Survey Results and Changes for 1.16
This is a summary of the changes we are making to the 1.16 server, following the feedback from the earlier survey. 168 of you responded and your feedback is valued. While we haven't followed all of your preferences to the letter, we are nonthelessnonetheless making some changes to the 1.16 server based on your feedback.
World size
The initial world size will be 8750 blocks (diameter)
This only applies to the overworld. Other worlds will have their own sizes.
We previously announced our intention to make the 1.16 world smaller, for a variety of reasons. The 1.14 world size was too heavy on disk space, with the Dynmap taking up almost 100GB. In addition, only 0.92% of the 1.14 world's surface area was ever claimed, and the Dynmap still shows large unexplored areas. With the additional world changes discussed below, some larger builds will no longer be present in the overworld too, further reducing the need for space.
As a result, despite 49% of survey respondents saying the world size was "Just right", we will be using a smaller initial size for 1.16. We have opted for a size of 8750 blocks, which is in-between the 2 most popular alternative sizes - 10k (19%) and 7.5k (10%). This is roughly 80% smaller than the 1.14 world, but should still offer plenty of space. Further expansions can always be considered if the world ends up too full, as well as for 1.17 and its expected mountain changes.
The world will be square
Exactly 2/3 voted for keeping the world square like 1.14, and we will be doing so. A square world also allows the world border to remain visible, which will help with world wrapping. This results in a world with a similar surface area to the 10k circular 1.13 world.
The world will wrap around
There is a surprising majority - 58% - who would like to see a wrap around world, where reaching the border will teleport you to the other side. We are up for trying this, so it will be enabled in 1.16. It can always be disabled again if it proves too confusing or buggy. Since the world is square, the visible world border will give a visual indication of where wrapping will occur, which should make it less jarring.
Server Settings
The difficulty level will be set to Hard
This is one of our bigger departures from the survey results. In the survey, 67% of responses preferred normal difficulty, with 29% wanting hard. However after a discussion with staff, and some survey participants, we are keen to try and experiment with hard difficulty. Staff are generally for this idea, and several comments within the survey, and conversations outside the survey have shown that some normal voters are willing to try hard difficulty.
We feel that the additional challenge added by hard may make the game more interesting, as food is more important, and mobs hit harder. In the end it is unlikely to be a significant difference, as Minecraft is significantly easier in a multiplayer setting, but we would at least like to give it a try.
Existing gamerules will remain the same
The majority of responses wanted all the listed gamerules to stay at their 1.14 settings, or had no preference:
mobGriefing - Remains Enabled
65% wanted mob griefing to remain enabled. This is unsurprising due to issues like villagers being unable to pick up items when it is disabled. Note that is does not affect the ability for mobs to damage claimed areas, or explosions above sea level. These are managed by other settings we will cover below.
doFireTick - Remains Disabled
64% preferred fire spread to remain disabled, and remain disabled it will be. Fire will therefore not spread, as in 1.14.
doInsomnia - Remains Enabled
In one of the closest results of the whole survey, 41% of responses wanted phantoms to remain enabled, with 38% wanting them disabled. With such a close result, we decided to go with our personal preference of keeping them enabled, which also avoids issues with membrane becoming very hard to find.
doImmediateRespawn - Remains Disabled
49% did not want immediate respawn to be enabled, and 38% had no preference, so the 1.14 behaviour will remain. Dying will still present you with the respawn screen, and will allow you to try and work out where you are, while also risking your items despawning while doing so.
doPatrolSpawning - Remains Enabled
Pillager patrols will continue to spawn as they did in 1.14, as 74% of responses preferred this setting.
doTraderSpawning - Remains Enabled
The wandering trader will also continue to spawn, with 82% of responses preferred this setting.
doLimitedCrafting - Remains Disabled
Enabling this gamerule was unlikely to ever be considered, nonetheless 86% voted against it. Crafting with be unrestricted as a result.
disableRaids - Remains Disabled
Raids will remain enabled, with the support of 2/3 of the responses.
keepInventory - Remains Disabled
Another unlikely consideration which received little support, with 52% preferring it disabled and 23% having no preference. Dying will therefore drop items as normal.
doWeatherCycle - Remains Enabled
90% of responses wanted weather to remain enabled, as it likely would have anyway.
doDaylightCycle - Remains Enabled
The day/night cycle gets the highest level of support of all the gamerules, with 95% in favour. Time will continue to progress normally in 1.16.
Newly added gamerules will use their default values
The 2 new 1.16 gamerules received large majorities for their default settings, which we will keep:
forgiveDeadPlayers - Remains Enabled
82% preferred players to be forgiven by angry mobs, if said mobs see them die.
universalAnger - Remains Disabled
Nearby innocent players will not get attacked by angered mobs, after 49% of responses wanted this gamerule to remain at it's default disabled value.
Some server settings will change
We will be changing some spigot/paper/Tuinity settings based on the survey results and wanting to experiment with new things:
nerf-spawner-mobs - Will be Disabled
This setting was enabled in 1.14, and helped reduce lag from mob spawner farms. However it also makes random spawner-created mobs encountered in caves completely unresponsive to the player, which makes them pose no challenge at all.
