Empire Minecraft is still 1.8 - 1.9.4 is near!

Thoughts and prayers to you and your family to stay strong in this time of mourning.

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Like they say, family first.

im sorry for your loss.... I know what you mean... once a abbess died, she was very kind to me and I feel very sorry
it was like 5 years ago...

Why blame elfincarrot?

I'm truly sorry, Aikar. I know that it is a difficult time for you and your family. Take good care of yourselves and each other.

Sorry for your loss, Aikar. Be well.

Sorry to hear about what happened.
Take all the time off you need. Your family is needing you

Truly this is a difficult thing Aikar. The words flow past like a breeze while a shell of a smile is now kept close at hand. While our time here is limited and nothing is truly ours to keep, we all should be joyful for the moments we've had. Also know that joyful moments await us all in the future and we need to prepare for them or they may pass us by. Everything in it's time. Everything in it's time. My prayers are with you and your family.

When someone leaves us that we care about it is always very hard. We need to always remember that their spirit has gone on and although we can't see them they are still with us. This is universal to all religions. No matter if we see Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha or Confucius or David as the one who has led us to god all teach us that our physical life is not the end of our spiritual life. I suggest that we erect a remembrance to Aikar's stepfather. Something that shows how much we appreciate what Aikar has done for us and that we appreciate the loss he and particularly the loss his mother has realized. We have skills and I believe we can make a tribute to him.

Grieving...

I hope all gets better, Aikar. I recently lost my great uncle of 67 years to a simple infection that could have been cured if not for the mistreatment of the clinic he was staying at. It was frustrating to say the least. I skipped every stage and jumped right into anger on that grief chart someone posted a little while back. I was furious. He was fun, he was not particularly close to me, but he was still my uncle. I never really watched TV, but when I had to go to my grandmother's house (where he lived) before and after school because I caught the bus there, I would watch an old western with him called the Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. I remember getting so incredibly into that show, and how I'd be sad to leave because I wouldn't be able to watch it at home.... Not long after that, my dad's side grandparents moved in until they could get their own home, with their four dogs, and my grandmother is starting to look early-onset Altzheimer-ish. To a point where she prioritizes the behavior around her dogs greatly... I complained at their incessant barking because I was getting a headache, and was called ... ahem... a female dog's proper term for it.... Needless to say, it has not been easy for me recently. But I can at least relate to this pain. Or perhaps it's your mother's pain you are bearing? I cannot say how close you are to anyone. I am not you, and I have no need to know your personal details. This is just as heartfelt a post as I can manage without knowing them, and I mean nothing but the best.

The loss of a family member is never easy, but I hope all's well soon. Individually I find it very difficult to talk about these things in person, and I don't know how to console anyone in real life. But, I suppose this is one of those beauties of words on a screen. I can tell you exactly what I mean without having to fumble with my actions to convey it somehow. Best of condolences to you Aikar, and we will wait patiently for the update. It was obvious this time the blow came out of the blue, and I apologize for my irritation earlier at the delay. I did complain a little, but now that I know the severity of the situation, I truly apologize.

1.8 vs. 1.9 Debate
(Maybe not the best place to put this, but this seems to be the thread everyone's checking at the moment, and I am a little worried about the ravine growing between players that like and those that dislike 1.9).

I hope we as players can move through this 1.8 vs 1.9 squabble. So many players seem to hate it because "combat sucks now" - personally I find these players normally either haven't played 1.9 much, or have only heard this secondhand from other players. Give 1.9 a chance! And even if you really do genuinely hate the new combat system, you have other things to look forward to. End Stone will now have several variations, Purpur is a new block type that is added also with many variations, End Cities are new generated structures in the End, the End now has infinite range, there is that fabulous elytra and dragon head, chorus plant is a new farmable plant type (can be grown in the overworld too, not just the End, but does require a piece of End Stone to grow on!), and there are also beets! As help in adjusting, try to refrain from spam-attacking. I have played a fair amount of 1.9, and I will be the first to tell you spam-clicking in 1.9 will get you nowhere. It took a ridiculous amount of time for me to simply kill a chicken with spam-click hits.

Also! Brewing stands will require blaze powder, and swords have a wider range of attack (meaning if you use your Voters Sword, for example, like I do, to farm animals... don't squash them all into one corner XD).

I'm sure everyone by now at least knows the Enchanted Golden Apples will no longer be craftable, and will only be loot inside of Igloos, Desert Temples, Blacksmith villager chests, Strongholds, Abandoned Mineshafts, and End structures. They are very rare however....

A new structure! The Igloo structure will generate in the Overworld in snowy and cold biomes, like cold taigas, or ice plains. Also, a few more enchantments are in the game now - Mending and Frost Walker, if you haven't heard of them yet. Mending allows armor to be repaired per some of the experience orbs you gain, and Frost Walker will turn the water you swim/jump on into ice.

