The point I'm making is twofold, I think maybe you missed both. Firstly, that while there are big, powerful mobs in the game by default, you have to intentionally seek them out. They don't spawn naturally, and if you are ever ambushed by a Wither, it's because of another player and not because the server decided to drop one on you. Secondly, that with default content in my game, if I really object to mobs, I still have the option to go Peaceful and get rid of them. Obviously that's not something I can do server-side, which is exactly the problem - if I don't want to encounter Enraged monsters or randomly-spawning bosses... well, tough luck, that's just the way the dice roll. Something important to note, specific to EMC, is the altered spawning rules. Mob density overall is higher - this was an issue in the Nether even before the update, when you'd sometimes have four or five Ghasts firing on you from all directions. Throw exploding hellhounds into the mix, using the same spawning rules? That's not funny or thrilling, it's not fun, it's a goddamn bloody nightmare. Particularly for those who thought the nether was intimidating enough already. I'm sorry if they're your favorite part of the update, but I don't think I'm alone in saying they need to be reconsidered - restricted to netherfortresses (like wither skeletons and blazes), reduced blast value so they don't grief structures, definitely restricted to Wastelands, or just removed altogether. Personally I'd suggest putting up a separate poll on those to get a better feel of what the community thinks on those beasts specifically. That's fair enough I suppose. But there were no snapshots in this case, no chance for us to know what was coming before the update went live. Well, unless you're staff I suppose, in which case I believe you said you were beta-testing for a month. Yes, we have known for a while that "Normal" mode was coming. And it would be harder. We knew very vaguely that there would be "new content" of some kind. But you kept the specifics a secret and so when we see exactly what that new content is, yes we are going to be surprised by it. You can't tell me "Oh you knew this was coming" and then say "But we wanted to keep it a surprise." Bottom line, playing it coy was a mistake in my opinion. I don't see how anyone could enjoy exploding hellwolves on their ass, but that's a specific case. Overall I think there is more good than bad here, it's the decisions surrounding it I take issue with. As I said before, I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just want you, Aikar, and the rest of the staff behind this update to understand the why in my arguments. Shrugging it off as "Oh well, everyone complains about updates" may be true, but it's a very tone-deaf response that says you're not really trying to understand why someone might be unhappy. Yes, some people just like to complain for the sake of it. Some people prefer to see the negative in everything. I am generally not one of those people.
I, for one, love this update. It has performed a miracle. The Miracle of getting an over 1 year old town reclusive member out and actually enjoying the wild. To Aikar and everyone else involved in the update; Well done and thank you
So I've had different people say differently: can you get heads and rare loot from regular mobs from a spawner in the frontier?
I have also changed my views on this update It has never been so fun going "mob hunting" as it is more of a challenger and more rewarding
I can completely understand why some people might not be okay with wild updates like this, so I hope you don't feel I'm completely shrugging you off. We've stated when we launched it, that we would watch it for a week or two and see how people are reacting to things and then decide if it needs to be tweaked a bit for the various things. Doing so a day after it's release isn't the best option because it doesn't give you the chance to adapt to the gameplay. In a game like Minecraft, especially a server that is very content on bringing new and fun content/ideas to the mix, there are going to have to be times you adapt to those changes. This has happened with almost every single vanilla update from Mojang. There are tons of complaints why "new thing" shouldn't be in MC because "reason here". However, after playing with it and seeing how it works, those complaints slowly drift away and it just becomes a part of your normal gameplay. So, I 100% respect your opinions and we are all taking note of them. One thing that's hard to do in my position is explain WHY we do things in the way we do without the person thinking I'm attacking them or their idea. I promise, it's two different things. A lot of time and work went into this update and we have a plan to not only launch it, but maintain it as it needs to be as time goes on. As for your worry of what I replied to you earlier, I didn't mean that you are not welcome here, but I have come to know that there are a certain MC players that ONLY like Vanilla gameplay. While I hope and welcome you to try and adapt to the changes we made and will make in the future, I was simply letting you know that, EMC won't be a Vanilla server...but we like to think that's a good thing.
