Shotbow

Hello Survivors!

Today, we’re bringing you many updates across a broad spectrum of MineZ topics. First and foremost:

What's in the Chest?

As I am sure you are all familiar with by now, this past Friday we opened PTR to test out a MAJOR loot overhaul to create a better sense of progression, fill gaps throughout the game, and create a better reward for travelling further north.

First and foremost, we have made some large adjustments to how you progress in the world of MineZ. In a nutshell, we are migrating from a 3-tiered progression to a 5-tiered progression.

Progression Changes

Armor will now progress as follows:

1. Leather Armor
2. Studded Leather Armor
3. Chain Armor
4. Pristine Chain Armor
5. Iron Armor

Additionally, we are streamlining our internal systems for looting. We now internally rank each location in MineZ based on a variety of factors, and while this ranking will remain internal, the loot will now better reflect these changes. Because of this change, we have replaced every military chest on the map.

Every tier of military chest will spawn the armor of that tier, with a small chance to spawn the tier above it (excluding mil_commons). This allows us to have a more fluid method of looting, but also keeping the idea of going north to find better gear to be the main focus.

We will be observing the game closely following this update. Changes may happen, and we will be listening to all player feedback during this transition.

Dungeon Changes

With this update, we are also adjusting the loot you can find in dungeons. We have developed a revised tier system for us to use when looting dungeons. These changes not only reflect the new loot progression, but also have helped to balance some dungeons which may not have been quite where we wanted them. These changes should hopefully reflect our new looting philosophy, and help pave the way for future dungeon releases.

Mythic Chests

Mythic Chests were at one time placed and used on the MineZ Map as basically a better Epic chest. However now, Mythic chests are going to be a proper tier in the progression system outlined above. Epic Chests will be shifted to spawn Pristine Chain Armor, while Mythic Chests will have Iron Armor as the star of the show.

Furthermore, we have added a brand new Axe type to Mythic Chests. I also hear that Giants may drop these as well....

More exact chest changes can be found on this thread.

What is a Picture Worth?

MineZ is a world rich with picturesque landscape, towns, and legendary locations. Over the past eight years the map has grown; builders and community members alike contributing to its shared legacy.

This month we’ll be kicking off the MineZ Summer Screenshot contest. We are encouraging you to get out there, trek across the vast landscape, and find a location that speaks to you. Snap a photo of it using any shaderpack you want, and submit it at the link below.

Submission Link

Theme

We are looking for screenshots that would look great as a wallpaper. You will be judged on how closely you adhere to this theme, so be creative! The winner's image will be featured as one of the backgrounds on the Shotbow website!

Judging

You will be judged in the following areas:

• Creativity
• Originality
• Adherence to Theme

Rules

• All pictures must be taken in game on Shotbow. Screenshots featuring locations world downloaded will be removed from the competition and any violators will be subject to punishment as detailed in our rules.
• While the use of a Shaderpack is encouraged, you may not use any textures other than default Minecraft textures.
• You may only submit one picture. You may resubmit as many times as you like up until the deadline. Your last submission will be used.
• Post-processing of images is not allowed. If any images are discovered to have gone through post-processing they will be removed and you will be disqualified.
• All images must be uploaded to a file sharing website, such as http://www.imgur.com.

Prizes

• 40,000 Shotbow XP
• A unique In-game Item
• Your image featured on the Shotbow website.

In addition, the running up 14 contestants will receive a special item, commemorating this event.

Good Luck!

Community Montage

Our Shotbow Film Crew is proud to announce the MineZ Community Montage! We are looking for submissions of your favorite moments of exploration, fights, dungeon runs, or comedy!

You may have briefly seen this announced on our Twitter asking for your favorite moments from the Origins release. We have decided to expand outwards and accept all of your favorite moments, Origins related or otherwise.

Submission Link

Testament to the Divine

As noted in the Zerbia Challenge post, the symbols of the elemental gods are now available for purchase in our store!



Ignite your faith in the elemental gods!

You can purchase each one for $2 USD, or the bundle for $6 USD.

Visit our store today!

Zerbia Challenge Results

Survivors banded together and fought through hoards of undead pirates and some of the trickiest parkour in the hardest dungeon to be released to the MineZ world. We rewarded the first three teams who completed the dungeon, and the results are below. Congratulations to all of the winners!

