1.8 Enchanting Rebalance: Long-term effects on EMC, and tips for OP gear.

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by Builds_With_46, May 30, 2015.

  1. Edit: This post is now outdated. EMC has moved to a custom anvil mechanic. I will post a completely new thread when I have time to do testing and rewrite it. The TIPS and USEFUL EXAMPLE sections are still perfectly valid if you play vanilla Minecraft, however.

    So, yeah, prepare for wall of text. RIP attention spans. I'm using this to share some of my experience from experimenting with 1.8, and hoping to generate some discussion about the new mechanics.

    If you just want long-term effects or economy stuff, skip the first paragraph.

    If you want enchanting tips, skip down to TIPS FOR ENCHANTING and ANVIL USE.

    For advanced anvil-penalty avoidance, see A USEFUL EXAMPLE.

    1.8 Enchanting Rebalance Notes and Musings

    As all of you have undoubtedly noticed, the 1.8 update has had a massive effect on enchanting, particularly with regards to the ease with which players can now drop level 30 enchants on their gear. What most players haven't noticed yet, however, is the rebalance of the anvil mechanics. Like the rest of you, I am loving being able to repair my god-pick for next to nothing. The problem, however, is that these first repairs are a one-time gift that we will never get again.Enchanted items from before the update have been grandfathered in with 0 anvil penalty. It is impossible, however, to obtain most new top-level gear without incurring an anvil "prior work" penalty. In addition, the anvil use penalty now increases exponentially, and cannot be limited by naming the item. With EMC reverting to vanilla repair behavior, the requirement cap of 39 levels has been removed, and items will once again become too expensive to repair.

    So what does all this mean to you, in real terms?
    1. Enjoy your old items while you can. For most of us, they will last for a few repairs still before becoming unworkable. OP gear power-users will begin to feel the pain sooner, if they haven't already.
    2. Newer and average players will have a much easier time getting better gear, due to the new ease of high-level enchanting, and of combining items (in the short-term).
    3. Combining lots of low-level items is now a lot less practical. Under ideal conditions, an item can only be worked in an anvil up to 6 times. You will need to start with level-30 enchants in order to create a maxed tool or weapon and have a hope of repairing it. I don't expect the loss of this technique to be much of a burden, however, as it was mostly used by newer players, who now benefit from #2 above.
    4. The net effect is to make GOOD enchants much cheaper, and GREAT enchants more expensive (because they cannot be maintained).
    5. Despite the new ease of using an enchanting table, Enchanted Books will actually become much more important to the Empire economy. Veteran players, unable to maintain their OP gear, are likely to turn to books for replacements rather than go through the time-consuming and unpredictable ritual of building up items themselves. Likewise, many players who now find themselves flush with XP will likely begin dumping level 30's on books in order to save their levels for later. This will result in a glut of random enchant books on the market, and eventually, lower prices for them. Top-level books (ex: Sharpness V) obtained directly from villagers will likely remain extremely valuable, as they have no prior work penalties applied. Buyers on the auctions forum have already begun asking sellers about the origins of their books.
    6. All of this new, and random, enchanting means more repairs and more replacements will be needed. All of the veterans' unbreaking III gear is going to hit the level cap, and have to be replaced. Those that choose to enchant their gear on a table will be stuck with a lot of lower-quality items that either wear out faster, or get sacrificed to build up better items. Many newbies will be running around in the waste in high-level protection and thorns armor that, again, has to be repaired or replaced more often. All of these effects mean that diamond price inflation is actually going to accelerate in the months following the 1.8 update. Sure, there is an argument to be made that all of the additional fortune and looting items will bring in more diamonds and offset the loss. I don't buy it, however. There are too many players using diamonds, and not enough gathering them (or acquiring them by voting); this is the cause of our current diamond price inflation. Unfortunately, the situation is probably going to get worse, faster. EMC's best defense against diamond price inflation, barring an arbitrary and punitive server cap using the shop, or a series of massive giveaways, is to get more players mining. Popular events like Friday Night Mining may actually be our best hope.
  2. Edit: This post is now outdated. EMC has moved to a custom anvil mechanic. I will post a completely new thread when I have time to do testing and rewrite it. It is still perfectly valid if you play vanilla Minecraft, however.

