So there I was, surrounded by what I estimated to be 60 Netherhounds, when suddenly I thought... "Well, this was a dumb update." As it is, I survived the onslaught, but I realized that mob mechanics seem to be forever changed at EMC, and the changes are wreaking havoc upon traditional game play along with pure solo fun in the wild/nether. These mechanics are not defined and are changing, not in a good way, the way many of us play the game. While several staff members have defended the EMC survival update with comparisons to MOJANG updates there are some glaring differences: MOJANG updates never seem to take away from the old while adding something new. MOJANG updates always seem to "fit" and make sense, while adding new excitement to the game. Indeed, many I know have been quite happy with the pace and integration of updates from them and with, most importantly, the way they provide information on the updates and details of each addition. The latest survival update, in my opinion, misses on all accounts. As a supporter I feel that the majority of what I pay for is quality system administration so that I may play the game I signed up for in a group environment with as few impediments as possible. While I do appreciate the additions the EMC staff has made to the game, in particular the economic aspect of play, I feel the latest effort strays too far into game development; something I paid MOJANG for when I purchased my account. After all, they did develop the game we all love to play and continue to do so consistently. With that in mind I must ask the EMC administrators, what is the possible need to get out something so fundamentally new just before a major update is released, 1.6? I wonder EMC staff, where is your focus? Honestly, do you want to turn Minecraft into something you want it to be, or are you content in letting us play the open sandbox game with a set of structured rules set out in wiki for all to see? If it’s the prior, please stop pretending and develop your own game. I’m not trying to be harsh, but prior staff comments such as “everyone will get used to it and move on” aren’t going to happen when you’ve so detrimentally affected what many of us have spent hours creating. And further, until details are provided on the latest creations, so that we the players can try to develop procedures and build systems to defeat them it comes across as a secret game. MOJANG never keeps details a secret once released, and all players can feel as though they are on an even playing ground. Just my opinion. I’ve wasted too much gameplay typing this. I’ll slog on in the hopes that the EMC staff is more careful in venturing into these endeavors in the future. Hey, Netherhounds aren’t blowing up the gold farm anymore…just invading it. I guess that’s “progress”…undone.
As we've stated, we are going to use the tools provided by Mojang to make EMC a very unique experience. I'm beating a dead horse with this I know, but, to answer your question, yes, EMC will be a unique survival experience with new things down the road. We hope it's something you will enjoy, but again, know some people only prefer to play pure Vanilla and we can't make everyone happy. As for updates and why they change here and there is we put them out and then gather feedback on them. In this case, the mobs. We do the adjustments as needed until it's where we feel it should be for everyone. It's a process, but one that has worked and will continue to work for EMC. Slow and steady wins the race.
Have you half slabbed the area around your gold farm or what im not sure what where looking at in those pics? looks like an area meant to spawn mobs around you with tall ceilings that probably spawn ghast to. I have no hound spawning in my gold farm so idk what you got going on? Not trying to bash you or your creation just under stand why?
That is a 40x40 half slab floor covering 1600 hoppers. There are 14 40x40 piggie spawn floors up above. There is a Ghast trap area above that. The entire nether area is half slabbed 140m out in all directions. Props to mrrandalp as lead designer for our group Gold production continues but is hampered by the hounds. I don't sit and watch so I can't tell if the hounds are falling and surviving or spawning on half slab. I think its the latter - care to give details ICC? The real loss of production is at the mob farm, srry no pics. Mob aren't spawning (okay, very little), period. What was changed in the way mob spawn? We'd like to know.
I dunno the specifics but I know JCPlugs uses half slabs in her gold farms and she's having the same issues and told JackBiggin.
the hounds arent spawning on slabs they just survive ridiculous fall damage is all (the one thing i think needs to be tweaked about the update)
My first thought about this update is that its pretty much going to drive people AWAY from the wild. Why? Because now all the people who were scared of going to the wild because they might die, are now going to be scared of the wild because they might be killed by the normal mobs, and the new, stronger mobs.
I can't say for sure if they're spawning on half slabs or not. (I don't believe that they would be as I THINK they should follow the same rules as other mobs spawning...Aikar can elaborate when he sees this though). However, they are designed to take no fall damage...similar to ocelots in the wild. One thing to mention, is the updates aren't designed around making AFK farms work better. While, if you can create one within the updates and use it, we're not going to tell you that you can't, but at the same time it goes against SMP logic rules as in one is always completely safe without being even by their keyboard while collecting tons and tons of items. This is why we made the drops from the new mobs significantly more epic...with being able to get lots of "loved" items like diamonds, emeralds, and gunpowder as rewarded drops. One idea could be to maybe add a % of gold dropping from the Netherhounds or a future Nether Mob since a lot of people use the Nether for gold farms.
Actually, it's the opposite. People that were afraid of regular mobs to begin with already weren't going to the wild. So an update that prevents someone from doing what they already weren't doing isn't a change, lol. If those players don't like playing the survival part of EMC, they're more than welcome to stay in town. We had an issue where lots of players weren't going into the wild at all because it was to boring for them and there hasn't been any significant changes to it for ages. We now see a lot of what you could refer to as Town Dwellers going into the wild with their friends to meet the new dangers and get the new items. With our new Group feature, it's making this even more fun and awesome.
I, for one, love this update. I didn't go out into the wild much, besides an outpost on smp8. Even then, I wouldn't venture out from the areas that were lit up. Basically, all I have been doing to past week is adventuring to hunt new mobs and try to find a boss or two. I think the staff did an amazing job on this update. Thank you, Aikar.
I don't think they spawn on the half slabs, they require more damage than normal mobs. One of my witch farms that has a drop just far enough to kill a witch some times has an enraged mob that did not die from the fall, where my second witch farm has a deeper fall doesn't collect any enraged mobs in it. Tho thinking a bought it my gold farm might have hounds spawning and just sitting on the spawn pads, since they are probably only one block tall. Ill have to afk for a bit then look.
Some coming changes will be to prevent spawning of an enraged when another enraged is already nearby. This will prevent the buildup of enraged around you. also in the next update the uncommon moms (ie not marlix/momentus) will despawn just like normal mobs. Spawn rates and drop rates will likely be tweaked too.
