MC4 Returns

[dillboss5]

If it will be your first time on survival pvp, then allow me to give you a few tips. Underground bunkers are indeed the best way to survive, also if you can have those bunkers have obsidian walls, ceilings and floors, you should survive a bit better.
It's always best to get as far out as possible, but do not sit on the border of the map (Currently 10,000 blocks apparently), as people tend to check around there more often.
Try not to leave any marks on the surface that could show a player lives near by. (For example, cutting down trees and leaving some leaves still there attached to some wood, or maybe having torches outside).
If you're recruiting people make sure they are close friends or risk them betraying you, and when you give them your coordinates make SURE to say it in a private message, and be sure to double check it is in private or you'll give away your home to the other players, who will flock to your home as fast as they can.
If you join another team, be sure they are the right team for you, and that you can trust them. I've seen it before when people have joined another team and its been a trap, where they've killed them and taken their stuff once they reached a base which has turned out to be a fake base.

[dyl1138]

If you join another team, be sure they are the right team for you, and that you can trust them. I've seen it before when people have joined another team and its been a trap, where they've killed them and taken their stuff once they reached a base which has turned out to be a fake base.

I REGRET NOTHING!

All in all it's a lot of fun, but turtling underground and never getting found does tend to be a bit boring. I'm actually planning to make Mayan-style ruins along the coastline of the larger landmasses for this map instead of focusing on what is essentially playing hide and seek.

[vxi]

All in all it's a lot of fun, but turtling underground and never getting found does tend to be a bit boring. I'm actually planning to make Mayan-style ruins along the coastline of the larger landmasses for this map instead of focusing on what is essentially playing hide and seek.

I guess I'm going to be getting on at 3:30 AM one of these days for some... not ... base raiding... >_>

[Classy Pancakes]

Gotcha, thanks for tips!

[dillboss5]

Pancakes, what is your IGN anyway? Is it the same as your forum name or do you have a different name? Just wondering, so I know when you're on.

[Classy Pancakes]

Classy_Pancakes (so same but with underscore).

I'm not totally sure the survival thing is for me so far, but I will try to give it more of a shot I'm more used to "build a neat house to store your goods then go explore for more" than I am a pvper, at least in minecraft. The chance to lose all the neat stuff I've found is intimidating lol. Probably just cause I'm still pretty new to minecraft so I'm just not used to other server modes besides protected PVE and creative. I'll try to be on more when others are though, that'll probably help me get acclamated.

[Rayray25849]

PvP is something you just need to get used to. It's not like building, where there are people that are good at it and people who are not. So playing on MC4 or any PvP server and experiencing some fights will eventually make you a better PvP'er.

[Eviltechie]

Right, so that got boring pretty fast. What's next?

[Rayray25849]

It would be fun to have factions back.

[Eviltechie]

It would be fun to have factions back.

What makes you think factions will do any better than what we've got now?

[rockerboy]

I feel like mc4 has kind of become a faction server... I don't think there's anyone alone that is doing too well. Since we all split up into groups/factions, why not just bring back factions? I personally like factions better.

[Rayray25849]

Well, all I remember is that when MC1 was online a few months ago, it was much more popular through the whole map than MC3 and MC4. It obviously did have that massive increase in popularity, but people still kept going on it, and it turned out to be more active than the new servers now.
It was much more easier to form teams (most people on MC4 right now are in some form of an alliance) and was more fun to raid people. On MC4, you can just walk straight in and loot a base, maybe blow it up nicely too while not even breaking a sweat. On MC1 the factions I've been in were always looking forward to raids, and would stay on for an hour to prepare maybe, and even longer to get to the action. The PvP and fighting/raiding part of MC1 made many people stay on the server while also having fun IMO.
Disagreeing with me is understandable, I'm a big "raid, kill, make people rage" kind of guy.

