In my honest opinion, strongholds aren't treasuring or difficult enough. These ideas here would improve difficulty of such a valued Minecraft structure and also improve treasures and value.
Idea 1: New chest items
Well, you know how there's iron armor in the chests, and unobtainable chainmail armor in the game, right? Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.
Chainmail armor inside chests!
Not only would this be a cool treasure to find, but it would also be a legit way to obtain that fancy shiny chainmail armor that server ops wear to shun you all. At least right now.
Idea 2: Crypts
Yea, I'm not talking about those jails. I'm talking legit crypts. The unique part about these? There's a monster spawner in it. But not just any spawner. A knight spawner! Knights are basically zombies, but not just any zombie! They randomly carry a bow or an iron sword, and attack according to their weapon. Not only will they have powerful weapons, but they will also have a random set of armor! Iron armor, or chain armor, randomly added to the mob. But oh what's this? Am I getting yet another evil idea? You thought right! They spawn in any light level! HAHA! The reward for beating such a powerful monster? 20 XP, and their weapon and one peice of their armor! Also, an end portal frame block will be placed in all 4 corners. Once each frame has an Eye of Ender, the spawner will finally deactivate, being the only way to stop such a powerful beast, and open up a door to the Crypt treasure. This double chest doesn't contain your average drops. It has more valuable items, or in some cases, higher quantities! Red apples? Pft. How about golden apples? Ender pearls, what about those Eye of Enders you need to finish activating that portal? Who needs regular armor when you can get enchanted armor? And why only a few diamonds, when you can have an entire block's worth! Same with gold and possibly iron. Yeah, the treasures could be considered OP, but think about the work you have to do in order to get to that damned chest? Oh! But yet another EVIL idea has come to mind! When you leave that room, you can never come back, and that spawner? Heh, it reactivates, leaving you and your thieving ass to block off those knights. Be glad to survive this in one fight, you were either skilled or lucky. This could be considered the final test before you get to the Enderdragon itself.
Idea 3: A use for the Dragon Egg
A randomly generated room, the Enchanter's Room, would have a generated enchantment table. This wouldn't be any ordinary table though, it would look like portal frames, with a different book over it. It wouldn't be takeable, and it also would be the only table you can do this action from. Open the table, to reveal a single slotted enchantment grid. If you put in any ordinary tool you can get more powerful enchantments. These enchantments go up to level 100 when surrounded by the maximum amount of shelves. However, when you put the dragon egg in, you get a single level 50 enchantment. Once you perform this action, you have successfully completed the game once and for all. The stronghold repairs itself, removing library webs, turning mossy and cracked stone bricks back to normal, and spawning something similar to the villagers in their respective rooms. Above ground, new walls and towers form, along with village inside of said walls. The enchanter, who spawns next to you in the enchantment room, would have a skin that looks half like the rest of the stronghold inhabitants, but also look half like an enderman, because he is the one who originally experimented with End technology: End portals, Endstone enchantment table, crypt protection units (the end portal frames in the corners of the crypt) and any other End related things. Once everything is complete, he congratulates you for saving the Stronghold and all of Minecraftia, and gives you the Ender Staff to be next ruler of the Stronghold.
In conclusion!
I really like Strongholds, but I believe they need more danger, more suspense, more action, more storyline, and more purpose! I think my ideas achieve this very well, and I hope you agree.
Nice idea, but it might be a little too in depth for Minecraft to really have in it and with Notch having stepped down and Jeb working on modding support it might not really become a vanilla part of the game.
I like it, but the knights should not spawn rapidly in each jail cell, nor should every jail cell contain a spawner, but the ones that have a spawner shouldn't have the iron doors.
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Why does everyone think I don't have an avatar? Is there anyone who can see the one black pixel.
Please click the dragons, they need to grow. Also, my fully grown dragons can be found in my bio.
I like it, but the knights should not spawn rapidly in each jail cell, nor should every jail cell contain a spawner, but the ones that have a spawner shouldn't have the iron doors.
