News Post Parkour Server Update: 1.8 vs 1.20 [POLL]

[CreeperSlayer]

1.20 seems very good for the server. Also i love blurplyfield

if i speak

 

[jasper_]

I think updating to 1.20 could be a really good change for the server, especially with all the newer blocks and how they can be incorporated into parkour maps!

 

[Thorion]

plz no switch to 1.20 i get max 20 fps or u have to buy me pc

 

[Shinxray]

Either do it or dont but the player count won't change. Literally comes down to destroying most of the good maps on the server vs being able to make cool new maps, but there aren't enough players to make enough new ones. An update isn't going to bring old players back - they don't play on 1.19 servers currently so what difference would this make to them

I mean, not doing anything will not bring new players too, it's basically a changing most of maps VS bringing new mechanics or cool stuff, which is what we are doing the poll (and as a mapper, despite really liking playing in 1.8, it's too outdated, I want new stuff lol)

1.20 is the way to go. 1.8 is simply outdated, and while the logistics of parkour in 1.8 are better, there’s no more room for growth.
My suggestion moving forward - open applications to create a “Parkour team” to assess and go through every map and create a list of maps which can be archived going into 1.20, meaning don’t bother updating the parkour just create a separate warp to “play old maps” . There’s 1800+ maps and so many of them are so bad that they should just be archived and not contribute to ranking up. It would open a lot more space for growth and newer things going into 1.20

I don't think archiving maps is a good idea, first nobody will play those maps lol, and calling a map bad is subjective, okay some maps have bad ratings but that's maps we can change a bit to makes them more enjoyable, and what would be a bad map ? Is Castle a bad map because it's an old map ? Colors is for sure a bad map, but it's also one of the most known and completed map in the server, should we remove it ?

Additionally the newer versions' performance is straight aids. Fine if you're fannying around on kiddy games like survival or skyblock, but when you're halfway through a gauntlet like orangevsblue, you really don't want to drop frames. Life or death

Use optifine (or mods similar) lol, I don't really have issue with optifine in 1.19, and I play on a laptop (well I'm aware it's not that simple, and to be fair I think fps stabilization is a thing in 1.20 ? I'm not too sure as I only saw it quickly on youtube so I don't wanna say something wrong lol)

In my opinion parkour does not belong to 1.9+.
Some people may argue that 1.12 is still okay, but having parkour for 3 years now with about 5000 hours of playtime over all servers i can say, that 1.8.9 has the best feeling for parkour.

There are 4 main types of parkour:

1. Segmented: Maps with checkpoints
2. Speedrun: timed maps
3. Rankup: Longer, easier maps without checkpoints
4. OneJump: Hard single Jumps

While Manacube provides possibility to play the points 1 and 2, points 3 and 4 are not present. I know many people might disagree with me on this one, but I think it would be a good addition to add either rankup or onejump to make the playexperience more varied. These maps could be on "manacube level". As you might know, Manacube is a very beginner friendly parkour server. I think it would give new players another way of getting into the parkour world. Another idea would be to add hidden tags on big maps. You could either get a tag if you complete a very hard map, or if you find a hidden Tag (usually a sign to click). Anyways, after 5k hours over all parkourservers and 4.2k hours on manacube i have the opinion that parkour should remain 1.8.9. Another aspect of parkour is that in some later version the facings got removed. This, to me, always was a skill, that new players needed to learn before they got more into parkour. Maybe for the casual player 1.20 might be better, but for the people that actually mastered parkour over the years, 1.20 would be like learning a completely new game.

Well obviously 1.8 has the best feeling since you have 5k hours in 1.8, but I can argue that it's also the same 1.19 players going for 1.8 (they have less hours tho and why would they switch to an older version lol). And privating ourself from new mechanics just because an older version has a better feeling is a bit sad.
For the main types of parkour, if we just add rankups for an update, I think it will be too little for an update. For sure it's a good idea to add one more "main parkour type" on the server but imo it's not enough.

