It’s the Redstone Update. My particular favorite addition is the comparator, but it’s a tough call between that and the hopper. With quartz block being a new thing, that’s saying something about the comparator. So, rather than list the whole ample changelog here, I’d like to point out some server-specific things that this update brings.

Better Snow Stacking

One particularly curious addition was snow stacking. Not a week after I hacked in snow stacking on our server, Mojang adds it into a snapshot. The snow layers are twice as expensive, but the new implementation comes with a hidden surprise: you can now walk on each layer of snow instead of full/half blocks heights. Nifty. There’s some clever uses for that, besides the obvious aesthetic. (On a related note: our old netherbrick recipe is removed too, to make way for the slightly more balanced one Mojang introduced)

Minecart Hopper: Robber on Rails

Anybody who has been following the previous post’s comments would know that I did some testing for bugs or exploits. While some good things came out of it (like a script that blocks people from placing hoppers under shop chests, another script that blocks new players from placing flint&steel in dispensers, and catching a bug that would have caused widespread fire destruction) I couldn’t determine a way to prevent exploitation of hopper minecarts. So I disabled them until there’s sufficient protections in place. This will probably depend on a Craftbukkit API implementation of an event that tracks hoppers, or at least minecart hoppers.

Deadbolt and the New Containers (band name?)

Deadbolt doesn’t support trapped chests, hoppers, or droppers yet, but it will block hoppers from being placed under a locked chests.

New Outworld: P15-006

We now have a new outworld to explore and mine. It’s the full deal with no modifications — overworld, nether and end. A particular interest to players will be the new quartz ore in the nether.

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Now some future stuff to look forward to:

Mob Names — Because We Weren’t Attached Enough When Our Dog Ran Into Lava

With the addition of being able to add names above mobs, I’ll soon implement some sort of feature that’ll allow you to name your current pets without the use of a spawn egg.

Sandstone and Stone DoubleSlabs

Since these are now a permanent fixture in Minecraft textures, I’ll be creating recipes for these, along with the other blocks that are otherwise unobtainable. This is assuming, of course, we can determine a good recipe for each of these.

Scoreboards and Custom PVP

Before you ask, yes, I’ll be using the new scoreboard for the PVP scripts… if I can. It’s possible it won’t fit in with a full server. I’ll have to do some testing. Still, it’s interesting stuff and there’s a couple features in it that I want to take advantage of.

Easter Eggs

We have something planned for this year’s Easter Egg hunt. It’s not fully balanced yet, but it’s working better than it did in 1.4.7. You’ll be able to get all sorts of mob eggs again soon.