No complaint about faster levels here - grinding does not equal skill. Now what I'd personally like is some more actual stages of advancement, like seeking out new resources or building special structures, but just grinding - nope, don't miss it.
When something has been a bug in SMP for many versions, and running the SSP as single-player SMP causes that exact same thing to happen, it's pretty unlikely that the bug is a momentary issue caused by snapshot-ness. Also, Mojang does not fix bugs in any kind of timely manner - they just don't. It takes them many versions, and I see no reason that would magically change overnight.
Now sure, these may or may not be "game breaking", but I see no reason I'd want to deal with bad collision detection, glitchy mob movement, or any of the other SMP irritations - for no actual benefit.
The only thing I actually think they'll fix between the snapshot and the release is the not being able to pause thing, because that's:
1) Probably pretty straightforward.
2) A deal-breaker for many people, where other things may just be annoyances.
Seems like a good idea. It would be useful for several things:
* Easily set up the pre-conditions for various challenges.
* Build a trap / obstacle in Creative mode, switch to survival to see how deadly it is.
* Build an awesome structure in Survival mode, switch to Creative so that you can fly around and get screenshots from many angles.
As far as "but cheating" - apparently, some people haven't heard that mods like TMI exist. The only solution to cheating is something called self control.
The problem with "just look at the wiki / videos" is those spoil too much. You jump straight from "how do I punch trees" to "here's every recipe, the behavior of every mob, and how to build everything you need". Having a tutorial would actually be less spoilers, and let people discover more on their own.
The problem with "just play it and figure it out" is that it's nearly impossible to actually do that. I bet that most people who claimed to do so actually started out by watching videos, reading posts, and/or watching a friend play Minecraft. The majority of recipes are not that intuitive, and many of the mechanics are quirky enough you're not likely to grasp them spontaneously, especially with no way to tell what you're doing wrong.
One thing that always comes to my mind with shopkeepers / trading is the classic "but what if you just stab him and take the stuff for free" question. In some games, they just make this impossible, but I don't think that's a good fit for Minecraft. Villagers are already slayable, and Minecraft operates on a more sandbox "here's the goal, solve it how you want" method rather than a "story based" method.
Nethack has a similar situation. A shop is just a room with items. The shopkeeper is a normal creature. The shopkeeper is pretty damn tough, but if you can slay it, then you can just take the stuff. Or if you can outrun it, you can at least grab one thing. I think that's more the model for Minecraft to emulate.
There's a problem though - Villagers are already known to not be super tough. Luckily, Iron Golems definitely are. So here's how I would set up a shop:
1) Stone walled room. To be mean, use Stone Stairs, arranged sideways so they form a wall with little windows. They're 5x slower to mine through than Cobblestone, while not being valuable like Brick.
2) Locked chest. It can be broken like a normal chest (maybe a little more durable), but not opened normally.
3) Shopkeeper. Does not carry the inventory on him, he retrieves it from the chest as necessary.
4) Iron Golem. If the player attacks the shopkeeper, tries to break the walls or chest, or dumps liquid inside the shop, it will become hostile.
Of course, even with these measures, it's still possible to plunder the shop. By building, trickery, or just brute force, you can get rid of the golem, and then take what you want. Which I think is fine - Minecraft is a game where you make your own rules. But it does mean that a single shop should probably not a have a huge supply of valuable items.
Less randomness, less grinding required for the high levels (XP should really not be exponential in a game with unchanging foes), and make Silk Touch work on things you care about.
Additionally - more enchantments that actually change gameplay. All too many enchantments are just "do X but incrementally better!". Why don't we have more with unique effects like Silk Touch, Fire Aspect, Knockback, and Water Breathing? There's easily dozens of potential effects, especially when you get into weapons, so put more in use!
I have to lol at "realistic" here. I have a cat (IRL), who's sometimes sitting on my bed when I want to sleep. So - I pick him up and place him elsewhere. Not difficult. And I'm hardly a superhumanly strong miner like Steve.
Also, I must lol at "this makes cats balanced" or "now you must man up and fight creepers". If you're using your cats for creeper defense, then why would you bring them inside your house at all? Make a cat-barn, tell them to sit in there, done.
