Long time since I wrote a Blog, at least a good one and it's really going to show. Possibly. My thing with writing these has been straight from the mind to the paper (er, keyboard) not as a knee-jerk reaction, but some thoughts of mine how the game stands and where it might head. Since the mob vote is over and the greatest one lost, we turn our attention to the progress and mentality of the community to see how the Minecraft is going to change with the introduction of this cute little guy.

I'm going to start by saying No, I don't hate the Allay at all. Yes, I'm disappointed that the Copper Golem lost, but at the very least we get something a little different even if he might be a flying Hopper. What bothers me, however, is that the vote was pretty much decided before they were even introduced which is something I'm not going to get into today as that's a long-winded topic with many nuances which are a hotbed to this day. I will, however, be talking about why it's important that he won and how the newest updates are going to lead to an Age of Technology for the game without the need for things like Tinker's Construct or Thermal Expansion (or whatever it is now)

Farmville: Minecraft Edition

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It's no secret that I enjoy the older versions of the game rather than the newest. However, the changes coming from Caves & Cliffs may give me a reason to finally move to the latest version, even if it might be fore a short while. The main reason for my interest in the past was simply because of Exploration, an aspect of video games which brings me immense joy. There's nothing greater than the feeling of "What's over there" than seeing more green numbers on randomly-dropped gear.

As the game moves forward, however, there's been an increasingly harder push for what I'm going to call "Passive Gameplay," meaning that you need to do the bare minimum to get to the Endgame. My belief is why play a game that plays for you? Would it not be more entertaining to just watch someone else play and what is the enjoyment when you press a button and you're already Rank 1 Elite? Used to extend this to walkthroughs and guides, but have found them a little more useful as I grow older and my time and patience have become limited (let's just say customers are very friendly....)

Anyway, with the previous updates adding in Pigmen that give you Enderpearls, shipwrecks that just hand you diamonds and emeralds, and even a mob that just gives you items randomly, the joke I like to make is there's no more Mining and Crafting in the title. Watch any person play and in the first hour or so they'll have a base with basic farms already set up. There's very little reason to go out other than to find the required items to get to the End.

Now that the Allay is on the Way alongside Skulkers which I admit are nice, the game is going to become more Automated and Passive than it already is. As well as this, the community at large have been wanting more Technology for the game which may soon become a reality.

Technology in "Medieval" Times

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Wherever or whoever thought the game was set in 1700s England is beyond me, but it's become an established belief that Minecraft apparently takes place in some past, especially if you look at a lot of builds. I never thought of it that way nor was that ever the idea. There was just a limit of blocks and items to really flesh out any sort of world lore for the game. After the Color Update, that should have changed things and brought the game to a more Modern society yet people still create Castles and Renaissance homes aplenty. There is nothing wrong with this, but the potential was completely ignored for what was already an entrenched narrative.

Then again, Potions and Enchantments didn't help matters either. Somewhere I thought Notch had plans to make it more RPG-like, cannot seem to find where it was or even if had been a thing. It might have been a fever dream or maybe I misunderstood one of his Tumbler posts.

Anyway, how do I feel about more tech in my sandbox? Personally, I don't care either way. More stuff is always better (except for jungles. I could do well without a jungle), my concern is that this will ultimately be the Death of Survival for the game, the mode it was best known for once upon a time.

In any game there come two problems: power creep and feature redundancy. As more tools are added, a lot of stuff becomes irrelevant and unnecessary, forgotten to time and lost to advances. Nobody makes a minecart with furnanace and I don't even know the last time I've seen a jungle temple. Crafting pumpkin pies is nowhere to be found in any playthrough, and I can't even remember the last time I heard a person say "Oh wow, a Dungeon!" without groaning like they got an apple in their trick-or-treat bag.

What the Allay Brings

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Now for something light-hearted with all this negativity, what does the mob bring for those that might actually like it? The first thing in my mind would be most likely Pigmen farms using a dropper and zombie pigment to create a gold loop. Secondly probably Drowned farms using nets and lava or something.

Maybe you can combine a vex with a dropper leading into a hopper and dispenser creating an infinite railgun? MumbJumbo and crew might come up with some better ideas than me, but I'm always curious to see what inventions come out with each new update. For now, I think we should just be happy that we are getting the Warden.

Who is already feature and power creeped out....Hardly hear any hype about that. Man, I got tired writing this, what happened to me?

Happy Crafting!