We can weight this poll by parkour skill

Well you know it's impossible lol, and I don't think it's fair to block a poll because 20 parkour gods refuse to learn new skills with higher version

Well I also agree that some "1.8 parkour is better" reasons are valid, but I'm kinda tired of sticking in the same version for 6 years, I want new stuff and not only a new style of parkour

 

[AlfieJay]

Might need to explain why you wanna stay in 1.8, or there is just no discussion lol


Imo it's too complicated, doing this is basically splitting the community with elitist (who will stay in 1.8) and actually new player, and the 1.8 server will be quite abandoned at some point since no new stuff will be possible (which is a bit what is happening right now)

Surely splitting them is better than losing out on half the potential players. Updating to 1.20 will take a hit on the server's existing playerbase while staying in 1.8.9 will have a negative impact on incoming, new, younger players. IMO having both be options will please both. I mean, if you want, do joint chat and joint stuff like on survival with their different cubes.

I disagree with the too-complicated argument too. The server's already got multi-server gamemodes so that's not new. Adding a 1.20 server can't be any harder than updating a 1.8.9 server to a 1.20 one. Plus, my idea would actually save time in comparison to updating to 1.20. You wouldn't have to update all the maps or lose them, you can just start off 1.20 with some starter maps and then get map makers to build for 1.20 too.

NGL, I'm only really suggesting this because I know we're gonna end up with a 1.20 parkour server now that it's been brought up by the admins, this is just my attempt to keep the server one I'd play x

 

[polarben]

I mean, not doing anything will not bring new players too, it's basically a changing most of maps VS bringing new mechanics or cool stuff, which is what we are doing the poll (and as a mapper, despite really liking playing in 1.8, it's too outdated, I want new stuff lol)

I don't think archiving maps is a good idea, first nobody will play those maps lol, and calling a map bad is subjective, okay some maps have bad ratings but that's maps we can change a bit to makes them more enjoyable, and what would be a bad map ? Is Castle a bad map because it's an old map ? Colors is for sure a bad map, but it's also one of the most known and completed map in the server, should we remove it ?

Use optifine (or mods similar) lol, I don't really have issue with optifine in 1.19, and I play on a laptop (well I'm aware it's not that simple, and to be fair I think fps stabilization is a thing in 1.20 ? I'm not too sure as I only saw it quickly on youtube so I don't wanna say something wrong lol)

Well obviously 1.8 has the best feeling since you have 5k hours in 1.8, but I can argue that it's also the same 1.19 players going for 1.8 (they have less hours tho and why would they switch to an older version lol). And privating ourself from new mechanics just because an older version has a better feeling is a bit sad.
For the main types of parkour, if we just add rankups for an update, I think it will be too little for an update. For sure it's a good idea to add one more "main parkour type" on the server but imo it's not enough.

Well you know it's impossible lol, and I don't think it's fair to block a poll because 20 parkour gods refuse to learn new skills with higher version

Well I also agree that some "1.8 parkour is better" reasons are valid, but I'm kinda tired of sticking in the same version for 6 years, I want new stuff and not only a new style of parkour

is rankup a real potential idea for manacube update, i dont care about version im pro in whatever but rankup would be cool, obviously i wouldnt be able to play it because im permanently banned and i would never break the rules to evade this but u should add rankup because it is the best ever and it brings skill to the players and could bring manacube into a more serious server in terms of the parkour community

 

[sophiaaah <3]

From my point of view, there is no answer that'll work for everyone. If we keep it 1.8 the players who want more will be upset. the players who play on the recent versions will be unhappy. and if u split it up, then its dividing up the server which isnt fun either

 

[Shinxray]

Surely splitting them is better than losing out on half the potential players. Updating to 1.20 will take a hit on the server's existing playerbase while staying in 1.8.9 will have a negative impact on incoming, new, younger players. IMO having both be options will please both. I mean, if you want, do joint chat and joint stuff like on survival with their different cubes.

