Biomes are supposed to be incredibly large; Walking (or making a minecart track) between base to base in different biomes would be a true hassle.
That's why we have fast-travel;
The only thing that makes it not cheating is that you don't control which biome you teleport into; Looking for some logs, take fast-travel trying to find a forest, but ultimately end up spawning next to a cliff and falling off? I bet this will happen at least 1 month into the release.
I don't know where you guys are getting this information from, about "Biomes are supposed to be incredibly large", and they will be "several kilometers apart", etc. Can you please provide some evidence to support this?
*All* we have to go on for this update is the word, "Biomes" at the VERY BOTTOM of the Halloween Update page. Do you really think that Notch would drastically change the entire map topogrophy and generation system and only mention it at the very bottom of the page? It's a freaking footnote!
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that the primary focus of this update is on the new Hell world and *scary* features. For all we know, when he says, "Biomes", he may just be referring to the Biomes we find in Hell and has absolutely nothing to do with Biomes in the overworld map.
If you're going to make wild claims about what he means by the word, "Biomes", you're going to have to back it up with proof. Because on the surface, from the evidence we have, there appears to be absolutely no purpose for fast-travel when this update comes out.
*All* we have to go on for this update is the word, "Biomes" at the VERY BOTTOM of the Halloween Update page, as well as everywhere else the past 1 1/2 months.
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that the primary focus of this update is not only on the new Hell world and *scary* features. For all we know, when he says, "Biomes", he may not just be referring to the Biomes we find in Hell and has a lot to do with Biomes in the overworld map.
If you're going to make wild claims about what he means by the word, "Biomes", you're going to have to back it up with proof. Because on the surface, from the evidence we have, there appears to be absolutely no purpose for fast-travel when this update comes out, unless the biomes are very large.
So the question is: Why do one NEED to travel in minecraft?
You don't
Unless you want clay
Or, you know, unless you want to be an explorer, or you want to conquer the map, or you want more resources (because resources are limited, especially in smp).
But I DO see where you're coming from. We don't need hell. We also don't need boats or minecarts either. Or shovels and axes. We don't need chickens, we don't need bows, we don't need tnt, we don't need redstone. i could go on and on.
I must admit that at first, I was thinking the same thing as you.
Currently there's no real reason for travelling, but with the biomes it will switch thing a little.
I just hope that getting wood won't be to hard, since wood is important when you spawn. Spawning in a desert would be a pain XD
if notch add goblin village like he said and think like that it would be useful.
I'm one of the people who think npc would be fun. I mean npc that you can trade certain item with or get some random quest from *get ready for flaming sandbox comment* I know i like this game, because of it's freedom, but quest doesn't mean grinding, i could do everything and get quest just for FUN (mean the game would be even more sandy :3)
To all those commenting about where the announcement for biomes was - The point of the whole update was SCARY things, Biomes arent scary, whereas hell is, thats why biomes didnt get a major mention.
I must admit that at first, I was thinking the same thing as you.
Currently there's no real reason for travelling, but with the biomes it will switch thing a little.
I just hope that getting wood won't be to hard, since wood is important when you spawn. Spawning in a desert would be a pain XD
if notch add goblin village like he said and think like that it would be useful.
I'm one of the people who think npc would be fun. I mean npc that you can trade certain item with or get some random quest from *get ready for flaming sandbox comment* I know i like this game, because of it's freedom, but quest doesn't mean grinding, i could do everything and get quest just for FUN (mean the game would be even more sandy :3)
*insert sandbox flaming comment here*
but in all seriousness, if quests could be included in the game that would be awesome. It would give objective to work for besides of course not getting exploded (damn creepers!). However at first it would be pretty lame because without a storyline the best quest your going to get is "kill x amount of creepers" or "collect x amount of iron".
You said you could practicly dig straigh down and find diamonds? Im not trying to take this too literaly but with the depths right now and looking at your maps with all the diamond locations they seem to all be 5 blocks a part meaning if u dig a 10x10 area you still might not find some. even with that its still not needed but what if they add new minerals that are 10x rarer then diamond, then ud need to explore a lot more meaning more mines meaning more digsites to set up.
*All* we have to go on for this update is the word, "Biomes" at the VERY BOTTOM of the Halloween Update page, as well as everywhere else the past 1 1/2 months.
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that the primary focus of this update is not only on the new Hell world and *scary* features. For all we know, when he says, "Biomes", he may not just be referring to the Biomes we find in Hell and has a lot to do with Biomes in the overworld map.
If you're going to make wild claims about what he means by the word, "Biomes", you're going to have to back it up with proof. Because on the surface, from the evidence we have, there appears to be absolutely no purpose for fast-travel when this update comes out, unless the biomes are very large.
You see? I can twist words too.
Or, you know, unless you want to be an explorer, or you want to conquer the map, or you want more resources (because resources are limited, especially in smp).
But I DO see where you're coming from. We don't need hell. We also don't need boats or minecarts either. Or shovels and axes. We don't need chickens, we don't need bows, we don't need tnt, we don't need redstone. i could go on and on.
Currently there's no real reason for travelling, but with the biomes it will switch thing a little.
I just hope that getting wood won't be to hard, since wood is important when you spawn. Spawning in a desert would be a pain XD
if notch add goblin village like he said and think like that it would be useful.
I'm one of the people who think npc would be fun. I mean npc that you can trade certain item with or get some random quest from *get ready for flaming sandbox comment* I know i like this game, because of it's freedom, but quest doesn't mean grinding, i could do everything and get quest just for FUN (mean the game would be even more sandy :3)
http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49365
*insert sandbox flaming comment here*
but in all seriousness, if quests could be included in the game that would be awesome. It would give objective to work for besides of course not getting exploded (damn creepers!). However at first it would be pretty lame because without a storyline the best quest your going to get is "kill x amount of creepers" or "collect x amount of iron".