I do not believe 1.8 and 1.9+ can co-exist peacefully.
Recently there has been an attempt to ban heads because they lagged in later versions. I honestly think this was an absolutely terrible decision and I’m glad this was reverted. This would have had a detrimental impact to the already questionable quality of the parkour on this server. Heads are a very special and unique block because they can act as both a cobblewall and a unique block that’s the same length as a short pane but thicker and a different height. This allows for many unique jumps to be made. Furthermore, heads are highly customizable, meaning they fit in pretty much every theme. Banning them would not only shut a massive branch of possibilities, it would encourage the use of bad and ugly blocks like brewing stands and enchantment tables.
I understand that this was proposed in attempt to cater for people playing on later versions, but this is the wrong way of approaching this. There should not be any attempt to try and smooth out the differences between the versions, because this just doesn’t work. Not only does this not help, it neglects way bigger lag issues that in theory would also warrant an extreme ban similar to what almost happened to this server. Something this catastrophic should never have gotten as far as it is, and I hope people can reconsider trying to mix versions that do not mix.
It is understandable that single panes were banned, as this not only creates 1.9 exploits, it also lags for 1.8 people, making an unenjoyable experience. However, these ban rules are still imo inconsistent. For example, this lag can be avoided by staying away from certain parts of the single pane. However, there are other blocks that also lag, and do cause a lot of frustration. The major one is a door flick. If you go into the door, you will lag back, and this is very annoying. Same goes with soul sand and snow. These blocks also lag a lot. I suspect it’s because both those blocks have models different to their bounding box, just an observation. One can argue it takes skill to avoid the lag blocks, however this can be applied to the single pane too. Despite this, I understand why they are banned. However, this should not carry over to blocks that lag on OTHER versions which is NOT the version this server intends to play on.
Trying to ban heads really blew my mind. To be honest, I did not think people could have come up with such an insane idea, and it makes me worry for what future changes are planned. Heads are far from the only blocks that lag, and if these rules were to be consistent, they should follow through to ban all headhitters or low ceilings, because they also lag in 1.9+ due to changed sneak. This includes ladders that hit ceilings. This happens just as often as he head lag, why don’t we also ban that? It just doesn’t work.
The different versions are simply not compatible. We should not try to ruin the parkour experience just to cater to those on the wrong version. What’s the point of calling it a 1.8 server if we ruin the 1.8 experience just to cater to 1.9 players?
To demonstrate how incompatible different versions are, I will list ONLY SOME of the changes in the following categories: 1.8, 1.9-1.12, 1.13, 1.14+
1.9:
-Physics become more slippery. Vertical speed in affected creating some jumps impossible in 1.9 such as in Bookworm. It also allows for big exploits to happen due to a new threshold of jumping.
-Sneak height is lowered. This causes lag when hitting a ceiling when sneaked, especially problematic on ladders.
-Single panes are different, short panes are longer. Ladders are thicker, lilypads are smaller. This allows for me to make jumps impossible in 1.9, and allows you to climb the water on a lilypad.
1.13:
-Anvils are completely different, allows for big skips and exploits, there’s this one sexy skip in one of my levels : ) (who can find it?)
-Water physics completely different. Many jumps are way easier or cheesable, like the blip in Happy. Allowed me to skip an entire cp in ElAteneo
1.14+:
-Sneak height lowered again. Allowed me to skip a few jumps in ElAteneo. Also causes more lag LOL. Also makes adv hh impossible.
-Ladders can now be climbed with space. Allows for some great cheesing, such as the vine in Deadmau5.
-Blip ups gone, making a lot of jumps impossible.
-Collision changed, meaning in most cases all jumps are x facing. Makes some jumps way harder or easier than intended.
Less important, but in 1.15 soulsand+ice no longer works, as well as some other “ice blocks”.
I don’t want any of the things mentioned above to lead to banned blocks. None of it should, certainly not heads. The point is, different versions are so different that they are simply not compatible. Trying to cater to all versions is problematic, especially for a parkour server. The result is shit like this where heads were almost banned. We should just leave 1.9+ induced lag alone and focus on the 1.8 experience. It’s honestly annoying seeing the small percentage of people who play on incorrect versions having such priority over the 1.8 people, that you are willing to do something so insanely wrong such as banning heads.
If you wanted a 1.12 or 1.14 experience, make the server as such, don’t make a 1.8 server that tries to cater to 1.14 players. There are servers on 1.12 and 1.14 that work JUST FINE. Just don’t worry about the wrong version. Even letting people onto the server and playing the maps is enough catering.
If you’re building something, and a certain component doesn’t fit into a spot, you don’t fix that by ramming it in and bending and breaking the contraption. Don’t add horrible regulations just to cater to a version that SHOULD NOT be catered for. It’s hard to contain my anger and frustration that such an idea was approved. Please, rethink your priorities.
Please, NEVER DO THIS AGAIN.
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