Minecraft Forums

It's in. Multinoise is finally in the overworld. Ever since I saw what was happening with datapacks I was wondering if this would be the case.

As cool as the mountains and caves are right now, it still has a very long way to go. The performance hit and the jankiness and lack of polish is very apparent. Biome and terrain generation on the surface, putting it lightly, is very very rough. It is not hard to tell why this is an experimental snapshot.

The separation of the terrain and biome generation leaves me feeling... Mixed. With time this could be an amazing system that finally dethrones 1.7 from its 'same-5-biomes-for-thousands-of-blocks' tyranny. The notion of the separation is a wonderful idea, but I must say I am... Apprehensive. I am not seeing much smooth or flat land for builds, for example, and finding some specific terrain with a biome to match may be difficult. However given the level of polish over the past few years and Mojang's dedication to quality and satisfaction, I should hope this pans out in great ways.

As for the biomes and caves themselves... Wow. I mean it, just wow. They are wonderful. I hope we see some new structures to go with them and updates to old ones.

The monster spawning change is a very welcome one! No more do you have to spend time finding that one block that's light level 7. ...However, part of me wonders if we'll be seeing some special deep or abyssal monsters int he deepslate layer. We shall see.

All in all, excitement is in the air!

You don't need to start a new world. You have go to parts of the world you haven't been to in order to generate new chunks. New blocks to not generate in old terrain as not to intrude upon existing terrain. The mobs spawn because they are not dependent on new blocks.

Quote from TheMasterCaver»

I used the Wayback machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums

https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.minecraftforum.net/forum (this one goes back further; everything past 2014 is a redirect)

Also, I found the original thread where I posted the numbers, which were all from around mid-October as that was when I made the post; the data point for 2011 goes back to the creation date of the forums as there isn't anything from before 2011, with the yearly average taking that into account (this suggests that 2011 itself may have had more activity than 2012 since it is unlikely that the game was that popular in 2009):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/off-topic/general-off-topic/2864181-been-a-while-since-ive-been-here-anyone-still?comment=14

Quote from Phrossbite»

please stop text wall, make head no feel good

Request denied. Embrace walls.

Quote from TheMasterCaver»

The downturn actually started much earlier; the forums even state that the most online users was in 2014, shortly after the release of 1.8, and even that was a temporary revival from a decline that started in 2012-2013, and still only half the 2012 peak, at least when measured by posting activity in the Survival Mode section (other sections show similar trends so this isn't just because there is less interest in survival; even the (formerly) extremely active PC Servers section has day+ old posts on the first page):

I have the impression that the vast majority of online users never actually post these days, which is the real definition of being active; I made a thread prior to the planned shutdown which pointed out the discrepancy between the rate of posting activity and new members registering (this was before the recent influx of spammers, which have always existed), and the number who never had any posting activity and/or were only online for a few days:

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/forums/forum-discussion-info/2965026-are-these-real-members

Of course, the overly strict moderators are another problem; I've seen quite a few people rage quit the forums due to this; for example (see the end of their last post):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/members/Princess_Garnet/posts

They've even admitted to being too strict:

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/forums/forum-discussion-info/3065204-future-changes-to-site-rules

Interesting! Where did you get those numbers? I'm genuinely curious, not doubting you.

Most users are indeed lurkers. This goes for many forums and similar online communities. Sometimes people will make an account thinking they will need to ask something, which gets resolved later. Some do it just in case. Others make an account then forget. And others yet will do it to get features that account-free lurkers don't get. ...And then there's the whole issue of bots which these forums have been littered with.

I had a friend who made a forum account solely to comment on my now ancient forum thread of an old city project of mine and that's it. There's many reasons out there.

I usually keep to myself, but on thinking about it the moderation thing does not surprise me. Draconian or otherwise petty moderation is a massive drive off and something I've dealt with myself. It's zero surprise that it would leave to some leaving as it has been absurd in the past.

And then there's the whole GDPR content deletion and the scares from the not-shutdown.

