added to spawn in the past - do you feel they are a missing key element in more recent spawn builds? Do you have any other thoughts on how towns might advertise for members at spawn? I’m glad you enjoyed the nether this rev, and the custom nether mobs - they were balanced to ensure that more than just end-game players would be able to travel in the nether, and to hopefully be mildly harder than overworld mobs but not too overwhelming. We still feel at present that schematica printer is a little too automated for our present culture on P, even in mapworld. Hopefully with the basics of WorldEdit now available, we’ve taken enough steps to satisfy most players who choose to build there. It's great that you have enjoyed our custom drops this revision - would you like to see any changes or expansions to the system in the next revision? Your thoughts on elytra vs other forms of travel seem to be very different from most people’s experiences this revision. I’ve not seen a great deal of support this revision, for the idea that delaying elytra has improved our infrastructure in other ways, and some people have commented that having elytra actually assists in their efforts to build roads and help friends with their infrastructure projects. In what ways do you feel the treatment of elytra this revision has helped other forms of transport?

Hi @torteela, Thanks for the feedback! Seems you are another supporter of decreasing map or land size in favour of bringing people closer together. I agree it would be interesting to see what sort of infrastructure is created in a smaller map - I miss the close community aspect we had in some of our earlier, smaller maps. That being said, we don’t want to cram people together too much and create friction. We will have to discuss this in depth when we start our rev prep meetings. I think it’s quite likely that the map will have to be at least mostly vanilla in the upcoming revision, but we can only wait and see how long it takes for 1.13 to be released, and then all the subsequent plugins and associated programs like WorldPainter. I agree the ocean is likely to be massively popular in 1.13, so we will need to take that into account. Cave generation in the overworld is handled by the OTG generator, and it’s likely their cave files (or random generation) isn’t up to your standards! If we do end up with a vanilla overworld next revision, that’s one thing that won’t be an issue at least. Your issues with the dragon fight have been echoed by a few others - do you have any specific ideas on how you’d like the dragon fight to be, in terms of gameplay? Having usable items drop from ore is an interesting idea, though it does negate some of the ‘crafting’ aspect of minecraft. What sort of items would you include? The mending enchant is a fairly integral part of minecraft now in many people’s eyes. What motivates you to want to remove (or make exclusive) the mending enchant on elytra? Do you think it would be beneficial in terms of gameplay longevity?