Is watching a tornado destroy structures fun? Yeah. Is watching a tornado destroy your hard-built structures fun? I didn't think so. Save for the tiny NPC villages, all of the pre-generated structures are underground, so there's little fun to be had with this, and there's not much that can be done with it gameplay-wise.
You're not the first person to propose this idea, but as of right now, Minecraft isn't the kind of game where tornados are a good idea.
As of 1.9.4, the text next to an enchantment, once decoded, is a random assortment of words with no overall bearing on the enchantment received. Why not give that text a purpose?
With each new world generated, a randomly generated substitution cipher (still rendered the standard galactic alphabet) will make the decoded text seem like a random assortment of letters. Players would have to solve this cryptogram using the random minecraft-related words known to appear in the enchantment text. Most of the translated words would still be meaningless, but a number of identifying buzzwords will indicate the presence of a specific effect, and more than one could appear in the text. There would be more than one word per effect, so they won't be quite so easy to decipher without solving the cryptogram.
I think it would be a neat little optional minigame that wouldn't change nature of enchantments for the puzzle-challenged among us, but allow for those determined to get that silk touch to not have to grind up to level 40 many times after repeatedly getting the wrong enchantment.
Bottom line: Turn the enchantment text into a cryptogram randomly generated with each new world that allows you to decode your enchantments and solve them upon finding the solution
One thing I did hope was that this video would shed some light on if any of the enchantment words had a meaning, but like everyone else is reporting, apparently not.
On the other hand, the details about the bookshelves, the nature of experience orbs, the chart of optimal values, and the idea of spending on the highest possible level were very helpful. It's definitely one of the most informative videos that I have seen.
Any pre-releases before the full release are likely to be bug-fix, optimization, and polish updates.
If we do get something in the way of features, you'll probably only see:
-The sounds of the new mobs
-A test of the Enderdragon fight
-Instructions (either an update of achievements or other systems)
-Final refining of the potion/enchantment systems
-Ending credits
Mostly, either stuff that a polished game needs or that which has been coded but not fully implemented. Things like Villager AI, quests, spikes, and overworld dragons aren't going to see the light of day until after release.
Sure, most of us don't particularly worry about what we do in Minecraft, because there no real world implications. Still, sometimes you have to ask yourself...
-Is it unethical to kill a peaceful intelligent/humanoid being for their loot, and do endermen and villagers fall into this category?
-Is it unethical to automatically spawn and process mobs, even if they're hostile?
-Is it unethical to forcefully breed mobs, and separate babies from their parents at birth?
-Is it unethical to eat rotten flesh, under the presumption that it's cannibalism?
-What's the most humane way to kill passive mobs, and are there any that are unacceptably inhumane?
-Are there any other ethical boundaries that you wonder about?
-Most importantly, do any of these ethical issues stop you from doing them?
That's all well and good, OP, and it's fine for stuff like fortune/durability. But take, for example, silk touch. You want to have a hallway made out of ore? You want to build a house out of White Stone, and take on that Ender Dragon so that you can get home and build it as a monument to your victory? Tough luck if you don't get silk touch on your first effort, because you're gonna have to grind through at least another 30 levels to get back there. The code is indecipherable, so even if it's a good idea to put in the time to make sure you're picking the right enchantment, it's not an option.
Bottom line, taking and accepting what you get is fine up to a certain point. But when you get actual features as sought-after as silk touch that you work the whole game for, you should have a way to know what you're getting if you look hard enough.
I've never built a mob system with this update, but I do know some general guidelines. Just so you know, they don't grind EXP, so if you're looking to up that, don't count on it. As with all mob towers, the best way to improve its efficiency is to light up every cave in the vicinity so that you get the maximum amount that spawn inside your towers.
A few questions you need to ask yourself:
Hostile or Passive? Passive towers aren't automatic since mobs no longer respawn in a chunk except via breeding, so a ranch or some containment system whilst you breed them is a better bet.
Endermen or no Endermen? That determines whether or not the interior should be 3 high. In 1.9, they no longer steal stone, so it's an acceptable building material.
How important is the spider option to you? They drop spider eyes in 1.9, which are useful in potions, so it might not be in your best interest to add one, especially if you're looking for efficiency.
Will you pick up the loot at ground level or bedrock? It's easier to pick them up at bedrock, but if it's that important to you, having the exit at sea level is doable. Items don't readily flow uphill, but mobs do. On youtube, check out ethoslab's "mobavator" tutorial for information on how to transport them to sea level for grinding. He has a lot of useful tutorial mob tower videos, most of which fit into your 32x32 specs.
