Shotbow

Hello again!



Changelog

• Fully updated to 1.16.2
• Lobby:
  • No more signs! Now features an entirely new matchmaking browser for easily setting up a game or joining others.
  • Maps now display their builder.
• Gameplay:
  • Waves are now randomized and endless. Mobs are still introduced in the same waves they were previously, but now each wave has slightly randomized amounts of each mob. The mob count per wave scales with the player count. Additionally, the game no longer randomly cuts off at wave 23. If you can get to wave 100, I'll be impressed...
  • Mob relocation now happens passively in the background. If a mob is too far away from any players, it will automatically be teleported to a closer spawn point. No more waiting 10 minutes to find that last spider or chicken!
  • Axes now function similarly to the Smasher from SMASH. They will break after a single use, but deal massive AOE damage.
  • Buying potions no longer completely breaks the game.
  • The hotbar gold indicator now displays up to 99.
  • Dropping gold is now much easier.
  • Fletched Arrows are now bought four at a time.
  • Shiny Metal Armor has been removed. All Shiny Metal Armor shops have been replaced with Gleaming Armor shops.
  • Lowered the price of Gleaming Armor to match Shiny Metal Armor prices.
  • Otherworldly Armor has been replaced. I wonder what it could be...
• Mobs:
  • Chickens are fast again.
  • Zombies now can spawn with randomized gear.
  • Skeletons now drop Fletched Arrows.
  • Spiders no longer get stuck on ceilings.
  • Creepers now drop gold on explosion.
• And many small adjustments!

Hello Survivors!

The Purpose of PTR

Rigorous testing is a critical development component of any new product. It ensures that the product is not faulty and can be redistributed to the consumers. If a faulty product is distributed, there are always repercussions, some of which are very hard to recover from. The Bank has to work near-perfectly before being released to the live servers. We simply cannot afford to release a version that risks some of the worst-case scenarios occurring (e.g, item duplication or item loss glitches). The occurrence of a worst-case scenario would ultimately undermine the integrity of the Bank system and immensely hurt the game as a whole.

With that said, there is only so much the development team can test on our own. We can simulate how a player might use the Bank (or how they might break it) for days, but in the end there are no better testers than those who will use the feature in-game.

Risk vs. Reward

As obvious as it may seem to have a public test, there are many pros and cons that the team considered before making a final decision. One of those factors was player interaction. For as many players that will test, provide feedback, report bugs, and overall help make the Bank a quality product for everyone, there are many that will look for ways to exploit the Bank for themselves.

Considering the importance of being near-perfect upon live release, we have decided that we will be offering some rewards for helping test and reporting bugs. Each bug reported that has not already been reported, and verified by a dev as a bug, will receive a prize for their contribution. A list of known bugs with the PTR can be found in the first comment of this thread; please DO NOT make a report for anything explicitly specified on the list, it will not be eligible for a reward and we are already aware of the issue. If you don't want to fill out a report for a reward, please still submit any and all feedback! Also, please note that the developer team holds the right to decide what reward each reported bug deserves, the outline below is a guide for your convenience and is not absolute. However, rest assured reporting all the bugs you find will be worth your time. The general reward thresholds and the requirements to receive rewards are outlined below.

Reward

Reward Thresholds

• Major Bug
  • Bugs that significantly affect overall function and could harm the game; e.g, duping, data loss, rollbacks, etc.
  • A very special reward. More details will be provided to the player at the time of reward distribution.
  • Possible rewards: A special in-game item, a large XP reward (~20,000), a free in-game cosmetic effect

• Medium Bug
  • Bugs that affect overall functionality, but are not as significant as major bugs; e.g, abnormal inventory interactions, the bank pages cannot be opened, etc.
  • Possible rewards: A medium XP reward (~5,000)

• Minor Bug
  • Bugs that do not affect the overall function but should still be fixed; items dropping randomly, not stacking correctly, etc.
  • Possible rewards: A small XP reward (~1,000)

Reward Requirements

In order for your bug report to be eligible for a reward, the following format and information must be included in your report:

• Player Name:
  • The in-game name you were using when the bug occurred.

• Date and Time:
  • The approximate date and time of when the bug occurred (be sure to include a timezone!).

• Description of the Issue:
  • A short description of what the issue is and what the expected behavior should be.