Quote from TheMasterCaver»

Also, as far as Discord goes, why do people enjoy a site that forces you to register and accept invitations to even view a sub-forum/community or whatever they are called (I've seen people leave links and when I clicked on them I was prompted to register)? I'm not inclined to even bother with sites like that; likewise, I browsed the forums for a while before I finally registered. Maybe they like the privacy, but on the other hand that can be a disadvantage, like, if I posted my thread for TMCW over there (IDK if even even allow long-term threads) only other members would ever see it, and otherwise you'd have to maintain multiple threads on multiple sites (not that TMCW gets much activity anyway due to being for an ancient version and incompatible with every mod in existence, but I don't care much since I make mods for my own enjoyment; I've declined quite a few requests to make/update a mod for a newer version because I don't enjoy doing that).

If I had to guess it's because it's relatively easy to set up, you can get a much quicker response than on a forum, you don't have to create a different account for each little forum or server. There is also the aforementioned not having to deal with atrocious moderation or forces largely out of your control. It's also a place that can be managed on demand unlike the forums. Overall quite conveneint, as long as you're in a few. The main issue imo is dealing with everyone, their mother, grandfather, uncle, dead ancient relative, dog, fish, and cat having a Discord, and NEEDING to join a discord in order to know or do something. Now that rustles my jimmies.

Quote from BloxmineXL»

Man, I've been checking out some of the forums (or would it be 'fora'?) I used to post on some 10 years ago and I'm sad to see that most are pretty much dead nowadays. Minecraft is still a huge game and there are luckily still a lot of posts made on this forum but it's not the same as it has been years ago.

Modders don't seem to bother with maintaining a forum post on here nowadays. It's either just posted on Curse (which is a heck of a lot better than the countless of dead Megaupload or adfly links on here lol) or Patreon, which seems to be a trend with modders on all games (easier to put it behind a paywall than relying on that easily overlooked Paypal-donation button, right?)

Most new threads I see on here now are from day-old accounts not realising that you can just ask your question about a mod in the mod's thread itself and have a better chance of getting an answer (or even Googling) than making a new thread in the wrong forum section and having it locked within the hour lol.

But the forum is not dead yet compared to most forums I used to be even more active on. I'm most of all just curious where all of those people have gone. Maybe Facebook groups? Or maybe Discord? Although I think most users have just moved on.

What an interesting time in internet history.

It is a shame that this place is as lively as an asteroid. The great GDPR purge (I am still seething about how poorly that was handled) nuked probably half the threads and all the posts with them on this site, including resource and mod threads. So that killed a lot of activity. Then came the shutdown scare which really finished off the forum. Scared everyone away to who knows where.

It's mostly bots now, really, though thread creation spam seems to have been toned down. Now it's just posts on existing threads and profiles. FB I doubt is anything near resembling a stronghold. They probably left for Discord. I see loads of activity there for mods period, and without a centralized area like the forums in use I imagine that is where the rest have fled to. Yes, many people have moved on. Sadly.

One would think think the forums for the most popular game of all time would be alive in well. Boy, that couldn't be more wrong. But the activity in years past was unreal. ...I can't say for sure when the downturn in activity really started, but I think it was around 1.9/1.10's release. It'd make sense given that 1.10 marked a bit of a dark age for Minecraft.

To access them you need to make a custom single biome world and set its biome to dripstone caves or lush caves. They do not generate naturally, and will not until the second half of the update.

Speaking of which, I am wondering if we'll see the foundations set there for an overworld biome overhaul in a future update, perhaps the one where they do the features lost from previous mob/biome votes.

Aaah. Yep. I remember that too, and I miss that. Dwarves vs Zombies was one among them that had managed to last for a while. I too have been annoyed at this issue.

It's hard to say exactly why we don't see many new original server types or gamemodes, but I don't think there's any one reason either. In order to stay up or justify staying up, a server needs players and that can be hard to come by. Many of the more massive servers these days got shot into popularity from Youtube. Additionally, some may be discouraged from trying to start their more original servers because of the existing lack of them, making for a bit of a vicious cycle. I imagine I'm missing several more factors.

Sometimes though there are niches that have to be filled, albeit probably with mods. The first thing that comes to mind for me there is something like a train or railroad server. Good luck trying to pull that off in vanilla where you cannot even connect minecarts.

I was recently reminded of how truly terrible the progression toward full diamond gear is. At least if one is to go by the traditional mining approach. I hope that at some point they address the awful, unenjoyable grind that is getting a sufficient number of diamonds. Because it's a lot more fun, rewarding, and less grindy if you take the villager route for acquiring diamond gear.