[Gr|m]

I've personally never seen how minecraft servers can survive so long.. it seems like there just isn't much "end game" outside of building cool structures.. which, if you don't have much desire to do, gets boring really fast. But this is coming from someone who plays very little minecraft to begin so maybe I'm just not cut out for long-term minecrafting

[vxi]

Personally I'd like to see MC3 back with a few changes, but I doubt many other people do.
The changes I'd like to see are:
-Larger map boundaries from the start (like 5000-10,000)
This would allow pretty much every player to find a personal space that they can live in, without having to race to the good spots
-Very thought out and solid economy and trading systems from the start
This would work out well for the long-term. The rich players would be able to build shops and it would help the starting players get started because they'll be able to purchase
-Some sort of teleportation system that isn't player-to-player (I have a thread on this, but ignore the second part)
This will also work out will for the long-term, because it will allow people to actually visit each other without taking ages. I think this is a huge factor on keeping a server going.
-A better way to set up shops, instead of grabbing the best and closest land near spawn and undercutting everyone else. I don't know, I guess we'll brainstorm on this one
The reason behind this is because new players deserve to be able to sell and buy items, too. The way it worked was simply unfair.
-Another map type would really help in my opinion, but not necessary. We talked a lot about skylands in this page and I think a little on the one before it.
Another map type would bring freshness to the servers and we wouldn't even need many changes to make it work out well, in my opinion. Also, everyone would be able to own a private island. Yay!

Other than that, I think Factions is what everyone is waiting for at this point, and that's probably what we'll see next. I just hope it doesn't last too long so that we can cycle back to MC3 ;)

[dyl1138]

I've personally never seen how minecraft servers can survive so long.. it seems like there just isn't much "end game" outside of building cool structures.. which, if you don't have much desire to do, gets boring really fast. But this is coming from someone who plays very little minecraft to begin so maybe I'm just not cut out for long-term minecrafting

This is going to be a long post, but this first bit's mostly a reply to grjm. There is a boss, but it only spawns once so it's first come first serve. Minecraft servers survive because people like to build houses and survive, but that is always better on larger servers. Mostly what keeps MC servers online is a large playerbase to starts with and/or good gamechanging plugins. There are servers that use a modified world generator to add dozens of biomes using vanilla MC blocks, servers that host a crazy amount of good minigames, servers for modpacks, FFA servers, even a MLP server. J2 offers minecraft in a ghost server that can be pretty laggy at times. It's not just J2 that has this problem with semiVanilla servers. It is inherent to minecraft servers that feature few to no plugins that the player can interact with. The plugins on the list are orebufuscator (antihack), admintools, senior fun, Worldborder (nothing says fun like an automated border patrol plugin!), Core (?), Chat, worldedit, redeemMe (part of registration for trusted I think), teleport, TagAPI, vanishnopacket, reports, BRBAFK (troll plugin), LogBlock, LogFilter, Info, PlayerTracker, WorldGuard, Bans, ExactSpawn, IRC. Most of these are server upkeep/ admin tools. Essentially our plugins are a good framework for actual plugins that make minecraft more fun. Vanilla pvp/ PvE is long since dead, but we have a somewhat functional formula for pvp. Factions always ended up being dragged out to the point where everyone turtled in an obsidian bunker and new players were usually hunted for sport. Weekly or monthly map resets mitigate this. Factions can be easily combined with combatlog and a teleporting system for convenience, and more plugins can be stacked on top of those. Maybe a shop that offers custom items for certain tasks that push players out of their bases. You could even remove Thorns/horse tools found in dungeon chests and offer those as rewards. Maybe even enchantment of a higher level than is normally possible? Fortune 4 enchantment book, speed 3 potion, sharpness 6 diamond sword that slows the user by 10%, etc. maybe even offer zombie/ skeleton horses. Also a plugin that requires sunlight/mooblight to be able to hit a chest at all times would be very effective. At the reset point, you pick the top three factions on a scale that measures design, treasures collected, members, organizations, even presentation. These factions win a prize or get a point on a scoreboard or something, idunno.
It's similar to Three Kingdoms in some ways and yet is very simple and easy to understand. It requires minimal coding thanks to villagers and MCEdit. I'd say anything is better than recycling the same crap we always do and expecting a different result.