I disagree with the too-complicated argument too. The server's already got multi-server gamemodes so that's not new. Adding a 1.20 server can't be any harder than updating a 1.8.9 server to a 1.20 one. Plus, my idea would actually save time in comparison to updating to 1.20. You wouldn't have to update all the maps or lose them, you can just start off 1.20 with some starter maps and then get map makers to build for 1.20 too.

NGL, I'm only really suggesting this because I know we're gonna end up with a 1.20 parkour server now that it's been brought up by the admins, this is just my attempt to keep the server one I'd play x

Yeah ok 2 servers will please both, but I still think the 1.8 server will just slowly die since (excepted new maps), nothing new will happen in this server, which is technically what is happening right now.
Another reason which is not a reason that I like but we are forced to work with it : we live in a capitalist world, and I clearly don't think adding a second 1.8 server will bring money.
And when I say it's complicated, it's complicated for me and hayley, we will have to deal with 2 servers (we will have to switch version all the time between the servers to fix maps, adding maps etc) and imo it's too hard.
Btw I'm the one who talked about new version first, not the admins, because I have seen a lot of debate about 1.8 vs new version in chat, which I think is much better if we actually do a poll and do a last discussion about. I'm probably the one you should try convincing the most as despite voting for 1.20, there is still stuff in 1.8 that I wanna keep

is rankup a real potential idea for manacube update, i dont care about version im pro in whatever but rankup would be cool, obviously i wouldnt be able to play it because im permanently banned and i would never break the rules to evade this but u should add rankup because it is the best ever and it brings skill to the players and could bring manacube into a more serious server in terms of the parkour community

Yeah it's a potential idea, and to be fair, do you expect that the new parkour update is just switching to new version ? Because it's not just this lol

From my point of view, there is no answer that'll work for everyone. If we keep it 1.8 the players who want more will be upset. the players who play on the recent versions will be unhappy. and if u split it up, then its dividing up the server which isnt fun either

Yeah I'm aware of that, but we need discuss it once and for all or we will just not go forward lol, feel free giving your opinion btw :D

 

[Elly_x]

I want to realistically say it’s not going to be months to fix 1.20 maps it’s going to take over a year.

The parkour staff team and I tested easy-expert maps (just over 1000 maps) and it took us over 8 months. This was when the staff team for parkour was about 6 people and we had 6 people doing this not including the managers. The only people who are able to fix the maps are managers, thankfully we have two. It took over a year and a half to get all easy-experts (insanes are still not tested and fixed for 1.12) fixed.

The staff team for parkour has gone down dramatically specifically because how hard we had to work for the last update, it burned all of us out. I was up night after night testing maps trying to make sure we had a playable server. Now 1.12 only changed a little about 1 out of every 10 map needed changing. With 1.20 will make 9 out of every 10 maps needing to change and it won’t be small changes it will be drastically the whole map. We talked to you Dacon last time, made a document begging not to change to 1.19. You listened, people were overjoyed. Now I’m begging again, unless you will give the parkour staff team time, pay, and bring more people to help, you will burn every single parkour staff out.

Speaking from experience I am burnt out from last year doing this and I had a year break. I can’t imagine what the current members will think having to do it all over again. There are only 3 parkour staff right now, excluding managers, and all are staff other where this can’t be done in months this needs time or more people. Then putting Hayley and Shinxy having to fix every map it’s going to take awhile, it’s not simple fixes it’s whole maps.

 

[polarben]

Yeah it's a potential idea, and to be fair, do you expect that the new parkour update is just switching to new version ? Because it's not just this lol

Ok! TimothyJames2350 will eagerly await rankups arrival, I shall alert him if it becomes available, I think another great idea for this update would be to unban all players who have a sub 7:30 run on wolyung, let me know your thoughts on this as the creator of wolyung

 

[Shinxray]

I want to realistically say it’s not going to be months to fix 1.20 maps it’s going to take over a year.

