Tobberz

As far as I can see, the decline in player numbers on every Minecraft server is not because Minecraft is dying, but rather because the Java Edition is.

Whether you look at Empire War or a larger server (like Hypixel), numbers have been decreasing. This represents a large trend across the Java Edition multiplayer 'community'. However, the Bedrock Edition (i.e: Windows 10, Pocket edition, etc) is booming.

Mineplex recently shut down a few of it's Java Edition servers... and opened up more on Bedrock. Naturally I hope this trend can be reversed, and with a future PvP update on behalf of Mojang perhaps it can. But honestly, I don't think Mojang wants to encourage Java Multiplayer.

For many years, especially after the Microsoft acquisition, Mojang has been annoyed at the comparative independence and freedom of Java servers. Even now, Mojang has not released official server software for Bedrock. They'd much rather have players use vetted servers such as Hypixel and Mineplex, or Realms.

Until recently, Mojang had no alternative to the likes of us, they just had to live with it. But now, Bedrock offers the Minecraft experience with greater control from Mojang. So of course they'll let Java Multiplayer die.

I'm going away on a three week interrailing trip tomorrow morning, with a few friends. We're travelling from Prague to Istanbul, stopping at Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Varna and Sofia along the way.

This obviously means I won't be around to do anything on EW, and will likely miss the end of Blackflames.

Tim's told me that he'll finish setting up Black Gate and Edhellond in the mean time, and sort out classes with Olex. Hopefully we'll start getting players on after this update.

After a three week break, I'll probably feel more inspired and enthusiastic too, so you might see more of me. On October 1st, however, I'm off to University (York) to study English for 3 years. I should think I'll have time to stay around here, but we'll see.

No idea what the Wi-Fi situation will be in Europe, so bye for now.

*Suddenly out of nowhere a rock hits me*
"No lollygaging."

In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't been around for the past week. This is because my Wi-Fi is down. It should be fixed on Monday, and I am typing this extremely quickly as I have only 20 minutes of free internet per day at this hotel.

Aaaah! Quick! Goodbye!

Found this.

Edgy

We're detecting a massive object emerging from hyperspace!

Hey guys,
The Blackflames Roleplay server is coming back for the 3rd year running. Although Hentz appears to be taking a less major role than last time, TheBaLANced and co. are doing really well getting everything together again.

In order that this server is even better than the last, you should go to the below thread and comment on what was good/bad about last time, and what you would like to see this time.

Can you spot the real Tobberz?

Unfortunately, due to upcoming major exams, I have decided to drag myself away from Empire War for a time. This does not mean complete inactivity, just reduced activity.

I'll still definitely be on on weekends, but over the next few months I doubt I'll be on much more.

I won't go radio silent either, but don't expect me to arrive if summoned. I'm sure there are plenty of other capable Mods who can help out.

In terms of EpicQuestz, I'll still be around a little, but I'll go into more detail on the EQ discord.

I'm sure you will all cope xD

Hey there.
As many of you will know, I'm a Creator (i.e: Admin) on EpicQuestz, the build server associated with Empire War. I needn't go into further detail about this, as you will likely all know of it... here's the website anyway: http://www.epicquestz.com

The server itself is funded via Empire War donations, which Tim kindly allocates to us as well. However, the website is not. Up until recently the website was funded by the founder of EpicQuestz, Lockrules, however due to his current inactivity it is neither expected nor asked of him to continue funding it.

Basically, any help would be great. It's not that much every month, and is effectively the creative face of the server to the world. I can pay it month by month, but as a long term solution I don't find that to be sustainable.

If you would like to help out, the group pay can be found here.

If in the next 6 days, nothing happens, I will of course pay for it myself, and look further into long-term solutions.

Let me guess... someone stole your sweetroll?

You will all be pleased to know that in the first month of this year the staff team has:

Banned 23 people permanently;
Banned 2 people temporarily;
Muted 8 people temporarily.
This includes banning alts.

That's an average of 1.06 people per day xD

Also to stimulate some competition in the staff team (hehe it's a joke, we're very professional), here are the punishment (ban/mute) rankings:

StealWonders: 9 punished
Dr_olex: 6 punished
Antzorg: 5 punished
sjoerdtim: 4 punished
Freek_: 4 punished
Tobberz: 3 punished
Gelek: 1 punished

My excuse is inactivity not inadequacy. Now I wait for Tim's wrath for making this public

Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

To my Scottish friends, I hope you have such an enjoyable Burns' Night as I.

Something new... but something old. Reached 43 players today on EW, which is wonderful.

Why do you have only 1,429 post likes you pleb.

Take part in our Empire War survey, whether you play on the server regularly or not. The more responses, the better.

Link

Tob,

I am very sorry. I seem to have failed you. I did not like your post first, only second.
For this I must apologise

P.S. Don't hate me...

Yours sincerely,
That epic guy down the road

Update involving Tim and Empire War

Hello again. I didn't feel this was important enough for a forum post, so it's here instead.

You may have noticed that Tim (our glorious and exalted Owner), hasn't exactly been active over the past few months. He is still in the background to help us out occasionally, but overall he has been spending time with real life and studies instead.

Furthermore, our Admin StealWonders hasn't been completely active either. He has his own reasons for this. Although he holds the tag, it might be best to consider him a backdoor server-setup kinda guy. He helps me out when we need bugs fixing etc, but long leaves of absence means that perhaps you shouldn't rely on him to add major features etc. any time soon.

Which leaves us, the Mods. Specifically, me. Over the past few weeks I have been bestowed with Admin-esque powers, meaning that I can do a lot of major stuff on the server, except... add features. I know this may seem annoying, but it is the best we can do.

So, in a very roundabout way... you should try and rely on me to resolve your issues and problems henceforward. Tim and Steal are still on hand to sort any major bugs out, but it is best to talk to them through me. I have been working with my little Mod-minions a fair amount of late to get some fun Christmas events ready, which do not require the intervention of Steal/Tim.

TL;DR:
> Tim is the Owner and helps me out with major problems.
> Steal does backdoor stuff occasionally.
> I manage the server. This does not mean I'm superior to any other Mods, it just means that I am active and inspired, and want to get stuff done.

EmpireWar Resource Pack Update

Yes, you may have noticed that the stripped down version of the EW pack outlined here is now the official version.

Naturally, there has been a mixed response. As such, I will lobby for a version of the pack downloadable *only* from the website with more of the old textures in. I will sort this out either tomorrow or on the coming weekend.

We did this because many people a) did not use the pack at all or b) disliked not being able to use their own pack for the non-essential textures.

I hope you understand