There's no "one size fits all" mob system out there. If I were you, I'd watch a bunch of tutorials that explain how mob towers work, and concoct your own design that best fits how you want it to work. Trust me, you'll have a lot more fun that way!
1. The game is called "Survival." There would be nothing to "survive" from without the monsters: but once you make a wood shack, you don't really have to "survive" anymore unless you're trapped deep underground
2. The Adventure Update was supposed to make combat in general more fun and interesting, not just add some cool weapons / abilities that only the player can use. Mobs are a joke now if you crit / sprint hit them, it's possible to one-hit any mob as long as you're a little high up.
3. Adding more fun to combat would not detract from mining. It's the same deal that's going on now- adding potions and dragons won't make it any less of a resource-gathering game, but rather more fun for people who enjoy other tasks. Notice that in your next few sentences you go on to talk about how YOU don't like games such as CoD. This is your personal preference, and I think most people would prefer a slightly more advanced combat system.
4. Terraria is a 2-D game, and combat is even worse there: just click the mouse. I've never seen ANYONE complain about Oblivion or Skyrim's combat system. If an Oblivion-esque combat system were to be incorporated into Minecraft, it would be the best update ever.
1. That was once upon a time. You could sit in your shack all day, and that was Minecraft if you wanted it to be. Nowadays, you have hunger, and soon enough you'll have an end to the game to work towards. There's no way to totally avoid monsters to do that.
2. The update also buffed zombies, and added a number of dangerous mobs (Blazes, Endermen, Cave Spiders, Silverfish) that don't play by the normal rules.
3. I get the desire for a more advanced system, but ease of use has to be key when it comes to combat. If a creeper sneaks up on you in the dark, your first instinct is to freak out and bat it away. That has to work, because if you can't knock mobs backwards, then dealing with more than one at once or surprise attacks is impossible. And basically every attack that works in Minecraft is a surprise attack. Besides, there's the inherent fact that if you pillar up a couple blocks, most mobs can't hit you in the first place, and there's little that you can do to change that without ruining the game dynamic.
4. Why is advanced combat necessarily the best thing ever? Pokemon and Final Fantasy are popular games with a combat theme but no physical combat at all. Maybe a little variance here and there in Minecraft would be nice, some expansion on the blocking system, and giving rudimentary AI and blocking skills to mobs... but a downright overhaul of the system a la Oblivion would be a bit of a turnoff for a lot of people.
What the OP (and myself) mean is for the rules to be simple, not the entire thing.
Breeding has simple rules, but has SO many possible ways to do it, use it, or carry it out. You could do free-ranching, or a McDonalds style mass-production farm (lol), or, heck, you could even make a machine that fires too love-mode animals at each other out of cannons.
Rules are simple, the thing as a whole can be very complex.
That's the goal, but there should also be balance and real benefits to doing things different ways. If animals breed with everything they touch once you feed them, then why even try free-ranching, where they're just going to wander away? Maybe instead, you can program two animals to only breed when they have enough space to themselves. That's where complexity is good; where you have a choice between two different ways to play the. You could build a ranch that gets larger as your animal herd expands, or you could devise a contraption that skirts the rules and allows breeding on a massive scale. Maybe advanced players will calculate the best way to improve drop rate, while the rest of the world doesn't need to bother, because whatever they do works anyway.
The complexity shouldn't be there to turn off inexperienced players. Easy to grasp, hard to master; that's the formula of every successful game since the beginning of time.
Bones- Yeah. Bone meal. Where would we be without be bone meal? Wheat farming, animal farming, and tree farming would be a tedious, time-intensive process. Sure, you can use it to tame wolves, and that's cool. But keep in mind that since you get three bone meal per bone, you essentially get a piece of bread for every skeleton killed. Where else do you get that kind of production?
Gunpowder- Splash potions and TNT. No substitutes. Need more be said?
Gold Nugget- Even if you've got only a meager melon farm, getting glistening melons is a snap, and instant health is easy to come by. It's not stackable and requires time to drink, but its the only way to instant health in the game.
Blaze Rods- Have to be near the top. Between being an essential component of Ender Eyes, a powerful energy source, a requirement for crafting potions, and magma cream, there's a ton of benefit to taking on Blazes.
Ghast Tears- Maybe the hardest of all to collect, but the overall benefit of regeneration is even more powerful than that of instant health.
