Hello all you wonderful Sandlotians! I would like to wish each of you a happy 2019 full of friendships, family, and Minecraft fun! This past year has been a very difficult one for me on a personal level, and I have not been able to give The Sandlot all the love and support that it needs. It doesn't help that Minecraft itself has changed dramatically and the server software and plugins we use have been met with lots of turmoil and uncertainty. (That's a fancy way of saying that a lot of the stuff we use has been abandoned or is taking forever to update.) While we do have several new whitelist requests every week, I am also not blind to the fact that our server population is a lot smaller than it has been in the past. I am of the opinion that having fewer servers with more people is better for the community than lots of servers with few or no people in them. To be able to give you a fun experience on The Sandlot, I am therefore going to be making a few changes that are difficult but necessary, not only to make our community stronger, but also to make administration easier for me and to provide better experiences on the servers that we do have. Our plans and goals for 2019 are as follows. Major Updates Our website will be revamped with a newer version of our forum software. The version we are using now is no longer maintained and only receiving security patches. Everything should be relatively unchanged with the update, but a few of the plugins we use have been abandoned and do not work with the newest forum software version. I will provide more details at a later date and do not have a date in mind yet for the switch over (it's a monumental task!). BuildBattle will be removed on February 2, 2019. Dirtblock will be removed on February 2, 2019 since it is very similar to Skyblock. I will make a copy of the map available for download so you can continue your island in single player if you wish. Make sure you write down the coordinates of your island so you can find it again in single player! EDIT: The map is now available for download from the Maps page! Easy will be completely reset. We do not have an exact date when this will happen, but you will be given 30 days notice before we reset. There will be a farewell party and then a grand re-opening at a later date. HungerGames 2 (HG2) will be removed on February 2, 2019, and HG1 will be our new singular HG server. The HG entrance portal in Arenas will be moved to where BuildBattle is now. Semi-Vanilla Survival will be renamed to simply "Normal". Ultra Hardcore will be renamed to "Hard". Minecraft 1.13 and/or 1.14 The last major update to Minecraft, version 1.13, was an enormous update. Not only were a bunch of new blocks, mobs, and mechanics added, but Mojang also overhauled a lot of underlying game code that controls how Minecraft works. For this reason, many of the plugins we use are still either not updated, or have updated but contain many bugs and issues. I definitely want to update to 1.13 as soon as possible on all servers, but it's been 6 months and I'm still waiting on many plugins to update before I'm able to do so. I have a feeling it will still be several months before I'm able to update any of our servers. This is pure speculation, but I'm guessing the update to 1.14 will be far easier than 1.13, so once we're on 1.13 it will be a simple upgrade. This is my hope anyway! Budget I am happy to report that your continued support of our server is holding strong despite our lower overall player counts this year. I have enough funds to keep the server and website operational for another 2 years, and if our current VIPs continue their subscriptions, we should have no trouble remaining online for as long as there are players willing to stick around and play Minecraft with us! Thank You I would like to extend my sincere thanks to each and every one of you that make our family-friendly community a warm and welcoming place for all Minecraft players old and new. I hope you continue to play here and make friendships in this beautiful and fun game we all love together. The Sandlot would not be what or where it is without you!
Thank you for the update. Here are my thoughts on the upcoming changes: I was a little bit nervous at first when you stated, "I am of the opinion that having fewer servers with more people is better for the community than lots of servers with few or no people in them," but I feel like the servers being removed are the more empty ones. Though I will miss Build Battle personally, it was a world which was very buggy. I also have a concern involving the lobby, as there will be another empty portal there due to the removal of Dirtblock. Are there any plans to shuffle around the portals (meaning to remove the blank ones and reorganize them) to make the lobby look more complete? I like the new survival system to match with the name "easy" almost as if to organize them in categories of difficulty, though it does also seem to make them sound as if they aren't unique. (This is just a suggestion, but maybe "SVS Normal" and "UHC Hard" could be a good compromise.) I understand the wait on updating Sandlot. It's better to take time and do it right rather than rushing it. I will continue to be patient and anticipate the server updates. I am glad to hear Sandlot is doing well financially as I thought it was. I never worried that this was a problem, but it's very nice to hear confirmation of this. Thank you for all of your hard work, c0w! It's nice to hear new plans for things, and I hope you are doing well in real life. Even before you took over ownership, you made sure you were there to keep the Sandlot running. A lot of great things are present here thanks to you, and I am looking forward to more great things.
Sounds good to me! I've been around for 5 years, and I don't plan on leaving any time soon. I look forward to seeing what the new year holds. Thanks for the update, c0w!
Though I rarely play on Sandlot anymore, I'm still excited for these updates. I hope more people can join us soon. Thanks for everything, c0w!
Just making sure, easy will get a map download right? I would really like my two old bases in my single player world.
Thank you for letting us know! I look forward to the new year. I think a cool addition would be weekly/monthly Community Events -- A mod-run game like Colors or Obstacle Course; an adventure to go fight mobs in a pre-made map, or to create a kingdom in Easy or SVS! People love playing mod-run games and I think Community Events would strengthn the community and encourage players to bond and step out of their comfort zone. (A favorite server or activity)
Farewell Dirtblock! You served your purpose well Hopefully a little pruning and updating will keep the Sandlot healthy and humming along. I believe all of us mods agree on this plan! Here's wishing c0wg0d and the Sandlot a wonderful new year with way better times ahead! I'll be around off and on as usual. @_Humory_ and I love the Hard server resets with all their crazy quirks. Hope you'll join us for the next one! Let's all wish c0w a truly happy new year!!
Woohoo! Thanks for the heads-up c0wbell... and thank you for your continuing love of Sandlot! Moohaha! Yes! Finally! I can overtake a water portal and make it my Pictionary server! I will conquer all!
Thanks, @c0wg0d, for keeping things going and always moving forward. I appreciate all the hard work. Cheers, and happy new year!
Thank you for keeping such a lovely server going! I actually loved Dirt block, but it takes time away from learning to play SVS. Looking forward to many more adventures. Thanks to the entire playing community for making this a fun place to be. Mwah! (Big kiss).
Thank you so much for the update! I would like to say that I haven't been as active on the server as I used to be. School, afterschool activities, and all that stuff kind of overcomplicated my schedule. Or so I thought; I've found non-stress ways to be on more! Thank you so much, c0w, for being such a great owner of the server. You handle it so well and care for us Sandlotians better than any of us could ask for! I love the effort you put into maintenance and updates. I will definitely try to keep supporting the Sandlot for as long as it is alive. (I probably should get my VIP status back, heh... ) Happy New Year to all of you amazing people! May 2019 be a year full of joy and celebration!
Thank you c0w for all your hard work and dedication into this server, you're awesome! I hope things get easier for you too.
Fantastic update, excited to see what the new year brings! I've always wanted to get more into the easy server with the jobs plugin, as strange as it may be to say since I love UHC so much. Good stuff, thank you for taking care and concern for this wonderful server. =)
Good stuff. Thanks for the update! I respectfully submit for consideration "Advanced Survival" as another possible name for what is currently UHC.
I'm excited! Nothing like a reset for new beginnings! (I played Easy all the time, but got bored because I had everything I needed and didn't desire to do anything else, ya girl is comin' back~) Will there be any different plugins than we have now since some are outdated, then? Who else wants to do HG like the good old days? pls?
Thanks so much for updating us and understandable that you make these decisions. I hope the new year will be nicer too you in your personal life. Thanks for making sandlot possible to us! Its my minecraft first server home!