These are not the jails with the iron bars you are thinking of. These are 9x9 + rooms that have a totally different look, meaning, and aspect. They are rarer than normal jails anyway and all are large rooms with a spawner and End Portal Frames to deactivate the spawner, and these actually have treasure. Try reading again.
Idea 1: New chest items
Well, you know how there's iron armor in the chests, and unobtainable chainmail armor in the game, right? Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.
Chainmail armor inside chests!
Not only would this be a cool treasure to find, but it would also be a legit way to obtain that fancy shiny chainmail armor that server ops wear to shun you all. At least right now.
Idea 2: Crypts
Yea, I'm not talking about those jails. I'm talking legit crypts. The unique part about these? There's a monster spawner in it. But not just any spawner. A knight spawner! Knights are basically zombies, but not just any zombie! They randomly carry a bow or an iron sword, and attack according to their weapon. Not only will they have powerful weapons, but they will also have a random set of armor! Iron armor, or chain armor, randomly added to the mob. But oh what's this? Am I getting yet another evil idea? You thought right! They spawn in any light level! HAHA! The reward for beating such a powerful monster? 20 XP, and their weapon and one peice of their armor! Also, an end portal frame block will be placed in all 4 corners. Once each frame has an Eye of Ender, the spawner will finally deactivate, being the only way to stop such a powerful beast, and open up a door to the Crypt treasure. This double chest doesn't contain your average drops. It has more valuable items, or in some cases, higher quantities! Red apples? Pft. How about golden apples? Ender pearls, what about those Eye of Enders you need to finish activating that portal? Who needs regular armor when you can get enchanted armor? And why only a few diamonds, when you can have an entire block's worth! Same with gold and possibly iron. Yeah, the treasures could be considered OP, but think about the work you have to do in order to get to that damned chest? Oh! But yet another EVIL idea has come to mind! When you leave that room, you can never come back, and that spawner? Heh, it reactivates, leaving you and your thieving ass to block off those knights. Be glad to survive this in one fight, you were either skilled or lucky. This could be considered the final test before you get to the Enderdragon itself.
Idea 3: A use for the Dragon Egg
A randomly generated room, the Enchanter's Room, would have a generated enchantment table. This wouldn't be any ordinary table though, it would look like portal frames, with a different book over it. It wouldn't be takeable, and it also would be the only table you can do this action from. Open the table, to reveal a single slotted enchantment grid. If you put in any ordinary tool you can get more powerful enchantments. These enchantments go up to level 100 when surrounded by the maximum amount of shelves. However, when you put the dragon egg in, you get a single level 50 enchantment. Once you perform this action, you have successfully completed the game once and for all. The stronghold repairs itself, removing library webs, turning mossy and cracked stone bricks back to normal, and spawning something similar to the villagers in their respective rooms. Above ground, new walls and towers form, along with village inside of said walls. The enchanter, who spawns next to you in the enchantment room, would have a skin that looks half like the rest of the stronghold inhabitants, but also look half like an enderman, because he is the one who originally experimented with End technology: End portals, Endstone enchantment table, crypt protection units (the end portal frames in the corners of the crypt) and any other End related things. Once everything is complete, he congratulates you for saving the Stronghold and all of Minecraftia, and gives you the Ender Staff to be next ruler of the Stronghold.
In conclusion!
I really like Strongholds, but I believe they need more danger, more suspense, more action, more storyline, and more purpose! I think my ideas achieve this very well, and I hope you agree.
Why does everyone think I don't have an avatar? Is there anyone who can see the one black pixel.
How about, instead of chests, there are safes! So you have to actually hack/ break them open to get the contents.
[My Suggestion] Safes/ Locked Chests http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/881982-a-safe-vault-a-balanced-approach/
These are not the jails with the iron bars you are thinking of. These are 9x9 + rooms that have a totally different look, meaning, and aspect. They are rarer than normal jails anyway and all are large rooms with a spawner and End Portal Frames to deactivate the spawner, and these actually have treasure. Try reading again.
I'm sure I could figure out a way to make a safe using something End related, but for now, I'll stick with a chest.