First Place: Alqddin, BurnedApplePie, Lil_Jeffy, PaintballSnail, MuffinMinister, hora6112, Grenade2YourFace, FastGhastBlast, cathKitten, Saints_Evovled, DJ_Sydney, ShmeckleBoy, rudyroker3, Archi_, Acuz_, MineZBandit

Second Place: SiSaSten, DelayedThunder, FadingGeneral, Nokah

Third Place: suichaso, UltimateNemumi, Gloza, soumendaisuki, OGiMaMa_Club, wing117117117, _Laynor, LynariZ

Transform the world!

As a reminder to those of you in the community looking to leave your mark on the world, with the previous MineZ Update, we released several small portions of the map. These are locations we are actively looking for rebuilds/new builds in, and we encourage you to take a shot at it.

We are looking into ways of rewarding players for getting a build accepted. As a builder I understand the commitment it takes to complete projects like these, so while seeing your build added to the map may be exciting, a little extra prize never hurts...

Saens Rebuild

• A minor location in the eastern savannah biome. Provided is a range for what we're looking for rather than the build. You do not need to conform to the current style of Saens.

Possible Savannah Minor Build

• A range for a minor location in the eastern savannah biome.

Possible Savannah Medium Build

• A range for a medium location in the eastern savannah biome. This location would also replace Saens.

McIovinville Rebuild

• A minor location in the snow biome. You may choose to scrap all of McLovinVille and build something entirely different.

Desert Savannah

• An area for a minor / medium sized location in a biome otherwise completely inhabited by dungeons.

Do the ends justify the means?

With the release of Origins, we saw the continuation of the MineZ story. Players have taken this thread as far as you can go until MineZ: Endgame. With Origin’s changelog, I promised an update on Endgame this month.

In the weeks since MineZ: Origins, we have seen dwindling numbers on MineZ which is indicative of many issues. From dungeons behaving differently on live servers to strange issues we had not foreseen, we’ve had our hands full. While gameplay lag has been largely reduced and bugs have been squashed as they arise, we are seeing a crucial issue. MineZ is not innovating.

Internally, this has been the topic of a lot of discussion. How do we take this game and move forward while keeping the community in mind? As shown by Origins, dungeons seem to only cater to one group of players. We can not continue as a gamemode simply by catering to specific groups and not addressing some of the prevalent issues we know exist.

Now, do not worry. This dungeon is not cancelled and it hasn’t fallen into entropy. Simply put, we can not turn our back on the server while doubling down on this path. I do not believe it is the best use of our time currently. We are expanding the build team, and other dungeons will come throughout the summer, but this dungeon is a special case.

Just this past week our master redstoner Pichu2002 optimized a specific section of this dungeon, cutting the command blocks in one area from 900 to 400. This kind of optimization is going to be needed as we pour over data from the Origins launch and apply it to rooms we are reevaluating.

New experiences are needed, gameplay must change and the MineZ of old must be allowed to change. It is for these reasons why many of us over the past month have diverted our efforts from this dungeon (which would only be accessible to the small amount of the server that could get to this point) to macro issues within the game.

As you have already seen, loot has been a contentious issue. It is our hope that with this loot overhaul so soon after Origins, we are creating a solid progression system that fills in the gaps and allows players more autonomy in how they play the game.

From here, we will be transitioning into another issue; factors that affect replayability.

On this note, Doc and I have been working closely to create the much needed Quest System. While we are not prepared to announce a release date for this, I know it will be one of the biggest, most positive changes to the game ever made.

Quests will provide the opportunity for players to organically discover the world, get rewards and complete objectives. We are excited to talk more about this robust questing system in the future, but know this is only one of many avenues we are working on now to bring players in and keep old players entertained.

Closing

The end of one project does not signal the end of all projects. This month is proving to be a very important month for Shotbow and we intend to provide as much information as we can about our vision for MineZ with you.

We are actively seeking community input to help shape this game. We are reevaluating where our time should be spent, and really trying to bring you something special this summer.

This game is our passion and we are committed to seeing it thrive again.

Until next time….

Thanks for flying Shotbow!

