Enchantments themselves aren't the problem. Here's what is
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:25 pm
I never was a fan of the /world to begin with, but its current state is pretty bad.
1. All battles are low-stakes. No good gear from combat = little motivation to fight.
2. Invisibility/ strength/ etc are now disproportionately powerful. Regular unenchanted diamond stands no chance against an invis guy with a few harming pots or iron sword with strength II.
3. Unenchanted bows are next to useless, except to reveal invisible people. Doesn't matter much since you won't last long against one.
4. There doesn't seem to be a significant increase in pvp activity, maybe a little. Probably due to reason #1.
5. Enchantments being banned in /world negatively affects the economic value of enchanted items. Who wants to buy enchanted gear if it's only being used against mobs?
6. There's nothing wrong with low-level enchantments, but those are banned too.
The problem that the ban attempted to solve, I think, was misunderstood. I no longer think that enchantments themselves are the problem. The complaint was that the valuable gear was being taken away too easily. But isn't Prot IV, Sharp V extremely easy to get, thanks to grinders? Yes, but I don't think the real fear was losing the actual equipment. The fear was having to go back to the grinder.
So what's the root problem? Grinders. Yep, I pondered this question a while, as I sat at my grinder no less. I have a pretty good grinder, so I am almost beating myself up for saying this.
The problem is that grinding is the only feasible way to be "rich" and successful on a multiplayer server. And it's fucking boring.
So the only way to have good gear is to go out, far, far away, set up the most badass grinder you can, and let minecraft run while you watch TV. Basically, not playing the game. Whereas grinders were used pre-enchantment era only for items, the addition of enchantments made them *essential*: effectively breaking the entire game, at least multiplayer-wise. You can get xp the way the game makers intended, but you'll be at a huge disadvantage against people with grinders. It would be stupid and inefficient to play that way.
1. Your #1 option for being "rich" is to find someplace far, far away and setup the most badass grinder you can. The "end-game" in minecraft is basically to have a main account at your grinder with one or more "traveling" alts near spawn.
2. People who choose to explore, and kill monsters/ mine for xp instead are at a huge disadvantage. Playing the game as it was intended is a stupid, inefficient way to gain xp.
3. Grinders make certain enchantments near-useless (smite, bane of arth, projectile prot). Who needs them when you won't be fighting mobs in any significant way?
4. Grinders diminish the economic value of enchantments. Why would they be worth anything when you can easily get chestfulls of enchanted gear risk-free?
My proposal: Nerf grinders.
We don't have to completely disable grinders. People worked hard on them, and good grinders will still be "good" grinders, relatively speaking. We shouldn't take it away from them. I propose cutting down the spawn rate of grinders significantly- enough so that the manual killing of mobs in the wild is a more profitable, and faster, way of gaining xp. The amount of mobs that can exist in a single chunk should also be capped. So someone may still afk farm at their grinder overnight, but may come back and get 15 levels instead of 150, since they'll stop spawning after a while. Only someone who is actively killing the mobs will be able to grind effectively.
I think a nerf on grinders would have a few positive effects:
1. People will be more likely to play the game as it was intended- much less time at the grinder.
2. The economic value of grinder-based items and enchantments will improve. Top-tier items and enchantments will be rare and expensive, as intended. Potions will also be more expensive to make, as any potion with a grinder-based item (blaze rods, spider eyes) will be more scarce.
3. It will actually be exciting to get good gear.
4. People will fight with a wider variation of gear. Less opportunity to enchant means you have to fight with whatever you can get your hands on.
5. People won't be as pressured to stay in a single area- wherever their badass grinder is located. Will reduce "isolationist" tendencies. People may even move nearer to spawn.
5. Less server lag due to people grinding.
People with their huge grinders will chew me out, I know. I can hear it now: "Well YOU don't have to grind if you don't want- you have the choice". They miss the point completely. It's an issue that affects the whole game at its core depth, not just at an individual level.
1. All battles are low-stakes. No good gear from combat = little motivation to fight.
2. Invisibility/ strength/ etc are now disproportionately powerful. Regular unenchanted diamond stands no chance against an invis guy with a few harming pots or iron sword with strength II.
3. Unenchanted bows are next to useless, except to reveal invisible people. Doesn't matter much since you won't last long against one.
4. There doesn't seem to be a significant increase in pvp activity, maybe a little. Probably due to reason #1.
5. Enchantments being banned in /world negatively affects the economic value of enchanted items. Who wants to buy enchanted gear if it's only being used against mobs?
6. There's nothing wrong with low-level enchantments, but those are banned too.
The problem that the ban attempted to solve, I think, was misunderstood. I no longer think that enchantments themselves are the problem. The complaint was that the valuable gear was being taken away too easily. But isn't Prot IV, Sharp V extremely easy to get, thanks to grinders? Yes, but I don't think the real fear was losing the actual equipment. The fear was having to go back to the grinder.
So what's the root problem? Grinders. Yep, I pondered this question a while, as I sat at my grinder no less. I have a pretty good grinder, so I am almost beating myself up for saying this.
The problem is that grinding is the only feasible way to be "rich" and successful on a multiplayer server. And it's fucking boring.
So the only way to have good gear is to go out, far, far away, set up the most badass grinder you can, and let minecraft run while you watch TV. Basically, not playing the game. Whereas grinders were used pre-enchantment era only for items, the addition of enchantments made them *essential*: effectively breaking the entire game, at least multiplayer-wise. You can get xp the way the game makers intended, but you'll be at a huge disadvantage against people with grinders. It would be stupid and inefficient to play that way.
1. Your #1 option for being "rich" is to find someplace far, far away and setup the most badass grinder you can. The "end-game" in minecraft is basically to have a main account at your grinder with one or more "traveling" alts near spawn.
2. People who choose to explore, and kill monsters/ mine for xp instead are at a huge disadvantage. Playing the game as it was intended is a stupid, inefficient way to gain xp.
3. Grinders make certain enchantments near-useless (smite, bane of arth, projectile prot). Who needs them when you won't be fighting mobs in any significant way?
4. Grinders diminish the economic value of enchantments. Why would they be worth anything when you can easily get chestfulls of enchanted gear risk-free?
My proposal: Nerf grinders.
We don't have to completely disable grinders. People worked hard on them, and good grinders will still be "good" grinders, relatively speaking. We shouldn't take it away from them. I propose cutting down the spawn rate of grinders significantly- enough so that the manual killing of mobs in the wild is a more profitable, and faster, way of gaining xp. The amount of mobs that can exist in a single chunk should also be capped. So someone may still afk farm at their grinder overnight, but may come back and get 15 levels instead of 150, since they'll stop spawning after a while. Only someone who is actively killing the mobs will be able to grind effectively.
I think a nerf on grinders would have a few positive effects:
1. People will be more likely to play the game as it was intended- much less time at the grinder.
2. The economic value of grinder-based items and enchantments will improve. Top-tier items and enchantments will be rare and expensive, as intended. Potions will also be more expensive to make, as any potion with a grinder-based item (blaze rods, spider eyes) will be more scarce.
3. It will actually be exciting to get good gear.
4. People will fight with a wider variation of gear. Less opportunity to enchant means you have to fight with whatever you can get your hands on.
5. People won't be as pressured to stay in a single area- wherever their badass grinder is located. Will reduce "isolationist" tendencies. People may even move nearer to spawn.
5. Less server lag due to people grinding.
People with their huge grinders will chew me out, I know. I can hear it now: "Well YOU don't have to grind if you don't want- you have the choice". They miss the point completely. It's an issue that affects the whole game at its core depth, not just at an individual level.