The parkour staff team and I tested easy-expert maps (just over 1000 maps) and it took us over 8 months. This was when the staff team for parkour was about 6 people and we had 6 people doing this not including the managers. The only people who are able to fix the maps are managers, thankfully we have two. It took over a year and a half to get all easy-experts (insanes are still not tested and fixed for 1.12) fixed.

The staff team for parkour has gone down dramatically specifically because how hard we had to work for the last update, it burned all of us out. I was up night after night testing maps trying to make sure we had a playable server. Now 1.12 only changed a little about 1 out of every 10 map needed changing. With 1.20 will make 9 out of every 10 maps needing to change and it won’t be small changes it will be drastically the whole map. We talked to you Dacon last time, made a document begging not to change to 1.19. You listened, people were overjoyed. Now I’m begging again, unless you will give the parkour staff team time, pay, and bring more people to help, you will burn every single parkour staff out.

Speaking from experience I am burnt out from last year doing this and I had a year break. I can’t imagine what the current members will think having to do it all over again. There are only 3 parkour staff right now, excluding managers, and all are staff other where this can’t be done in months this needs time or more people. Then putting Hayley and Shinxy having to fix every map it’s going to take awhile, it’s not simple fixes it’s whole maps.

Oh yeah it will take a while, but keep in my mind that I was the one asking for it, not admins, which mean that me (and hayley, well she can confirm herself if she wants to) are ready to fix everything (Time to not sleep lol)

 

[Elly_x]

Oh yeah it will take a while, but keep in my mind that I was the one asking for it, not admins, which mean that me (and hayley, well she can confirm herself if she wants to) are ready to fix everything (Time to not sleep lol)

I’m so happy that you are. I would love 1.20. Also if yall did it the same way, who’s going to help with your computer? Are other staff wanting to help as well? Realistically you and Hayley by yourselfs will take longer than it did for the judges a year ago. We had to pull teeth to get other parkour staff to help last year what happens if none want to do it again. It’s a long process.

 

[sophiaaah <3]

Oh yeah it will take a while, but keep in my mind that I was the one asking for it, not admins, which mean that me (and hayley, well she can confirm herself if she wants to) are ready to fix everything (Time to not sleep lol)

realistically, you guys dont HAVE to. it's not something that has to necessarily be done and its so cruel to put the both of you and only the both of you in charge of doing it. Something like this takes so much time and effort like Elly said. I think this should be something that should be held off starting until the staff team has more people who are willing to do it

 

[Shinxray]

I’m so happy that you are. I would love 1.20. Also if yall did it the same way, who’s going to help with your computer? Are other staff wanting to help as well? Realistically you and Hayley by yourselfs will take longer than it did for the judges a year ago. We had to pull teeth to get other parkour staff to help last year what happens if none want to do it again. It’s a long process.

Oh yeah it will take time, if it needs to take a year then it will take a year, and we also planned to allow players (that wants to) to help us. Idk if it help a lot but I will do what I can

realistically, you guys dont HAVE to. it's not something that has to necessarily be done and its so cruel to put the both of you and only the both of you in charge of doing it. Something like this takes so much time and effort like Elly said. I think this should be something that should be held off starting until the staff team has more people who are willing to do it

It's not so cruel since I'm ready to do it, it would have been cruel if admins told us to do it, which is not the case, yeah it will take times and effort, but if it needs to take years because it's too much, then it will take years

 

[Elly_x]

Oh yeah it will take time, if it needs to take a year then it will take a year, and we also planned to allow players (that wants to) to help us. Idk if it help a lot but I will do what I can

It's not so cruel since I'm ready to do it, it would have been cruel if admins told us to do it, which is not the case, yeah it will take times and effort, but if it needs to take years because it's too much, then it will take years

I just want players to know it might take longer than a couple months that was stated in the post. I also messaged you the main thing I want to fight but don’t want to say here. I don’t know if that comes to mind to you either.