its been answered, spawners will not drop heads, neither will long drops. however if you hit a mob to death in frontier that spawned natually at night/in a cave, they can drop heads
Thank you for your response. We actually do value your opinion on this. There has already been discussion from Aikar to tweek things a bit - especially the Nether Hounds. A true snapshot of the update would have been impossible, as with many of the updates there are some server crashing issues; which should only be dealt with on our Development server. I guess, where I am going to leave this. You have a valid argument, I respect you for that. But each side is ALWAYS going to try and get the last word in on it. (And unfortunately results in tense relations between players) If you have anything more to contribute to the discussion, don't hesitate to post it. I would just prefer if we could be a little less hostile
Are you kidding mod density is less than that of single player if not right on par with it. Natural/darkroom spawners SUX on EMC compared to single player!, because of people complaining, that led to the changes that have been made to thin out spawn density I have been walking around for a while now (haven't found a boss yet) and the only difference I see is my armor gets damaged a bit faster than it used to. That's it not much harder at all.
blackknight1021, brenjone, toasterkid, and I have been suicide farming heads. Having no armor on from dying so much, it was pretty bad when an enraged zombie attacked us out of nowhere and brought his creeper friends. I died several times but was finally able to grab my sword and kill it. With no zombie head drops. But at least I recovered all my heads eventually (we're getting 1 every three minutes now)
Ok alot to post... 1) Previews of the update - Most games do not give too much details about updates. They give an overall gist - but not many details - Mechanics like boss weakness, what he drops, etc - Rare spawns - new Items - Many games do not list these details, and i'm talking like multi billion dollar games like FFXI and WoW and other MMO's. Part of the game is figuring it out on your own. Mojang gives us teasers, like the fact the Wither was added, but not details. Sure, we could of said were adding new mobs - but the overwhelming surprise players got from this update seeing this stuff unexpectedly in the wild and all the excitement it provided, was way greater benefit than warning the few who might die from it. Survival Servers don't operate on the concept of ensuring you know when danger lurks... You never know when a creeper is going to sneak up on you and kill you, how is it much different than what this did? Being prepared for anything is part of surviving.
I was the only boy scout in the group ironically also the only one in my group to have brought my sword
Is that so? I'll admit I haven't played on Survival SP since... well, since joining the Empire I think, and even then I've never kept exact data on spawn rates. All I know is that I was never afraid of the open wild or nether in SSP, but since the Animal Control update a while back, going out at night or through a portal means getting mauled from every direction. My quartz-harvesting last night was no exception to this (damn pasty gasbags). Yes, I understand that completely. I also realize that releasing EMC server data publicly like that might have unintended consequences, and overall is a bad idea. I'm just expressing a desire for transparency - as we've had with Dragon Tombs, for instance. There may still be surprises, but we all have a fairly good idea of what we're getting into with those. The act of replying to this probably hurts my credibility on the matter, but I actually don't care much about "getting in the last word," as long as I've been able to get my point across. Your post, and this: lead me to believe I've done so. I've been on forums like this long enough to know that, whether my words are valid or not, no matter how eloquently-worded they might be, I'm still just one voice among many.
2) Tweaks - Numerous tweaks are about to go live: Spawning improved - Rares will not spawn within 36 blocks of players, and uncommons require 32 blocks. Marlix will now spawn in the frontier so Frontier people have the potential to encounter him (Think about the people who are 40-100 or even 300k out, why should they be excluded from Marlix?) Rare Spawns timer is random on server restart, so players cant get a guaranteed quick spawn after restart (the maintenence last night sort of increased # of spawns there should of been) Players can no longer damage an entity if they are standing in protected areas (ie: unable to take damage themselves). This is across the board all of EMC - not just the new mobs. Wither slayers, expect to have more riskier fights... Marlix's bat is invincible, but now should forward damage he receives onto Marlix. No more arrows bouncing off. Marlix spawn wording now says eerie instead. Marlix guardians spawn interval reduced from 15s to 10s Marlix health has been reduced slightly Momentus draw in reduced to a 32 range Momentus draw in affects ALL players in range, not just target Momentus draw in increased to 30 seconds instead of 15 Momentus guardians decreased to 10s interval Zombie Virus has been modified so you don't get such a long period of immunity. This was not intended to be used to fight Momentus in the way players were. Resistance value lowered to 3, as well as all negatives. Loot pools were adjusted. Some items made more rare Spawn rates, respawn rates and XP bonuses adjusted. Custom mobs will not spawn from animals, so no more spawns on mooshroom islands. Netherhounds will no longer destroy blocks.
The only problem I have with this is it caused me to make the entire trip back to two wild outposts. Each 15k out, at least. I was swarmed by enraged mobs with no armor, since it hadn't been needed. I'm ok with this, I don't mob hunt much and I don't want to waste armor fighting the new mobs. I have no problem with the update instead of making two gigantic trips now.
