Shotbow

For a limited time, we are offering an amazing bundle on the Gold premium package and a handful of cosmetics.

The Gold package ($50 value) includes seven months of premium, the Gold tag in-game, along with all other premium benefits.

Additionally, this package comes with the following cosmetics:

• Charged Creeper Balloon ($20 value)
• Gradient Armor ($7.50 value)
• Magma Lobby/SMASH particles ($10 value)
• MineZ Golden Name ($25 value)

Individually, these items are $112.50. This Black Friday special is available for only $40, at a 65% discount. Purchase now while it lasts!

I'm sure nobody was expecting another SMASH update this soon after the last one, but here we are! Last month we focused on the Halloween celebration which brought some small gameplay tweaks with items and map changes. This month I'm excited to share the details regarding the "Competitive Update"!

Full Patch Notes

Return of Rating

It's no secret that ELO (aka Rating) hasn't been seen since the Anniversary Update, and since then we've taken a step back regarding competitive play, and taken a good look at Ranked.

Rating

Previously, rating was only gained/lost through games in the Ranked playlist. However, in order to start those games at least 4 players were needed, and very seldom were games started within the past 2 seasons. We've thought about simply reducing the amount of players needed to start matches for ranked, but that doesn't solve the issue entirely; so we're opting to take a different route to ELO, and allow it to be gained through any public match. The calculation will be staying the same for this season, however we may opt to change it up in the near future.

We are hoping that introducing rating into public matches incentivizes players into playing public matches more often, and trying to rack up the highest elo! Previously the scoreboard was dominated by a select few players who participated in ranked, and this change should give everyone a shot at being on top of the stats leaderboard.

Rating cannot be gained through any party games. In addition, if you are found to be intentionally farming ELO with alts, your ELO will be reset and locked for the season. Rules regarding intentionally boosting and farming will be added to the Rules forum page prior to the Winter Season, they are present in-game via tips at the moment.

Seasons/Rewards

We won't be changing seasons up regarding length or date at the moment, however the remainder of the Fall Season (46 days left as of when this post is written) will be purely for experimental and testing purposes. This means that no rewards will be given for top placement for the current season. By the time the Winter Season rolls out, we plan to have rewards, calculations, and other features of the matchmaking system set in stone.

Please let us know if you have any feedback on ELO calculation alternatives, rewards, or anything of the sort!

Media Matches

I'm sure everyone's missed the huge party games on large maps, and we have too! Media creators and Staff will now be able to host custom matches from the Youtube Head in the lobby. (Media matches will not result in the gain or loss in ELO)

Misc Changes

We've also made some other small changes to the matchmaking system GUI; matches will now show the game status as either In Lobby, Running, or Ending. Additionally, for those who just can't pick a game to join, there's now a random join item in the top left of the GUI.



Concluding

This update isn't exactly chock full of new content, however the reintroduction of ELO and Media functionality puts us in a good spot to build off of. There's still a lot of additional features that we'd like to add to the rating system, such as a stats tracker, 2x ELO weekends, a proper tournament system, better rewards, and more! Those are all just ideas on our little roadmap, but we'd like to hear feedback on how public rating matches goes before introducing things like that.

Additionally, we're looking into opening Mini Admin Applications in the next month or two, more news on that later!

As always, thanks for flying Shotbow, and we're excited to see what the future of Smash holds o/
- The SMASH Team

Time and again MineZ has gone through many changes over the years, and this time of year is no different! Spookfest was busy and happening with constant balance changes, and we've gathered lots of valuable community feedback over the recent months about the state of the game. While we were hard at work on Spookfest, behind the scenes we've been toiling away at the next update, and we're so excited to share it with you all! Some of you likely already know what's about to come, but let's dive into the latest and greatest!


When speaking of change, nothing is more palpable than the environment that evolves around us as the year passes us by, and MineZ is following suit! Many areas of the MineZ map have been in their current state for many years, and we're excited to launch our next Biome Rework - The Autumn Forest! Comprised of what was once the Northwest Forest, you'll find that same forest has received a well deserved facelift, along with several rebuilds and new additions! We're excited to have breathed new life into a part of the map that certainly needed it, while still trying to maintain some of it's previous identity. This change also reflects our mindset about the future of MineZ, as we try and bring livelihood and content to areas that have been historically lacking or altogether empty.


Historically a staple of Spookfest and other holiday events, supply drops have been a fantastic opportunity for great loot, fun pvp, unique builds, and hype for each season. The cyclical nature of these events during the Holidays has proven to be a great way to keep the community engaged, and these kinds of in-game events are exactly what we want to see more of, so we're doing just that! Supply Drops will now be spawning more regularly outside of event seasons. However, while we want the loot to be worth fighting for, we don't want every supply drop to be a mandatory event that people would hate to miss out on! As such, these versions of supply drops have been toned down from the massive server wide events that Treat Chests usually are, which allows us to perhaps do them more frequently, with gear that's worth finding, but not too good to necessitate skipping out on other gameplay you're enjoying!

For now, Supply Drops will be running every other day (Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun), at 3pm EST (9pm CET).
We hope to continue to add schematics to the rotation that will bring us to the point of being able to do multiple drops every single day! Please be patient as we continue to monitor this system, and continue to improve upon it in the coming days, weeks, and months.


Alongside this wonderful Biome Update, you'll find just a few hidden heads scattered throughout some of the new biome! As usual, claiming the heads will grant a small xp bonus and a bit of goodies for those who find them all! This headhunt takes place exclusively in the new biome, and is a fair bit smaller than the ones of Headhunts past! As we continue to improve the Headhunt system, expect to see these fun activities return more often! As with last headhunt, you'll find some info about it in Meridian! Check under the tree to speak with Mako, the Headhunter!


Alongside a slew of adjustments to various locations around the map, which you can find in more detail in the MineZ Changelog, there are some new additions to the loot pool! Two new tiers of chests are coming to the game - Civ Rares and Tool Rares! Both of these chests serve as opportunities to diversify the loot pools for Civ and Tool chests, while also allowing us to add new items that are stronger, without throwing off the current balance of already existing chests. Keep an eye out in the near future for some more magical additions for loot!


Following many of the above loot changes, we're continuing to explore new ways of looting, obtaining gear, and interacting with the environment of Valar. To aid us in that, comes a new form of terrain you may find in a few places around the map: Grenade-able Walls!

These walls are marked by telltale signs of chipping away with visual particles. Simply throw a grenade at the wall, and it will blow it up - revealing whatever secrets may lie behind it! For now, these walls are in a select few locations, but you can expect to see more like them in the near future. As we explore that fun term of "active looting", the team will continue to explore more engaging ways of gearing that don't just involve tipping a location, and will be excited to continue to add fun, interactive elements to gameplay.


As many have been discussing within the community, there is much to be done in the world of MineZ, as we seek to make improvements to the game for the long haul, while also continuing to try to keep our current devoted community engaged. We've recently shared a few announcements about some of these changes, such as the continued search for more staff (check out the Admin and Builder applications!), the recent Team Restructure, and even our partnership with the Fair Play Saturday community Discord. Though we know changes such as these are only the beginning, we hope both recent changes, as well as these, serve to prove we are looking in the right direction. Keep an eye on the horizon and keep giving us all that valuable feedback - we're in this together. Till next time!