New Release! (BTW V4.70)

[FlowerChild]

Anyway, thanks for such an incredible set of releases. Everything since you went total conversion has led to so much more enjoyment playing Better Than Wolves.

You're welcome man! The appreciation is appreciated :)

[KittenToaster]

I could write a bloody novel on the antics we've had since 4.56. But meh - no need.

Lets just say, challenge & fun, an earnest thanks FC. ;)

Keep up the good work & THANK YOU, good times are being had! :3

[Tekei]

I spent some time in a new world last night just to test out the update and I have to say I love it!
As pointed out before, the changes to stone and wood picks forces you to adapt, but once you understand how the changes impact the game you shouldn't have any trouble getting your first pick. So yeah, I agree that the issue is largely about adaption.
Something I think people tend to forget, an that I've pointed out numerous times on IRC is that I believe BTW (well, sandbox games in general but that's another discussion) is all about the situations you end up in due to mistakes/lack of knowledge/bravery/stupidity, call it what you like. The destination is never as important as the road you take there, if one can word it like that.

Anyway, thanks for the update. You've done a great job, again! :)

[Benanov]

I like hardcore bouncing. It exercises the lateral thinking parts of my brain.

I do not care for the nerf of stone picks being as strong as it is. I might bump the number of picks you can make by exhausting a stone pick to add one more whole pick.

I've played for probably 4-5 hours on the changes, and you end up really unable to keep on any sort of cobblestone stores around as you're always building tools, especially if you backfill mines you're not using (see note below as to why). Wood pressure is quite amazing but you eventually power through it.

Wool armor is neat, especially when dyed red. :)

The performance enhancements compared to vanilla are absofuckinglutely amazing. The game is amazingly smoother and I don't think I'll be playing much vanilla again. 1.5.2 is very stuttery whereas the same settings on BTW 4.70 are beautiful. This is why I backfill holes - IMO it keeps my rendering requirements low.

[icynewyear]

I expressed the basic concept of what I'm about to say in my one shot episode but I wanted to put it here for the hooligans who don't watch me.

The recent changes have completely changed the underlying tone of the game for me. I've always entered a new world in minecraft or btw with a feeling that this world is mine. Almost a sense on entitlement. The monsters have always felt like the invaders to me. It was all about securing my world and making what I wanted. Now I am left feeling that I am the foreign invader on untouched soil. The monsters own this land and I am trying to take it from them. This. Feels. Awesome.

These changes have completely changed how I feel about minecraft as a whole and added such a level of interest and theme to the game for me. Much kudos and thanks FC.


edit: fixed typo

[Lars]

I suspect these drastic changes to wood and stone picks will make me want to get my hands on diamond tools asap, which poses some fun challenges. As knocking back creepers with stone swords will cost way too much energy in the early game, I guess I'll have to invent some sort of creeper trap/safe creeper slaughtering zone.

The hardcore bouncing change sounds a bit harsh, but I agree that pillaring was kind of stupid to begin with. I'm not convinced that just forcing the player to make a 2 block wide pillar instead is the solution to the problem, but it's a good first initiative, and I'm really curious to see how this plays out!

I have to say that I simply love the hardcore armor changes! Although I am a bit sad about not being able to make socks. During those lonely nights locked up in a cave, a sock puppet would've been real nice company! Oh well =(


I'd like to round this up and conclude that next time Notch decides to pay out dividend, FC should get some too! (fuck the fact that he's not a shareholder! :@ )

[heypaint]

I've been playing for almost a year and just joined the forum recently. I made a distant nether portal and jumped out naked into the newest update.

Got to admit, I was a little shocked and unhappy about wood and stone pick durability at first. I haven't played enought to say that I am in love with the new update or not (I still haven't tried to build a base with ladders and planks), but I do want to make one point to people on the verge of rage-quitting:

Don't knock it until you have played for at least a few hours (maybe more). The hardest part is the change in attitude or play-style. You almost have to pretend you have never played the game before, remove all your old expectations, and expect to die once in a while. My initial reaction was to not like this last update, but I have a feeling that by the time I'm done messing with it, I'll like it even better; it's just going to have to grow on me a bit.

Hope that's not too off-topic, if so I'll ban myself.

[moonracer]

I think part of the problem with people having a hard time adapting is that there are two primary elements to BTW (as I see it). The early stage of development seemed largely about adding more stuff to make and do. Now it is moving more into game balance and ramping up difficulty, and obviously both of these have overlapped during development. But different players got into BTW for different reasons. Also, I'm guessing that I'm not alone here in saying that BTW is so good that Minecraft without BTW is not an option at this point.

So unless your interests in hardcore and building overlap, there will be an internal conflict, which sometimes leads to complaining. I want to enjoy all of the new features (and mostly do), but I don't personally enjoy the idea of playing 3 hours to get an iron pick. Especially when I might (okay, do) die from a stupid mistake and have to go through that experience again.

Ultimately I agree it is the player's problem, not a design flaw. I see where you are going FC and I think your notions of balance here are dead on. The early stage survival is challenging and there is little room for error, but it is doable and there is entertainment. Resource management exists, where it really never did before. Personally I 'get' it and can do it, I just don't have the time and energy to keep with it. I even switched from hard to easy for the very early stage just to test that out and felt it was still not for me.

I am admittedly a casual BTW player and a lurker. The low number of post certainly shows that. I think you are going in the right direction and thank you for all the work you have put into this.

[Svartwolf]

I want to say thanks for the update FC, when i saw it first i though that was a 1.52 update, but i discovered that a very interesting update! seems like the word "small btw update" is nonexistant : )

at first i was a little worried by the whole iron-stone wood tools changes, but frankly isn't frustrating once you adapt. it's pretty doable and gives a good sense of acomplishment.

the changes on pillaring have barely affected me since i've never pillared before and when I "pillar" to i build i usually use ladders anyway because without them falling is such a huge pain in the ass. so still is pretty easy to build complex stuff, but now you cant abuse it.

maybe stone picks are a little too weak though, but having less than 10 uses is a good thing (with 6 uses i feel that i have to struggle between mining stone for the next pick, for axes, for stairs, mining iron/coal or for cobble to build). it forces to want you to upgrade and in that regard, once you upgrade and have a stoked crucible, you would never need a stone pick again.

the cut leather idea was pretty good too, now i really feel good crafting shears and leather armor, since now i have to kill less cows and can save some leather for when i need to build a saw. the other armors i haven't had time to try them.

so again, thanks FC !

[FlowerChild]

Ok, I'm going to start up a balance discussion thread for 4.7 as it's been a few days for people to adjust, and it's spilling over into this thread anyways as I think folks have a lot they want to talk about.

[Ozziie]

Posting this here as an aside to the balance observations as I didn't want to go off topic. They should have been in the previous balance threads really but I am at a point where I've got a feel for the changes enough to bring them up now.

World Restart Syndrome has disappeared now that I'm established and can't bear to abandon the progress. Hardcore Spawn helps with this certainly, as every death (haha, noob) is almost like a world restart but knowing that my base is "somewhere" is enough to work my way up to redstone and compass to find it again.

I'm absolutely hooked at the moment. The major changes feel just right and I'm just posting this as a thank you :)