That said, I think it's a neat quirk - it should just be possible to push the cats out of the way when necessary.
If you really want to guarantee finding every vein, use branch mining with two blocks between branches, and do multiple "floors", with the branch position offset.
However, unless you're limited to mining certain chunks, you'll get better results by staying at layer 8-12 and just spreading out horizontally.
The only purpose to strip mining is if you want to excavate a large area. Even if you want huge quantities of cobblestone, branch mining will generate plenty, and some good stuff to go with it.
Spelunking, however, is another option. IME, Spelunking gives faster results for iron, coal, and lava, as long as you can handle the occasional mob. For gold and diamond, mining works better. Redstone and lapis are a gray area - spelunking might be faster to find a small amount, but for large quantities go mining.
2
1
Now sure, these may or may not be "game breaking", but I see no reason I'd want to deal with bad collision detection, glitchy mob movement, or any of the other SMP irritations - for no actual benefit.
The only thing I actually think they'll fix between the snapshot and the release is the not being able to pause thing, because that's:
1) Probably pretty straightforward.
2) A deal-breaker for many people, where other things may just be annoyances.
4
* Easily set up the pre-conditions for various challenges.
* Build a trap / obstacle in Creative mode, switch to survival to see how deadly it is.
* Build an awesome structure in Survival mode, switch to Creative so that you can fly around and get screenshots from many angles.
As far as "but cheating" - apparently, some people haven't heard that mods like TMI exist. The only solution to cheating is something called self control.
1
The problem with "just play it and figure it out" is that it's nearly impossible to actually do that. I bet that most people who claimed to do so actually started out by watching videos, reading posts, and/or watching a friend play Minecraft. The majority of recipes are not that intuitive, and many of the mechanics are quirky enough you're not likely to grasp them spontaneously, especially with no way to tell what you're doing wrong.
1
Nethack has a similar situation. A shop is just a room with items. The shopkeeper is a normal creature. The shopkeeper is pretty damn tough, but if you can slay it, then you can just take the stuff. Or if you can outrun it, you can at least grab one thing. I think that's more the model for Minecraft to emulate.
There's a problem though - Villagers are already known to not be super tough. Luckily, Iron Golems definitely are. So here's how I would set up a shop:
1) Stone walled room. To be mean, use Stone Stairs, arranged sideways so they form a wall with little windows. They're 5x slower to mine through than Cobblestone, while not being valuable like Brick.
2) Locked chest. It can be broken like a normal chest (maybe a little more durable), but not opened normally.
3) Shopkeeper. Does not carry the inventory on him, he retrieves it from the chest as necessary.
4) Iron Golem. If the player attacks the shopkeeper, tries to break the walls or chest, or dumps liquid inside the shop, it will become hostile.
Of course, even with these measures, it's still possible to plunder the shop. By building, trickery, or just brute force, you can get rid of the golem, and then take what you want. Which I think is fine - Minecraft is a game where you make your own rules. But it does mean that a single shop should probably not a have a huge supply of valuable items.
3
What happens if you surround a light source with 2+ different colors of glass though?
1
Additionally - more enchantments that actually change gameplay. All too many enchantments are just "do X but incrementally better!". Why don't we have more with unique effects like Silk Touch, Fire Aspect, Knockback, and Water Breathing? There's easily dozens of potential effects, especially when you get into weapons, so put more in use!
1
Also, I must lol at "this makes cats balanced" or "now you must man up and fight creepers". If you're using your cats for creeper defense, then why would you bring them inside your house at all? Make a cat-barn, tell them to sit in there, done.
That said, I think it's a neat quirk - it should just be possible to push the cats out of the way when necessary.
1
However, unless you're limited to mining certain chunks, you'll get better results by staying at layer 8-12 and just spreading out horizontally.
The only purpose to strip mining is if you want to excavate a large area. Even if you want huge quantities of cobblestone, branch mining will generate plenty, and some good stuff to go with it.
Spelunking, however, is another option. IME, Spelunking gives faster results for iron, coal, and lava, as long as you can handle the occasional mob. For gold and diamond, mining works better. Redstone and lapis are a gray area - spelunking might be faster to find a small amount, but for large quantities go mining.
1