• Evidence of Issue:
  • Only ONE form of evidence outlined below is required, however as much information as you can provide is very appreciated
    • A video clearly showing the bug, including approximately 30 seconds before and after the bug's occurrence. A text list of recreation steps should be included to supplement the video.
    • OR A series of screenshots clearly showing the bug (as much as possible) uploaded to an imgur album (or similar service) with a DETAILED text list of re-creation steps. It is important that these steps can be easily followed so we can reproduce the issue!

• Additional Information:
  • Any other useful information or comments. Please only include if applicable, stating "none" is not necessary.

EXAMPLE REPORT:

• Player Name:
  • ShadowLAX

• Date and Time:
  • January 17th, 2021, at 12 PM CST

• Description of the Issue:
  • Issue: When I open a bank page, the bank page features are missing. The inventory title and toolbar options are incorrect/missing.
  • Expected: The bank navigator toolbar should be visible at the bottom of the page and the title should read "Main Bank Page x/max".

• Evidence of Issue:
  • Video: Link
  • Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/YfnMCGw
  • Step 1: Open the bank menu normally by right-clicking
  • Step 2: Open the main bank page selector
  • Step 3: Open any page
  • Step 4: The toolbar is not visible, and the inventory title is incorrect

After you have filled out your report, you can submit it by sending a DM to ShadowLAX either on the forums or by filling out this Google form. Do NOTpost reports in any publicly-viewed forum; doing so will result in that report becoming ineligible for a reward. You will be contacted through the same medium if the development team has any additional questions and for coordination of your reward, so be sure to check the conversation occasionally. These rewards will last until well after the live release, but please be sure to send in bugs as you find them!

Risk

We want to make it clear that you will not get in trouble for finding bugs and experimenting with them on PTR. The fine line between a ban (or potential blacklist) and a reward is simply reporting it. There will be a ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY for not reporting bugs that have the potential for exploitation (most notably, duping). If we find out that a similar-typed bug has not been reported, and we know that the player plans to exploit said bug when the Bank is released to live, YOU WILL BE PERMANENTLY BANNED. This will be the only warning you receive. And to be extra safe, we have added multiple security measures with the Bank. No matter how sly you may think you are, the odds of getting away with anything is not in your favor.

The Banking System

Accessing the Bank

Currently, the Bank has been placed at each major spawn town (Geuten, Carmi, Romero, Portsmouth, Pravus, Grimdale, and Kaocho). In each of these towns, a structure similar to the image below contains an ender chest. Right-click this ender chest to open your Bank.



The Bank Structure

The Bank is a per-player item storage system, meaning only you have access to your items while they are stored in the Bank. It is composed to two separate "banks", the "main bank" and the "legacy bank." The difference between the
banks will be discussed in the next section, however the overall structure is the same. From the main menu (pictured below), left-click one of the bank options to open the page selector.



The page selector displays all your pages available to be used for storage. Left-click one of the pages to open that page.
Generally, a "page" consists of a 4x9 chest inventory that you can put items in (pictured below).



Once a page (pictured below) is opened, you can place your items into the page, similar as you would for any other chest. When finished, you can close the inventory to exit, the items would be saved automatically and available the next time you open the bank. The bottom row contains options to navigate to the next and previous pages (if available) and to return to the page selector. No items can be placed in the bottom row.



The Main Bank vs. The Legacy Bank

As mentioned in the section above, the Bank is composed of the "main bank" and the "legacy bank." The main difference between the two bank types is the items that you can store and the total number of storage spaces available.

The main bank allows you to store ALMOST ANY item you have or may find in the world. This includes, but is not limited to, armor, weapons, potions, food, legendaries, cosmetics, and rares. If it's in your inventory, or it can generally be found in the world, it can likely be stored in the main bank. There are a few exceptions that will be explicitly stated later in this section. Main bank storage is limited.

The legacy bank allows you to store any item that is CURRENTLY NOT OBTAINABLE in the game. This includes cosmetics, legacy items, and rare items. If it can be found through normal means in the game (including, but not limited to, loot chests, mobs, and dungeons), it CANNOT be placed in the legacy bank. In general, the function of this bank is to store cosmetics and legacy items. Like the main bank, there are a few exceptions that are explained below. Legacy bank storage is also limited.

Both banks have some special case items that are either not storable or are limited. These exceptions are stated below. Please note that this list is not exhaustive and is subject to change.

