Elytra Rebalancing

[Herr_Fawkes]

I think this post needs to be discussed: 

 

In terms of game design, I fully agree with RN. Wings are overpowered and badly implemented, and they create a new set of incentives that don't require teamwork or community-building. For example, the biggest community-based need that elytra create is gunpowder, and a functioning creeper grinder can be built within a day. That's not a community effort. Neither is a cane farm, since cities build them on their own. 

What's happened to the server the past few revs is a large shift towards cities existing as their own small enclaves, in which they might work with others in the city but not with anyone outside it. For example, Pico this rev is an amazing project, but it's not connected to anything. The only city that made much of an effort to build rails (that I know of) was Laketown, and those died as soon as the player in charge left. Rails are dead, not because they aren't advanced enough to compete with elytra, but because the community has been  given an easy alternative that doesn't require significant investment in the game. Anyone can kill a dragon now. It doesn't take much effort. Getting fireworks isn't hard. I manage to get elytra every rev, and I've never even killed a dragon, because I have friends with extra. It's ridiculous. And, once I have it, I don't need to use my horse, or walk, or take the rails that don't exist. In short, I don't need to work with anyone else or even interact with their road builds after I have a four-message conversation with a friend who likes killing dragons. In short, elytra remove the necessity to work together.

All this doesn't mean we should get rid of elytra completely. They are part of the game, like it or not, and they open up a lot of interesting gameplay possibilities like elytra courses, flying tours, and easy travel. However, they completely dis-incentivize community infrastructure building if they're too easy to obtain. We need a balance between gameplay progression and the preservation of a cohesive community. I think we need to very seriously consider either removing the fireworks mechanic for elytra (and the bowflight), thus making them less overpowered, or making elytra so hard to get that they aren't worth it for most people. How this would be accomplished isn't a discussion for this post.

Whatever is done, though, it's important to realize that we can't just ban elytra and expect new people to stick around. Someone coming to a 1.12 server expects 1.12 features, and one of those, unfortunately, is elytra. However, if we don't rebalance them now, we are going to see the death of the PvE community, because, as the post I'm highlighting says, elytra in their current form take the E out of PvE. They remove the incentive to ride the roads, build rails, and visit the little towns that sprout up between cities. I've been a part of cities and done solo builds, and I can safely say that having a working server-wide rail system makes these places much easier to explore than elytra, which allow you to fly over anywhere that isn't your destination without even seeing it. This map is one of the best I've ever seen this server come out with, and, had I not relied on horses for the major part of the rev, I never would have seen what it had to offer. I stick with this server because I like how it fosters a real community, one that's willing to take the time to build public goods like roads and rails and horse stables and safe houses. With elytra, none of this is necessary. We can live in our little enclaves and not interact with anyone else, because we don't need to interact with the land between our cities. 

I understand that it's not wise to artificially limit gameplay choices, and I admit that limiting elytra would limit choice. However, I also don't want to see the slow death of the PvE community continue. It's already begun, as evidenced by the, let's be honest here, piss-poor rail system this rev. It started last rev (rev19), when Lite died and wings became the dominant mode of transport, and it will not stop until we admit to ourselves that elytra are actively killing environmental interaction and community infrastructure building, or the server loses the sense of community and common-good building that makes it special.

[Sunstarshine192]

look, maybe don't make elytras nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get, just make, say, the essence of flight harder to get. Currently, the Essence is from natural spawning hostile mobs and naturally flying mobs. If you changed it just to flying mobs, that would make it way harder, as only vexes, withers, dragons, blazes, and ghasts fly, and 3 of those are hard to find/beat.

[Trooprm32]

7 hours ago, Sunstarshine192 said:

look, maybe don't make elytras nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get, just make, say, the essence of flight harder to get. Currently, the Essence is from natural spawning hostile mobs and naturally flying mobs. If you changed it just to flying mobs, that would make it way harder, as only vexes, withers, dragons, blazes, and ghasts fly, and 3 of those are hard to find/beat.

Dragons have something like a 50% chance of dropping one, and they are definitely not hard to kill. Even more, they also drop dragon heads... so you're point is mostly fruitless.

[Sunstarshine192]

3 hours ago, Trooprm32 said:

Dragons have something like a 50% chance of dropping one, and they are definitely not hard to kill. Even more, they also drop dragon heads... so you're point is mostly fruitless.

well, at least I suck at killing dragons.  If you changed the dragon head drop rate and changed the drop rates on the essence, then it would make it harder. You could also change/add a component to the recipe.