More players would prefer it to remain enabled over being disabled, with 44% vs 17%, however 39% of responses expressed no preference on either side. As a result we would like to start 1.16 with this disabled, to make mobs in caves less of an embarrassing waste of space. Naturally, we will turn it back on if this causes performance issues.
fix-zero-tick-instant-grow-farms - Remains Enabled
Zero tick farms are apparently fixed in 1.16, however if they somehow reappear this setting will be enabled to prevent their use. 57% of responses were in favour of this remaining enabled.
use-faster-eigencraft-redstone - Remains Enabled
This setting improves the performance of Redstone, at the cost of potentially breaking some particularly complex machines. Some comments in the survey did express concerns over this setting as a result of this risk. In the end though 47% remained in favour of it, with 36% having no preference, so we shall leave it enabled.
auto-replenish - Remains Enabled
Lootable containers that have been looted and left empty will continue to refill themselves after a delay for newly visiting players, with the support of 82% of responses.
flat-bedrock - Will be Enabled
Bedrock will be generated as a flat layer in 1.16 after receiving strong support at 45% in favour and 25% with no preference.
disable-player-crits - Remains Disabled
Crits will continue to exist, with 52% in support and 38% having no preference.
disable-sprint-interruption-on-attack - Remains Disabled
58% of responses wanted sprint interruption behaviour to remain as it was in 1.14, with another 27% unsure.
disable-relative-projectile-velocity - Remains Disabled
Projectiles velocity will continue to use 1.14 behaviour, with the support of 42% of responses and 47% with no preference.
pistons-can-push-tile-entities - Will be Enabled
One of the most significant 1.16 changes will be the enabling of this setting. This allows pistons to push some tile entities, such as single chests, furnaces, campfires and more. This naturally depends on the feature being implemented in 1.16 Tuinity, which isn't guaranteed. However if it is, we shall be enabling it with the support of 45% of responses, plus 33% without a preference.
Grief Prevention settings will remain the same
The following Grief Prevention settings received support for their current 1.14 settings, and will remain the same:
BlockSurfaceCreeperExplosions - Remains Enabled
With 71% in favour, explosions above sea-level will continue to do no block damage.
EndermenMoveBlocks - Remains Enabled
58% supported endermen continuing to move blocks, with 22% having no preference. This behaviour will therefore remain enabled.
CreaturesTrampleCrops - Remains Disabled
Mobs will remain unable to trample crops, with the support of 77% of responses.
RabbitsEatCrops - Remains Enabled
Rabbits will still be able to eat crops in 1.16, after 43% voted for this to remain enabled, with 33% expressing no preference.
Claims
Claims will not automatically expire
32% of responses preferred claims to not expire due to inactivity, with 60 days just behind at 29%. After some discussion, we have decided to go with no automatic expiry, so large high-effort builds will not get griefed because the builder took a long break.
Staff can remove claims and builds at their own discretion
While claims will not automatically expire, staff will be free to remove claims at their discretion. For example, claimed unfinished builds by long inactive users, low effort builds and inactive builds in the way of active ones will all be removable. We feel this is the best compromise to ensures that high quality builds don't automatically lose protection, whilst unfinished or low quality ones can be removed to clean up the world and leave space for others to use.
Players who are affected by an inactive claim near them can continue to create modreqs as before, and we will deal with them on a case by case basis.
Lectern reading will be allowed, but other protections remain the same
71% of responses preferred that lecterns not require access trust to read. We will be following this, assuming it doesn't allow the reading player to steal the book.
All other protections will remain the same, which includes:
- Explosions - Protected: 84% in favour
- Fire spread - Not applicable as doFireTick is disabled: 80% in favour
- Fire block damage - Not applicable as doFireTick is disabled: 80% in favour
- Wooden doors - Not Protected: 52% in favour, 19% with no preference
- Wooden trap doors - Not Protected: 44% in favour, 21% with no preference
- Gates - Protected: 46% in favour, 20% with no preference
- Ender pearls - Protected: 42% in favour, 19% no preference
Additional Worlds
Mall, Pixel Art and Amplified worlds will be added
These suggestions had 68%, 85% and 64% in favour respectively.
Adding a Mall world allows for easier expansion of the mall if required. It also reduces the minimum possible size of the nether hub, and removes a possible source of fps drops for players who visit the hub, even if they aren't interested in the mall.
A Pixel Art world allows us to create an area more suited to pixel art creation, with the ability to fly and claimable plots laid out in a way that works with maps. It also frees up space in the overworld for normal builds, as we can now require pixel art to only be built in its dedicated world.
The amplified world existed in 1.14, and was a good source of sand as well as being cool to explore in its own right. There is no real downside to bringing it back in 1.16, so we shall do so.
Farm world will not be added, at least to start
Whilst the farm world idea did attract strong support at 66% in favour, we will not be adding it at the start of 1.16. The main reason for this is the possible performance improvements may not come to pass. A world dedicated to farms will likely result in more of those farms being ticked if a single person visits, even if they aren't using many of them, simply due to their proximity. Preventing this issue by spacing them out would be additional work, and causes issues with players having to travel further to reach them.
We are however open to the idea of having another hive-style world in 1.16. However, this would be on a smaller scale, and will require more planning to ensure server performance is not affected. We are considering either putting together a trusted group for this, or taking pitches for farms designs. Either way, this is for the future.