• Bags
  • Bags are limited to ONE OF EACH COLOR in the ENTIRE bank.
  • Bags must be completely empty in order to be stored in the bank.
  • Normal storage filtering applies (e.g, if it is currently obtainable in-game, it can only be placed in the main-bank).

• Soulbound Items
  • Soulbound items CANNOT be placed in EITHER bank.

Bank Storage

For THIS PTR ONLY, everyone will be given FOUR pages in both the main and legacy bank. This is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to test the pagination. This number is subject to change, but if it does, it will only increase. That being said, these numbers ARE NOT the live-release storage defaults; they will be announced at the time that the Bank is released to live. Additionally, while not released with this PTR, there will be ways to expand bank storage in the future.

Closing

We recognize that this system may not be what some players might have been expecting, but we are committed to making the Bank as fair and useful to everyone, from the veterans to the new guys. We believe that this system is the best compromise in regards to giving players a place to store their special items while maintaining one of the core principles of MineZ.

Even though time is running out before Mojang starts locking accounts, we will not be releasing the Bank until it is ready to be released. It will remain in PTR indefinitely until such time. The time at which Bank is fully released is entirely up to you, the players; the more testing that is done, and the more bug reports that are submitted, the faster the Bank will be released. That being said, it is important to note that nothing is absolutely final and everything is subject to change over the testing period.

We thank you in advance for helping test and providing any and all feedback while Bank is in this public testing phase!

As always, and until next time,


Thanks for flying Shotbow!

Happy New Years, Survivors!

Off the heels of the MineZ Wonderland event and the end of the crazy year that 2020 was, let's take a few moments to reflect on where we started this year and where we are now. After that we can jump into what's coming with this update!

2020 In Review

2020 proved to be one of the most influential years for MineZ as a whole. After the slump we found ourselves in getting MineZ updated to a 1.12.2 code base and finally releasing the long-awaited MineZ: Origins update, we promised everyone we could continue releasing routine updates to MineZ.

Below is a list of every major update thread we released throughout 2020:

• MineZ's 1.12.2 PTR Release
• MineZ: Our Story
• MineZ: Origins - Official Trailer
• MineZ: Origins - Changelog & Release Thread
• MineZ Map & Zerbia Challenge
• MineZ: Books, Dungeons and Towns, Oh My!
• MineZ: Loot Rebalance PTR
• MineZ: Loot Overhaul Update
• MineZ: Future Sight
• MineZ: The Adventurer's Update
• MineZ: First Steps
• MineZ: Spookfest 2020
• MineZ: Scratching The Surface
• MineZ: Wonderland 2020
• MineZ: Military Loot Overhaul PTR

Fifteen major update threads! It's easy to see that this was the biggest year for content in MineZ. Obviously we won't go into great detail on what each release included, you're welcome to explore the past threads at your leisure. We feel it's important for everyone to reflect and see that the only way for MineZ is forward.

Development Changes

The latter half of 2020 saw DocCodeSharp leave the team. In his leave, several new developers stepped up to the plate and began to work on MineZ. After the Adventurer's Update we had to make some changes and learn the backend of MineZ.

Moving forward was not going to be an easy task, but with a team of five developers it started to become easier, and the team learned how to work together.

halowars91, ShadowLAX, InstantLightning, JACOBSMILE, and Marine_PvP. All of them stepped up to the challenge and
continued developing new features, fixing bugs, and bringing a fresh view into the core of MineZ.

Learning to Innovate

MineZ is both a blessing and a curse for the same reason. Simply put, MineZ is an old game. When you look at a lot of older Minecraft gamemodes, not a lot can say that they've been around for 8 years and still see active development to this day.

We worked tirelessly on the MineZ Origins release and wanted to continue building on that foundation. However, as a team we stepped back and determined that a lack of innovation would cause MineZ to stagnate. With this in mind we pivoted in a different direction. Our goal was simple in concept yet difficult in execution: to bring MineZ into the present day.

Back when MineZ was released in 2012 it fit a niche that had not yet been filled in Minecraft. Back when Minecraft was simpler the thought of stitching servers together and effectively playing with hundreds of players at a time was unheard of.

Now in this day and age we had to face the facts that MineZ was not that same game anymore - yet that's not necessarily a bad thing. It left a lot of room for us to grow and bring some much needed features into the spotlight. We always look at the addition of bags in MineZ as a prime example of this innovation: the ability to expand your inventory sounded simple on paper, yet it opened up a whole new avenue of possibilities for MineZ -

And it's only going to get better from here.