Slime Balls- For a mob that gets ignored as much as slimes, slime balls are fairly useful. They're required to make the most useful type of piston, and another one of the magma cream ingredients, which you need to conquer the Nether.
Ender Pearls- It's a novelty in the end, but it's one of the Ender Eye components, and it can get you out of a tight spot when nothing else can.
String- Essential early on, but quickly loses it's usefulness as you'll only ever need one bow, fishing rods aren't particularly useful, and Sheep are a vastly superior source of wool.
Spider Eyes- Used for negative splash potions, but not much else. By the time you get to brewing, you'll likely already have far more than you need.
Arrows- They're not going to be your primary source of arrows in the first place, unless for some reason you have a problem killing chicken.
Rotten Flesh- Not very useful. It allows for quick, emergency healing on the battlefield, but there's no reason to farm Zombies for it.
Your computer blows up when you get hit by a fatal creeper explosion?
At least that would prevent them from posting a QQ thread on the forum straight away... ;o
But seriously, attack creepers with a bow only. Why take the risk of going melee if you don't have to?
Also: blast protection enchants on armor are your friend. Or throw a splash slow potion on a creeper. :smile.gif:
That wouldn't be so bad except that to get enchantments, you need to find at least 5 diamonds and kill tons of mobs to get decent enchantments, and you'll need to kill blazes and creepers to get splash potions. That can be rather challenging in hardcore.
That creeper bug should be reported, though. Explosion damage should be fairly uniform, unless we hear otherwise from Mojang.
Zombies aren't particularly strong, but they've got enough health now to make falling into more than one of them perilous.
Spiders aren't strong either, but their mobility lets them come after you in places that other mobs can't get to. Most of the time, they're only truly threatening when they're perched up above you and jump down when you least expect it.
Skeletons have a big leg up over the previous two in that they can fight back even you're skilled with bows.
Creepers are creepers. We all know the challenges that go with them.
Slimes are weak, but no one expects slimes to be the fight of the century.
Endermen are quite sturdy opponents. Nothing but swords can damage them, they've got double your health, and teleportation throws that much more of a monkey wrench into combat.
Cave spiders are truly nasty pieces of work. They're harder to hit, can climb through any hole, and can basically reduce your health to half a heart in a single hit. And since you find them in abandoned mine shafts with their own spawners, you know that there will be many around.
Silverfish may be diminutive, but once again, strength in surprise and numbers. And no mob is better with unpleasant surprises (except for the creeper) than silverfish. Sure, an experienced player will know what to do, but the risk of giving into the sheer terror of watching them multiply makes them a worthy opponent.
Zombie pigmen are easy if you face them one-on-one; the problem is that with the darkness of the Nether, you'll rarely be able to tell, and the last thing you want in any Minecraft combat scenario is a horde.
Ghasts are fragile; as of now, they can be one-shotted by a fully charged arrow. A number of things make them tough, however; their deadly stream of fireballs constantly destroy the landscape, depth perception with such a disproportionate mob makes correct aim difficult, and they're rarely found alone. Trying to dodge and/or deflect three explosive fireballs at once and charge your bow in time is an impossible task.
Blazes are maybe the deadliest mob in Minecraft if you're unprepared. Their fireballs are fast, and getting lit on fire in the Nether is no fun. And like the Ghast, they fly. However, most of their powers are fire-based... craft up a few good fire resistance potions and you're in business.
None of them are overpowering, but most of the more advanced mobs have some attribute that makes them deadly or hard to kill, such as poison, flying, explosives, swarming, and teleportation. All of these are a lot more powerful than straight-up health would make them (plus they just got a boost and you'll be fighting dragons soon).
0
You're not the first person to propose this idea, but as of right now, Minecraft isn't the kind of game where tornados are a good idea.
0
With each new world generated, a randomly generated substitution cipher (still rendered the standard galactic alphabet) will make the decoded text seem like a random assortment of letters. Players would have to solve this cryptogram using the random minecraft-related words known to appear in the enchantment text. Most of the translated words would still be meaningless, but a number of identifying buzzwords will indicate the presence of a specific effect, and more than one could appear in the text. There would be more than one word per effect, so they won't be quite so easy to decipher without solving the cryptogram.
I think it would be a neat little optional minigame that wouldn't change nature of enchantments for the puzzle-challenged among us, but allow for those determined to get that silk touch to not have to grind up to level 40 many times after repeatedly getting the wrong enchantment.