Even if this is the Combat Update, and even if you dislike the update as a whole, there are still plenty of good things to look forward to that everyone can find fun! I hope this encourages players to forget the aggravation of changed combat. Again, I'm sure most of you know this, but I was just hoping to bring up a few good points in case this heated debate is still happening, and I have found a few players who don't know the differences aside from infinite End world and uncraftability of Notch apples.

I bolded two lines in your statement in blue.

I've played 1.9 PvP. I've played with my friends. It's terrible. It's not fun.

I agree, there are good things in 1.9. Almost all of them are relatively minor and not very impactive on the game. Changed combat impacts the whole game - whether it's killing mobs, players, mining, building. Allow me to elaborate on building, when the shield is in the offhand, it is very buggy. If I go to place a block, sometimes it will pull up the shield to block randomly. There is no reason for this to my knowledge and is just another fault in the system.

I don't want new combat. I want large, block-built ships that are driveable, in addition to the wood boats

So sorry to hear the news Aikar. I hope you and yours find the strength to get through it all. I know how tough it is. Anything to do with this game is not even remotely important right now.

if u want to i can get u 1

hmm, what a coincidence...

#Lag

What makes it not fun, if I may ask?
I have played 1.9 a fair bit, mostly mobs but a little against other players. I find the actual time between blows I can use to my advantage interesting, and it changes the "I know I'm going to die" feeling I get in PVP events to "there's a fair chance I could die, but not necessarily." Imo, it adds more variety and gives me more of a chance in PVP, rather than someone who can just click faster with their mouse. Against mobs, it's not that bad either. In 1.9 in grinders I have built to test, the swiping motion helps and the timing doesn't particularly affect the time it takes.

I can honestly not see how someone would prefer the spam-clicking of 1.8 to spaced out combat of 1.9, but that is simply my opinion. I want to see what you have to say, and please try and explain it out if you will. I've asked plenty of players and the answer is "because it's not fun." Why is it not fun? Why is it bad? Is there even a reason other than "it's new and I don't like it"?

Another point - I'm not sure why you build with a shield in your offhand. Personally I find shields visually impairing and annoying to a point where I don't even use them, but that just struck me as a little odd that one would build with a shield in their offhand... And I'm not quite sure how combat affects mining, unless you mean cave exploring, in which case that kind of falls under the fighting mobs category.

I personally like what we have. Of course I loved my '69 Ford Falcon. Cars used to be GREAT! But people kept saying this is a new improvement that will make it better. Now lift the hood on any 2016 vehicle and just try and change the spark plugs.... If you can find them. Of course lets also put this into perspective, I remember my first video game... tele pong. A large unit with two dials on it that did nothing but bounce a square back and forth on the TV. Give me an ATARI joystick with ONE button or a nintendo game pad with TWO buttons and I am good. I have trouble playing with my ps3 game pad. I always have trouble and have to look down to find the triangle or square or whatever. Dosn't matter, I lost when I loook back up anyway.

In short minecraft 1.8 is fine. I have lots to do and it still keeps me busy. I dont Know what I will do if we go 1.9. I will try to adapt but it might be to much... not what I want. Minecraft may no longer be the game for me, I will try, we will see.

It ruins all methods of PvP. The skill gap no longer exists. Comboing is ruined. W-tapping is ruined. Rodding is ruined and so on. That ruins the skill component of the game.

I've played 1.9 and PvP'd several times. The cooldown time is annoying. I just have to stand there, and get attacked, just so I can attack again. (Diamond Hoes FTW) I use a cheap Logitech Wireless Mouse from the dollar store and I'm pretty sure I can click faster than the majority of the people here. That's where skill comes in. Jitter clicks. Being able to just attack, and attack, and attack, allowing your opponent no chance to recover. OH, and skeletons are overpowered.

I don't understand why people like 1.9 PvP. PvP is NOT just spam clicking. There is more to it. There's a reason why I can take anyone on this server in a 1v1 and beat em. That's skill - NOT spam clicking.

Sure, in Town you probably won't need a shield, but if you're ever in the wilderness, another server, singleplayer, you almost likely will get jumped by mobs. The shield just offers protection. By the way, you can get a texture pack that shrinks the shield texture so it doesn't take a quarter of your screen. As for combat affecting mining, I could've worded that better, but there are draw times for tools as well. So if I'm strip mining and using my pickaxe, I quickly run into a patch of gravel, instead of being able to clear it out, I have to wait for the shovel to come up before I can remove it.

Would you like to team up with me on some new projects? I have plenty of projects still ready and geared up that would've worked in either of the versions, but if you really do have nothing that'll keep you on the server, I have some builds (including one for public utilities) and the like planned. Similarly if you aren't interested in that either, that's fine too. Simply offering if you really feel like you'll have nothing to do in 1.9. ^.^