Changes for 2021

Internally we have been working to solidify our development and streamline MineZ's workflow. One of our biggest change was to direct the focus of everyone on the team towards a theme for each month. While we will continue regular patches throughout each month, we want to ask ourselves what we want to see out of a larger content update for each month.

Our plan is simple: We'll meet regularly and discuss current and future plans for MineZ's development and game design. You may have already noticed this thread is being written under a new forum account specifically for the MineZ Team. This is for a good reason.

MineZ is a now more than ever a team effort. Everyone has a place on this team whether they're a builder, admin, or developer. Our plan is to leave no stone unturned when producing content for the game. If it's not fun or possibly damages the vision of MineZ going forward, there are plans in place to discuss and deliberate - both internally and externally - on these ideas and goals.

There's been a lot of reminiscing and foundational talks so far in this thread, and you're probably ready to see what we've got in store for this update! This New Year marks a fresh start on new and revised content in MineZ, and this update is the first of many more to come.

Legendary Reworks

Every month, our plan is to rework a few legendary items and gradually update every single one to be not only more effective, but also more fun to use. Our goal is to gradually move away from "random chance" items in favor of a style more catered to using their effects when the time is right through triggered and passive abilities. With this in mind we also want to introduce more utility legendary items; this update includes an example of a utility legendary rework alongside a combat-oriented legendary.

This update includes reworks to the Phantom Blade and Gamble.
(View the MineZ Changelog for specifics regarding these reworks)

You can expect these kind of reworks for different legendary items every month! While some may retain their original theme or style you can also look forward to more unique changes that offer new gameplay experiences to all players.

Military Loot Overhaul

We've run a Military Loot PTR that tested some proposed changes to MineZ's military loot. The community voiced their concerns on where gearing up felt underwhelming or unfun, we've taken a careful note of this and have worked to tune military loot to feel more rewarding.

Generally speaking, gearing up should be a little faster than before and you should be able to find late-game gear in more locations. We understand that this is an ongoing battle as it will continue to be something the team refines and adjusts, so feel free to share your feedback!

What's Old is New Again

The banner image of this thread depicts an overgrown forest - possibly a jungle? And there's some sort of Shelter in the Trees...

Yes, that's right! We've brought back a location that has been missing since the Origins release - Treetop Shelter! Fully reimaged and built by EnderMCx, this location is a beautiful stop on your way to Agni Ignis; we're certain this will be an attractive stop during your trek through the jungle.

"Where's Waddles?" Wrap-up

Our favorite penguin Waddles has left us once again, but on his way out he left gifts for those who found all of his hiding spots!

The Wonderland 2020 thread promised to give rewards for this event just after December 25th, though we ran into a couple snags that delayed that slightly. Thankfully these have been resolved, and the winners will be receiving their prizes soon!

wmn will be reaching out to the winners with details on how to claim your special prizes. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Ongoing Projects

Bank Progress

As a follow-up to bags in MineZ we've been working on a banking system in the background to help store all of your favorite goodies in MineZ. We still can't share an exact timeline for release, but rest assured, it's getting close.

We suggest keeping an eye on the Shotbow Discord and right here on the forums for when more information is released. It may come sooner than you expect...

Instance Upgrades

Another goal is to branch dungeon instances off of the main game servers. This carries many benefits, but the main one is for better overall performance. Minecraft has a hard time running multiple worlds with lots of entities and redstone at a given time. In our current framework, dungeon worlds all load on the original requesting MineZ server, and as a result performance takes a hit. Spreading this load out gives us immediate performance benefits in addition to lots of future flexibility.

We've been running a PTR for this upgrade project and are beginning to feel more and more confident on the new system each day. Stay tuned for more information!

Cleaning House

There's been a lot on our backlog of projects for a while now. With that in mind we are going to be spending the remainder of January working to gradually churn out quality of life improvements, bug fixes, and requested features that have been collecting dust for too long.

Conclusion

2020 was a crazy year. We don't like to bring down these update threads, but we hope everyone stayed healthy during the global pandemic. It's been tough for some, but we hope that everything slowly turns for the better.

As for MineZ, we are continuing work as always, and we have a lot of exciting things to look forward to! Once again, Happy New Year, and we'll see you in our next update thread.

Thanks for flying Shotbow!