Bottom line: Turn the enchantment text into a cryptogram randomly generated with each new world that allows you to decode your enchantments and solve them upon finding the solution
Your thoughts? Any modifications you would make?
0
On the other hand, the details about the bookshelves, the nature of experience orbs, the chart of optimal values, and the idea of spending on the highest possible level were very helpful. It's definitely one of the most informative videos that I have seen.
0
If we do get something in the way of features, you'll probably only see:
-The sounds of the new mobs
-A test of the Enderdragon fight
-Instructions (either an update of achievements or other systems)
-Final refining of the potion/enchantment systems
-Ending credits
Mostly, either stuff that a polished game needs or that which has been coded but not fully implemented. Things like Villager AI, quests, spikes, and overworld dragons aren't going to see the light of day until after release.
0
Of course not, but for the sake of immersion... just something to think about. :wink.gif:
1
-Is it unethical to kill a peaceful intelligent/humanoid being for their loot, and do endermen and villagers fall into this category?
-Is it unethical to automatically spawn and process mobs, even if they're hostile?
-Is it unethical to forcefully breed mobs, and separate babies from their parents at birth?
-Is it unethical to eat rotten flesh, under the presumption that it's cannibalism?
-What's the most humane way to kill passive mobs, and are there any that are unacceptably inhumane?
-Are there any other ethical boundaries that you wonder about?
-Most importantly, do any of these ethical issues stop you from doing them?
I'm curious to see the reactions.
0
Bottom line, taking and accepting what you get is fine up to a certain point. But when you get actual features as sought-after as silk touch that you work the whole game for, you should have a way to know what you're getting if you look hard enough.
0
A few questions you need to ask yourself:
Hostile or Passive? Passive towers aren't automatic since mobs no longer respawn in a chunk except via breeding, so a ranch or some containment system whilst you breed them is a better bet.
Endermen or no Endermen? That determines whether or not the interior should be 3 high. In 1.9, they no longer steal stone, so it's an acceptable building material.
How important is the spider option to you? They drop spider eyes in 1.9, which are useful in potions, so it might not be in your best interest to add one, especially if you're looking for efficiency.
Will you pick up the loot at ground level or bedrock? It's easier to pick them up at bedrock, but if it's that important to you, having the exit at sea level is doable. Items don't readily flow uphill, but mobs do. On youtube, check out ethoslab's "mobavator" tutorial for information on how to transport them to sea level for grinding. He has a lot of useful tutorial mob tower videos, most of which fit into your 32x32 specs.
There's no "one size fits all" mob system out there. If I were you, I'd watch a bunch of tutorials that explain how mob towers work, and concoct your own design that best fits how you want it to work. Trust me, you'll have a lot more fun that way!
0
1. That was once upon a time. You could sit in your shack all day, and that was Minecraft if you wanted it to be. Nowadays, you have hunger, and soon enough you'll have an end to the game to work towards. There's no way to totally avoid monsters to do that.
2. The update also buffed zombies, and added a number of dangerous mobs (Blazes, Endermen, Cave Spiders, Silverfish) that don't play by the normal rules.
3. I get the desire for a more advanced system, but ease of use has to be key when it comes to combat. If a creeper sneaks up on you in the dark, your first instinct is to freak out and bat it away. That has to work, because if you can't knock mobs backwards, then dealing with more than one at once or surprise attacks is impossible. And basically every attack that works in Minecraft is a surprise attack. Besides, there's the inherent fact that if you pillar up a couple blocks, most mobs can't hit you in the first place, and there's little that you can do to change that without ruining the game dynamic.
4. Why is advanced combat necessarily the best thing ever? Pokemon and Final Fantasy are popular games with a combat theme but no physical combat at all. Maybe a little variance here and there in Minecraft would be nice, some expansion on the blocking system, and giving rudimentary AI and blocking skills to mobs... but a downright overhaul of the system a la Oblivion would be a bit of a turnoff for a lot of people.
0
0
That's the goal, but there should also be balance and real benefits to doing things different ways. If animals breed with everything they touch once you feed them, then why even try free-ranching, where they're just going to wander away? Maybe instead, you can program two animals to only breed when they have enough space to themselves. That's where complexity is good; where you have a choice between two different ways to play the. You could build a ranch that gets larger as your animal herd expands, or you could devise a contraption that skirts the rules and allows breeding on a massive scale. Maybe advanced players will calculate the best way to improve drop rate, while the rest of the world doesn't need to bother, because whatever they do works anyway.