    TIPS FOR ENCHANTING and ANVIL USE
    1. You pay a penalty for each separate time you use an anvil. This penalty increases exponentially the more times you work an item. In a departure from pre-1.8, the penalty, more than the specific enchantments, is now the greatest limiting factor to building and maintaining an item.
    2. Limit the amount of separate anvil uses for each item. The more efficient you are with anvil use, the more enchants you can stack on an item and the more times you will be able to repair it.
    3. To do this, combine multiple actions in the same anvil use. Example: repair item, add enchants, and change name all in one action. Most of these actions have lower costs in 1.8, which means less time spent grinding xp.
    4. Enchant all new items on a Table at level 30, not below. This is easy to do now, and will save you xp and hassle in the long run. Combine these items, not lower-level ones, to get maxed out gear.
    5. Naming items no longer confers any benefit.
    6. Curiously, you can still name items for a maximum of 39 levels, even if you have passed the level cap.
    7. Enchant books can save you time and anvil penalties, if they are used properly. Combining books prior to adding them to your gear can actually reduce the anvil penalty. See example below.
    A USEFUL EXAMPLE: Maxed-Out Sword, Using Books
    Say I want a "god" sword, named, with every possible max enchant on it. It's a hassle and a waste of diamonds to try randomly enchanting a bunch of swords and hoping to get something useful. So, I decide to buy some enchanted books. I get one book each for Sharpness V, Knockback II, Fire Aspect II, Looting III, Unbreaking III. Time to add them using an anvil. Luckily, anvils are pretty cheap to use now.

    Option 1: I take the obvious route, and apply each book to the sword one at a time. I have to stop to grind out levels, but it doesn't take much time. I use the anvil again to name the item. At this point, the sword is now too expensive to work on an anvil. When it's worn out, its history. If I remember to name the sword during one of the other uses, I can still get one expensive repair out of it.

    Option 2: I use my knowledge of anvil mechanics to my advantage. Anvil use penalties are progressive and additive, but they do not stack onto the completed item. What this means is that if you combine an item with two prior uses (3 level penalty) with an item with three prior uses (7 level penalty) you will pay a total penalty of 10 levels. Makes sense, right? 3+7=10. But, importantly, the new item will only have a penalty of 4 uses (15 levels) the next time you want to work it, not 5 uses (31 levels). I choose to use this to escape some of my penalties.
    1. First, I combine my sharpness and knockback books. then i combine my fire aspect and looting books. Each of these now has 1 prior use penalty (1 level).
    2. Next, I apply the sharpness/knockback book to the untouched sword, and name it at the same time. In addition to the enchant and naming costs, i pay the prior use penalty of 1+0=1 level.
    3. I combine the fire aspect/looting book with the unbreaking book. i pay the same penalty here of 1+0=1 level
    4. I now have two items, a partially enchanted sword and a superbook with fire/looting/unbreaking on it. Both of them have been used twice, and carry a penalty of 3 levels each. I combine them, and pay 3+3=6 levels, in addition to the enchanting costs. This isn't very expensive at all.
    5. I now have my god sword, but it only counts as having 3 prior uses on it. I can repair it up to three times, starting at just 9 levels the first time! (penalty of 7 levels + 2 level repair cost)
    6. Isn't math magic awesome?
    -Builds
    God_Of_Gods and Sandakumaran like this.
  3. This is actually pretty helpful. I came back about two months after EMC updated to 1.8. I was freaking out about all these rabbits and fancy colored doors..
    Anyhow, I didn't even know there was a permanent cap on enchants. That's very saddening, it basically makes personal favorite tools a difficulty to maintain. I've got many enchanted tools that I've used for months, and a christmas pick present over a year and a half old now that I still use today. C'est la vie.
    Definitely going to think my enchants through from now on. Much appreciated
  4. I thought the 39 level cap was placed back on the anvils?
  5. Yes, Aikar was made aware of the situation and took care of it. You can read about it in the updates. It wan't long after the switch to 1.8.
    Builds_With_46 likes this.
  6. Thanks for that. I did some testing on EMC before the anvil rework, and I missed that thread. Most of the rest of my testing I worked through in SSP creative so I could enchant lots of things all at once. What's weird is that I actually tested one item repair on EMC AFTER Aikar reworked the anvils, and my math was correct. It must have just been a coincidence.

    While some of what I wrote is invalid due to the new custom anvil mechanics, my method of combining books for an OP item will still save you the most XP up front. I will edit and update my original post as soon as I can.

    Here's the anvil update thread, for anyone who missed it:

    http://empireminecraft.com/threads/emc-anvil-update-bug-fixes-5-20-15.52658/
  7. O_O this is very helpful! Thanks Builds! :D
  8. I just read the first sentence and I just forgot what I just read.
    I think I will wake up before I start reading again.