It's the weekend, Shotbow, and this weekend in particular we're going to give When in Rogue previews a break to bring you a long awaited update to SMASH. Take a break between MineZ runs on the loot re-balance on PTR to SMASH things up! The rip roaring knockback PvP mode with destructible terrain, easy to learn and hard to master mechanics, and ever so entertaining pickups to bend the arena to your will. There was a post in the SMASH forums announcing the update with a changelog, but here is the summary for your amusement:

Added:

• New “Quick Menu” which allows for players to: Create Parties + Invite Players, Join/Leave Ranked queues, teleport to the game signs, and modify KO Sound, Particle trail, and pets. In a party, the quick menu allows the host to modify items, lives, time, and pause the countdown, party members can join teams through this menu.
• 8 New KO Sounds (Villager Grunt, Wither Spawn/Death, Shulker taunt (and Deep Shulker Taunt, my favorite), Creeper Sizzle, Bat Death, Wololo)
• 3 new items (Shadow Walk, Homing Snowball Of Doom, and Extra Life), with the potential for more to show up as the weekend progresses.
• Team battles return: a party game feature that allows you to settle the age old question - Red or Blue? (or yellow or green)
• Streamlined party interface to make gathering for a custom game easier
• In a party, the quick menu allows the host to modify items, lives, time, and pause the countdown, party members can join teams through this menu.

Changed:

• Updated to 12.2 base
• Moved spawn closer to the game signs for easier access
• Ranked Matches will no longer become “stuck”. In addition, Admins now have the ability to change the items and maps that are in play for ranked maps, which means you won't be seeing Smashmas there anytime soon…
• Quitting as a Party leader in a normal match no longer brings everyone with you
• Being party leader in a normal match no longer gives you reduced XP
• Kill count after the game has ended is now properly counted
• Nerfed the Jetpack (6 Uses -> 4 Uses)
• Fixed Instant Teleporter, before it would force the player to face south, now it keeps the direction the player was facing upon teleportation
• Addressed an issue with non responsive jump velocity that would sometimes occur
• Fixed a memory leak that led to the server lagging poorly after hours of running

Perks this weekend!

If this isn't enough to get you to play, SMASH will have 3x XP multiplier on Saturday and Sunday! Come join in on the fun!

Hello Survivors,

The MineZ Balance team has been hard at work looking at the overall feel of progression and looting in the game over the past month, and we are rolling out a large overhaul to the loot and progression system to PTR for public testing.

This will be a short PTR, so please take some time and try out the new progression and leave feedback on this thread.

PTR will open Friday night (CST).

This PTR will also have PVP disabled, as we are simply testing the progression and feel of loot, so please keep feedback related to these aspects.

Progression

We are adding two new tiers of armor into the game to smooth out the sharp progression curves we currently have.

It will now progress like this:

1. Leather Armor
2. Studded Leather Armor (Enchanted Protection 1)
3. Chain Armor
4. Pristine Chain Armor (Enchanted Protection 1)
5. Iron Armor

Studded Leather and Pristine Chain Armor will repair with itself as you would normally see with the original three tiers of armor.

We are shifting to a more Risk vs. Reward system. This means, while you may find less quantities of chests in locations, you will find more quality loot. One of the main sticking points of this update was to remove the "Junk Items" in higher tier chests, and encourage the more gradual progression into the north. Dangerous locations in the far north, you can expect to find the best gear.

You will no longer find loot of the previous tier in chests of mil_uncommon and higher, however, you will have a very rare chance to find the tier above it. This was our main attempt at removing "Junk Items" and increasing the quality of loot in higher tier chests.

Dungeon loot will be adjusted at a later time. Dungeons are closed on PTR, but the balance team is still in discussions about dungeon progression and loot. More information on that to come!

Mythic Chests

Once upon a time, we briefly had mil_mythic chests on the map, and they were basically a slightly better mil_epic chest. Simply put, these did not accomplish what we had wanted, so we are trying this again. Mythic chests will only have Iron, and the best tiers of weaponry. This includes a brand new weapon.

Mythic Chests are going to be the best way to obtain Iron Armor, and will be in the most secluded and dangerous locations on the map. It is important to stress that Iron Armor is the most end-game you can get, and the most end-game map locations you can expect to find Iron Armor.

Closing

The PTR server will only be open for a few days. This update is slated to roll to the live servers this coming Sunday the 14th. So in this time, please log into PTR and try out the changes, and give us your thoughts and concerns. A more in-depth update thread will release on Sunday with more specific loot changes, and a few other words from the build team.

Thanks for flying Shotbow!