Post automatically merged: May 23, 2023

realistically, you guys dont HAVE to. it's not something that has to necessarily be done and its so cruel to put the both of you and only the both of you in charge of doing it. Something like this takes so much time and effort like Elly said. I think this should be something that should be held off starting until the staff team has more people who are willing to do it

Sadly it does have to be done before the update because majority maps won’t be playable than players will just go back to 1.12 and play using that. Than 1.20 will go useless on parkour. It’s an awful loop.

 

[Kestin]

I just want to say I will be happy to be unbanned and help with the process of updating the maps as a Manacube staff member.

 

[polarben]

I just want to say I will be happy to be unbanned and help with the process of updating the maps as a Manacube staff member.

I agree with this, but I would only take Snr Mod minimum as I dont want to be looked down on by Hayleyx

 

[Tas]

To all of the “senior” players who are saying that there aren’t mappers to build new maps that would replace the broken old ones: you’re missing the point entirely.

The server and mapmaking in particular is dead at the moment because 1.8 is so outdated that no one has any motivation to build with it anymore. There’s only so much you can do with terracotta and wool after 9 years. We’re losing an entire demographic (and the vast majority) of players, including builders. There are generations of Minecraft players who haven’t and never will boot up a decade-old version of the game. These players are just as talented at building and parkouring as anyone else and it’s about time we join the rest of the Minecraft community.

I am 100% confident that if existing players build 50-ish new maps and revamp a few more, and parkour receives the same cosmetic upgrades that the other realms on Manacube have, new players will stream in like 2020 all over again. I have never understood the appeal of staying on 1.8 when the possibilities are so much greater in newer versions and performance is no longer an issue.

Upgrading to 1.20 and joining the rest of modern Minecraft is the obvious and only solution to reviving an otherwise completely dead, hopeless server. Make the right decision, put in the effort, do it well, and I promise it will work.

Post automatically merged: May 23, 2023

In addition, I think I speak for myself and the wealth of players who have abandoned Manacube that we would be more than willing to help the staff team if it means that this undertaking will happen more smoothly, quickly, and better. Shinx, we love you but if you need our help, just ask. c:

 

[Dooble]

alright, its time to talk.

parkours decline is something many people have noticed, and is something that can be attributed to 100 different reasons. But the truth about it is.

The writing is on the wall

we gotta update, no other way to go about it. People coming in mainly play 1.19 and then leave due to the server not accommodating them, we're at a point where its the right call and i'll try explain below in this probably long rambly post.

The camp of players can be split up into 2 groups, Players and Creators and its no secret that these 2 groups have been at odds with each other for what they want.

Players: are very used to 1.8 and feel the change is too sudden and don't want to learn a whole new version of parkour. (aka change bad), a large majority of these people have also left the server already due to boredom and lack of motivation (we'll get back to you guys dont you worry).

Creators: have mostly exhausted all they can from a nearly 9 year old version of the game and have as such departed due to feeling too restricted when pretty plainly, better alternatives exist for them.

Now other issues exist for the playerbase in the uh, lack of one.

The truth is (and you'll see this server wide). minecraft is entering another decline. People aren't just leaving the server but they're also leaving the game. Those people likely aren't coming back. So it's pointless to try accommodate those people who even if the server remained on 1.8, aren't gonna come back and play and therefore frankly shouldn't get a say in the matter. I get it you're worried about the change but if you've moved on then don't make the people who are still here put up with your needs.

There is an issue for the creating side as well, that being:

Maps Break!

Yes, the big bad. Maps were designed for 1.8, they use movement glitches that were patched in versions before 1.20 (heres a list if you're curious <--- 1.20 also breaks soulsand and honey block edges but from what i've seen on maps they're used minimally.)

Efforts have already been made to fix these, elly went on about how it took staff a long time to test and fix maps for 1.12 (a version with pretty minimal changes) and how 1.20 opens a can of worms for far more time consuming fixes.

Will it take awhile? oh yes it will, but people are willing to do it and it brings another point to the table.

