MineZ Banking System PTR

Hello Survivors!

When MineZ was first created, inventory management was one of the core principles set to govern the unique style of play. Players would be required to make decisions on which items they would keep in order to help them survive in the world. As the years passed, the items players could find evolved synchronously with the game. Many items were added, changed, or outright removed. These changes introduced a new type of item, such as old legendaries or cosmetic items. These "special" items could not be normally found in the current version of the game, so many players wanted to keep these items since they could not be obtained anymore.

However, there was no way to store such items safely while continuing to play. In order to guarantee the safety of their items, many players turned to using alternate Minecraft accounts for storage, sometimes going to extreme lengths to obtain more accounts. While this method has worked for many years (and caused a lot of headaches for the staff team), it is considered an unorthodox solution, and one that is no longer feasible for many players after Mojang announced all Minecraft Java accounts will be required to migrate to Microsoft accounts in the near future. A proper system for storing items has long been needed. However, creating such a system was an extremely daunting task. After months of planning, preparation, and development, the MineZ development team is proud to present the MineZ Banking System (a.k.a., the Bank).

Since the Bank is a big change to the fundamental core of MineZ, it will need to be tested a lot before being released to the live servers. While the development team has tested a lot internally, we now ask for your help testing the Bank. The Bank will be released to PTR soon to see how well it performs, to gather community feedback, and to correct any issues that may still be present. PTR is completely separate from the live servers, so your live player saves will NOT be affected by playing on PTR. However, we have copied all existing player data over to the PTR server, so you have the opportunity to accurately test with any special items you may possess.

With that said, some of you may have become accustomed to the "quality of life" features added in the instance PTR. This PTR will not have those features; it will reflect the live version of MineZ in order to ensure as accurate of a test environment as possible. However, this PTR will be PVE ONLY for the entire duration.

MINEZ PTR OPENS

January 16, 11 PM CST*

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!

*EDIT: As of March 6, 2021, the Bank PTR is now CLOSED. The development team would like to thank everyone who helped test during this PTR, especially those who submitted bug reports. All bug reports have been catalogued and rewards will be distributed after the Bank has been fully released to live (we haven't forgotten, we promise!).

MineZ Bank PTR Known Bug List

If the below list contains your bug, please DO NOT make a report for it.

• Your cursor “resets” to the middle of the inventory GUI when going between menus

• Hotkeys can be used to move unintended items into the bank

• Item amounts glitch when adding materials to support kits

• Blaze powder can be removed from brewing stands

• ANY MOB-RELATED ISSUES, THE CAUSE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED.
  Such as, but not limited to, the below issues:

• Trapped chests do not function properly

• Iron golems do not spawn

• Grave zombies and player zombies drop no loot

• Trapped chests do not function properly

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