1.14.4 Server Update now Live
After a very long time the 1.14.4 update is now complete. This update brings the server up to Minecraft 1.14.4 and adds a few major and many minor changes and additions.
Information on the 1.15 update at the end of this post.
Major Changes
Custom Enchantments & Enchantment API Custom Enchantments have been removed from the server. This is due to the EnchantmentAPI plugin becoming unstable. The author has not updated the plugin for over a year. When I updated Astria to 1.13.2 I and many players noticed some issues with the EnchantmentAPI however I felt the addition and use of custom enchantments were a great addition worth the issues we encountered. However now the issues have become too much to ignore.
With the removal of the API all custom Enchantments that Survival Enhancements adds are no longer obtainable. Existing custom enchantment's will no longer function. When a item with custom enchantments are combined with other enchanted items, the custom enchantments will be removed. Custom Enchanted items/books can be used in the Grind Stone however only the book is returned, not the xp.
New Reserve Currency Emeralds are no longer a reserve currency. Players who have not converted there reserve emeralds back into coins will now be unable to. The new Reserve currency that was added in many months ago (Copper's, Silvers, and Specie's) are now the primary way to store coins. This Reserve Currency allows players to carry less coins on them. This allows for less coins stolen upon being killed by another player. The Price of the new Reserve currency is also being increased by 0.25 coins. This results in all players who have converted gaining 25% more value from this new reserve currency. It also allows the Reserve Currency to store more coins in less space.
Server Shop The server shop is currently closed as it I am reworking the prices for many of the items as well as adding a few new items and removing other items. I am also updating many of the older custom items to a newer version of the item's.
Dynmap I have added Dynmap to the server. However to reduce its impact on server preformance it does not update on player movement and will not show players on the server, The map will only update on player placed blocks and the map will be very low resolution. Furthermore within the first few hour's of this update going live the server will be lagger then normal due to Dynmap doing its initial build of the map.
If Dynmap impact's the performance of the server too much I will remove it from the server. I do have plans to help boost server performance in the future, this may allow me to add Dynmap back to Astria if I do need to remove it.
Resource Pack Update The Astria Resource Pack is now Version x. You should be prompted to download the Resource Pack upon joining the server. This adds in custom textures for existing custom items as well as the new custom items. Currently it has a issue where Cod and Cooked Cod uses the old Fish Texture, however I will have its texture updated to the most recent one at some point in the future.
Additions -Reserve Currency now has custom textures. -Swampy Flesh and Cooked Swampy Flesh now have custom textures. Note: All existing Swampy/Cooked Flesh will be updated to this new version, all shops will need to be updated to remain compatibility with them else they will register as being out of stock. -New Item: Breaded Swampy Flesh. Crafted with wheat & Cooked Swampy Flesh, see its /encyclopedia entry for more information. -New Item: Wild Wheat. Obtained from grass -New Item: Long Fighting Potion, see its /encyclopedia entry for more information. -Astria Items will now try to store your current health and restore it upon long in. This will help players with above default (20) health log in. Note, this takes a few seconds for the health to be restored. -/encyclopedia now groups smiler items into groups for easier lookup and organization.
Changes -/ItemLore has been migrated to Astria Items. Now supports color codes. -Reserve Currency Cannot be traded with villagers -Reserve Currency cannot be turned into emerald blocks. -Minor Life Force Potion, and Life Force Potion have had there recipe changed, see its /encyclopedia entry for more information. -Money Drop rates and values for all monsters have been adjusted. All monsters that can drop money now have a 100% chance to drop money, however the amount of money they drop has been reduced. -Note some 1.14 mobs have not yet been added into money drop, such as the ravager. -Reduced the money drop amount of bosses by 50 coins.
Removed - /home sethome <home>. Use /sethome <home> instead -Custom Enchants
Delayed As the time of this post the new Resource Pack has not been set on the server, so the texture changes for custom items will not be seen. Furthermore dynmap has not been fully set up yet so it may not function properly yet. Both of these should be updated sometime today or later this week.
1.14.4 Concerns As of right now I have not addressed any 1.14.4 concerns I had in code except for Reserve Currency being traded with villagers. I will be keeping a eye on Iron, Gold, Emerald, Totem farms as well as the other concerns. If I feel they are becoming overpowered I will then implement the changes I have designed to make them more balanced. As of 1.15 and the combat update the Concerns I have for certain mechanics and exploits in Minecraft have increased. With some of the exploits and glitches being as powerful as they are I may have to totally disable the mechanics they use (Such as villager trading). Though as I have stated in the past, I prefer to find a way to balance rather then remove.
1.15 Update For the next week or two I will keep a eye on the server logs and /mail to watch for bugs and player reported bugs. Once I have the major bugs fixed (if any) I will start on the 1.15 update. Like the 1.14.4 update I will also be adding a small amount of content along side the 1.15 update. I am hopeing the 1.15 update will be a quicker update as there were less changes between 1.15 and 1.14 as there were between 1.14 and 1.13. However I already have a private 1.15 test server and there have been a few major issues with Astria's Custom Plugins as well as other plugins that the server uses.
Combat Update Currently I have mixed feelings of the Combat update. I feel the some changes are good for PvP while others are bad. I also feel they are ignoring the PvE aspect of Minecraft and in doing so have degraded PvE. I will continue to watch and play the Combat Snapshots to see the path they are taking it. Regardless of if I like the new combat system I will update Astria to it. However If the combat system fails to be good and have a good balance between PvP and PvE I will look into modifying the combat system or may build a custom combat system for Astria that would override the vanilla combat system.
Astria's Future After the 1.15 update I plan on completing the last update in the Survival Enchancement update group of updates or droping it entirely. After that I will be finalizing a large update plan I have been designing on. The update I am currently designing will be a series of updates that will overhaul Astria.
I am not ready to make the plans known yet as they are far from finalized, however the updates will be focused on new items, monsters, mechanics, content, support for some legacy items, and keeping player interest on the server. It will also focus on PvP and PvE with some of the new items it will added.
I also have plans to add new custom content to the overworld, nether, and end. Since Minecraft is getting a nether update I may choose to release Astria's custom nether content along side Minecraft's Nether update. (If mine's done in time)
Furthermore I have many many ideas for new weapons and armor's. However I feel I should not release them or finalize there design until the combat update has been released.
As of right now I will start a minor advertising campaign for the server however I am not looking to draw in too many players. After I start releasing the updates that will overhaul Astria I will start a larger advertising campaign that will bring in many new players to Astria.
I am currently experimenting with the Paper Server Software to get better performance on Astria.
As allways if you have any questions, concerns, bug reports, etc. you can contact me on the forms or using /mail <Daniel_return> <message> on the server.