Creators would appreciate the chance to fix up there maps

A lot of creators make maps they're well, lets put it plainly: not proud of, at all. If they could get a chance to do over and fix up there maps to A. fix any version bugs, and B. just make them better. they would ABSOLUTELY take it. And even if not, another issue with parkour in general is just because maps are FUNCTIONAL in 1.20, does NOT make them play well in it. Some maps are possible but they just, arent fun in a higher version (this mostly applies to harder maps).

And hey, even if we're not allowed to change maps beyond the impossibilities, if this is public knowledge then you bet your backside the whole remaining playerbase are gonna pitch in to help the managers in fixing, all those 2 really need is a list of whats impossible on what map, something that's not very difficult to put together as a community.

This means that changing maps will go far quicker than 1.12 as said by the posts above, sure there will be many more changes but theres also gonna be many more people pitching in to highlight and get these changes fixed, its a doubled edged sword.

And hey updating maps gives you the option to have some quality control, if someones thinks a map and build is beyond saving, trash it! or put it in its own legacy section if you want.

Conclusion/TL;DR

That's largely most of what i wanted to talk about, in my opinion I think it's time to bid the version people cherish and update to greener pastures. Not just manacube but minecraft as a whole is declining like it did before 2019 resurged it and efforts should be made to keep the players coming instead as opposed to appeasing the people who are going out and will likely stay out no matter what you do to appeal to them.

For the people who still aren't convinced to change, that's fine. Other places will accommodate you but the hard pill to swallow is, if you're still preaching for a version you're good in and don't wish to relearn.

You've probably already outgrown the server by now.

And for those who are ready to take the plunge into 1.20, theres a lot of work to be done once the update releases pretty soon from now, if you're with me in updating then your help would be appreciated in testing maps, building new ones to tide people over and overall help forge a bright new future for the server with a newer playerbase of people who wanted to find a good parkour server, so let's give em one.

EDIT like an hour after posting:

I wanna clear some stuff up to the probably very confused higher ups this poll as brought

Time for the big question people might have: Why now, and not then?

Last reset in may, the playerbase was strongly against the idea of updating but it seems to you like we've changed our mind, why? well the main reason is: we've had time to contemplate. being thrust with 1.20 is not a 5 second decision and we've been able to in the year since adjust to the idea and figure out solutions to problems that updating brings. So now with these solutions already in place or still underway (mainly testing) and a change in playerbase with alot of people playing then departing the server, and new people largely playing on 1.19. We've come around on the idea you could say.

The other big question: Why didn't you mention the cosmetics and resourcepack etc

Main reason is they don't really affect the actual playing experience, like they're fine if you wanna add wardrobe and update the prefixes and add pins and other cosmetic stuff: cool, go nuts. But pk has never really been into that and im not sure updating would change that stance but it's not hurting anyone so if you want it sure go ahead, just don't let it take up the majority of your development time when it could be better spent on other more pressing matters.

Edit a few days later to address one final thing:

BEDROCK WOOOOO

If you guys want bedrock support for pk in 1.20

play parkour in bedrock for like 30 minutes and you'll realise it's just not feasible. Like you CAN do it if you REALLY wanted to but a large majority of pk requires movement a joystick simply isnt capable of, so consoles are out the window. Even if you only want it for windows 10 support, all movement has this really weird like almost full second of delay for inputs and yes it IS significant enough to make the playing experience pretty damn horrendous, so if you want bedrock support, id advise against it but it is likely feasible, forget anything above about medium difficulty though there's a reason I never saw a single person get even the first rank during the minehut tests LOL

 

[senatvs]

Ive never understood the idea that "manacube is dead". i usually see only really old players who havent bothered to meet anyone new in like 2 years who say this. there are loads of new and great ppl all the time.

likewise, the idea that theres nothing new to do on 1.8 anymore. other 1.8 parkour servers come out with loads of new stuff all the time. the focus on mana is just too narrow, it needs to branch out into things like rankup