They seem to be on a path looking for reforming or updating progression, but it looks like most of that will hit in the second half/1.18. I feel they still have a ways to go with it however.

What are some examples?

Servers have gone through phases throughout the years, and often to survive as a server you need to stick with what is popular. Unfortunately.

Quote from chaskuchar1»

yes, that waas a blacksmity chest for the diamonds. now i have a purple house. found an amethyst cave, small but got some blocks to use on my house. still very difficult to get iron. using stone picks unless i get redstone or gold. and not much gold. but still mining from level 25 down. doing different mining methods to b ecome efficient. any ideas? i didn't find any bedrock forums to post on but i think the beta is the same as java updates.

If it isn't the same it is quite close. Off the top of my head the main difference between the two is that Bedrock has mountain generation proper. And to my surprise I found there was no recent/snapshot/beta discussion subforum in the Bedrock category here, so I imagine it should be here.

I can't say I'm all that surprised that it got pushed back considering how quickly summer is approaching and we don't even have the mountain generation in Java. My main surprise is how far it's being pushed back, and there won't even be archeology features in the second half. I remember we got the Pretty Scary Update in a very short amount of time.

I don't see how they'd be competing with Hytale. They've expressed support for it, and Hytale has no release date. Something else to remember is that Mojang are very laid back. They don't do crunch or any abusive practices like what every other studio does out there (which is terrible) and they intend in preserving that.

Another thing to remember is that they're giving worlds the biggest change since the world format change in 1.2, where they changed from Region to Anvil. In that time a lot has changed, and if they mess up even slightly, it means lots of angry and sad people and some will have years of work put down the drain.

I still can't say I'm not disappointed with how far back it is being held however.

Quote from Luna_cat»

Does anyone know the exact release date of the Caves & Cliffs update?

C&C has NEVER had an exact date. Only a rough approximation in the form of somewhere around the start of this summer. However if you watch the video they have mentioned that they are having ti divvy up the workload and split it. Part 1 of the update will be coming this summer. Part 2 will be coming sometime closer to the end of the year. Perhaps earlier. It's hard to say, development is a mess of squiggly lines in reality, in contrast to the expected straightforward.

Well, it looks like this is going to be quite a while longer. A bit disappointing at first, but good on them for avoiding any crunch. Also.. .Is it just me or does Agnes look like she's trying hard not to fall apart? Either way, I believe this also marks a raising of their standards.

Sadly no snapshot this week. Sad.

I'm curious when we'll see whatever biome the sculk and warden generate it. Speaking of them, while this is probably irrelevant as lotsa stuff changes in development, I noticed that the sculk seems to be pouring out from a smooth endstone-like block. It goes true for the main patch we see as well as the second patch in the dark you can hardly see. Curious...

Additionally I'm curious about what new structures we'll see when the biomes are implemented proper.

Quote from The_Shadow»

Given that we've been promised updates to a number of biomes, I'm expecting a Biome Update to further spruce up the Overworld. Though it's possible that they'll continue adding biomes to thematic updates, like the current Caves & Cliffs, I'm inclined to doubt this, because I'm not seeing themes they could easily tie to swamps, savannas, and badlands.

I also wouldn't be shocked to see an End Update before too much longer. True, the End got some love in 1.9 (and a tiny bit in 1.11) but it's still pretty bare.

And as already mentioned, there is likely to be a Combat Update 2: Electric Boogaloo at some point. Perhaps folded into a larger one of some sort.

You took the words right off my tongue.

The Overworld has gotten some TLC over the past few updates even if it hasn't been a focus. 1.17 as it is shakes up quite a bit with mountain and cave gen overhauls, to say nothing of what previous updates like 1.13 did to overhaul and bring the oceans up to standard. The End looks to be next on what large portion of the game remains in an unsatisfactory state. There's a ton of potential for it, but we'll see.

Frankly I imagine 1.18 could probably be like that of 1.15; a technical update focused on the interior of the game. Mojang has really cleaned up their act and Minecraft in general, they seem to be pretty intent on making sure the game runs smoothly as they de-spaghettify the innards of the code.

But as it stands we have no information. 1.17 isn't even close to done yet.