The complexity shouldn't be there to turn off inexperienced players. Easy to grasp, hard to master; that's the formula of every successful game since the beginning of time.
1
Bones- Yeah. Bone meal. Where would we be without be bone meal? Wheat farming, animal farming, and tree farming would be a tedious, time-intensive process. Sure, you can use it to tame wolves, and that's cool. But keep in mind that since you get three bone meal per bone, you essentially get a piece of bread for every skeleton killed. Where else do you get that kind of production?
Gunpowder- Splash potions and TNT. No substitutes. Need more be said?
Gold Nugget- Even if you've got only a meager melon farm, getting glistening melons is a snap, and instant health is easy to come by. It's not stackable and requires time to drink, but its the only way to instant health in the game.
Blaze Rods- Have to be near the top. Between being an essential component of Ender Eyes, a powerful energy source, a requirement for crafting potions, and magma cream, there's a ton of benefit to taking on Blazes.
Ghast Tears- Maybe the hardest of all to collect, but the overall benefit of regeneration is even more powerful than that of instant health.
Slime Balls- For a mob that gets ignored as much as slimes, slime balls are fairly useful. They're required to make the most useful type of piston, and another one of the magma cream ingredients, which you need to conquer the Nether.
Ender Pearls- It's a novelty in the end, but it's one of the Ender Eye components, and it can get you out of a tight spot when nothing else can.
String- Essential early on, but quickly loses it's usefulness as you'll only ever need one bow, fishing rods aren't particularly useful, and Sheep are a vastly superior source of wool.
Spider Eyes- Used for negative splash potions, but not much else. By the time you get to brewing, you'll likely already have far more than you need.
Arrows- They're not going to be your primary source of arrows in the first place, unless for some reason you have a problem killing chicken.
Rotten Flesh- Not very useful. It allows for quick, emergency healing on the battlefield, but there's no reason to farm Zombies for it.
0
That wouldn't be so bad except that to get enchantments, you need to find at least 5 diamonds and kill tons of mobs to get decent enchantments, and you'll need to kill blazes and creepers to get splash potions. That can be rather challenging in hardcore.
That creeper bug should be reported, though. Explosion damage should be fairly uniform, unless we hear otherwise from Mojang.
1
Spiders aren't strong either, but their mobility lets them come after you in places that other mobs can't get to. Most of the time, they're only truly threatening when they're perched up above you and jump down when you least expect it.
Skeletons have a big leg up over the previous two in that they can fight back even you're skilled with bows.
Creepers are creepers. We all know the challenges that go with them.
Slimes are weak, but no one expects slimes to be the fight of the century.
Endermen are quite sturdy opponents. Nothing but swords can damage them, they've got double your health, and teleportation throws that much more of a monkey wrench into combat.
Cave spiders are truly nasty pieces of work. They're harder to hit, can climb through any hole, and can basically reduce your health to half a heart in a single hit. And since you find them in abandoned mine shafts with their own spawners, you know that there will be many around.
Silverfish may be diminutive, but once again, strength in surprise and numbers. And no mob is better with unpleasant surprises (except for the creeper) than silverfish. Sure, an experienced player will know what to do, but the risk of giving into the sheer terror of watching them multiply makes them a worthy opponent.
Zombie pigmen are easy if you face them one-on-one; the problem is that with the darkness of the Nether, you'll rarely be able to tell, and the last thing you want in any Minecraft combat scenario is a horde.
Ghasts are fragile; as of now, they can be one-shotted by a fully charged arrow. A number of things make them tough, however; their deadly stream of fireballs constantly destroy the landscape, depth perception with such a disproportionate mob makes correct aim difficult, and they're rarely found alone. Trying to dodge and/or deflect three explosive fireballs at once and charge your bow in time is an impossible task.
Blazes are maybe the deadliest mob in Minecraft if you're unprepared. Their fireballs are fast, and getting lit on fire in the Nether is no fun. And like the Ghast, they fly. However, most of their powers are fire-based... craft up a few good fire resistance potions and you're in business.
None of them are overpowering, but most of the more advanced mobs have some attribute that makes them deadly or hard to kill, such as poison, flying, explosives, swarming, and teleportation. All of these are a lot more powerful than straight-up health would make them (plus they just got a boost and you'll be fighting dragons soon).
0
Don't worry, it'll get better once 1.9 is released, and totally sort itself out upon final release at Minecon.