Westeros Revival Project

When Westeros first came out, the idea of a faction-based survival world had a lot of people excited. People quickly formed factions, but the most prevalent rivalry in the beginning was Heylookoverthere's Wolverines vs. TheClownOfCrime's... something (can't remember what they were called). Players not part of these two factions strived to become competitors, and eventually as factions were split and merged, a new rivalry began between Sirrus Farms and JJoiler's Mongooses. Each faction held around 15 members at their peak.

But just as quickly as excitement stirred for Westeros did it also pass. Tragically, the hype for Westeros has come and gone, and between the coming holidays, motivations outside Minecraft (*ahem* Skyrim *ahem*), and the fact that Westeros is inherently a 1.8 world, it's been pushed to the wayside. My hope is, after the holidays, the interest may somehow become revitalized.

Some quick facts: Having personally worked on the server's permission files, I've counted 72 players recorded, of which about half are inactive or banned. There are currently 33 people counted as part of any faction's roster (people are removed from faction rosters after 14 days of inactivity, meaning they're all active). This means a majority of all currently active players have likely not only been in Westeros but have taken part in the factions in some way.

Unfortunately due to neglect and a disproportionately high chance of explosive lighting from storms (70%?!) Westeros is littered with craters and abandonned structures. Another issue is that most if not all the people active in Westeros are members of maybe two factions. There's no balance; all of the rules have been set via word of mouth, with nothing clear and concise.

Well if I can help it, that's going to change. Over the next few weeks (or months, however long it takes) I'm going to be making changes to improve Westeros. The changes will include new rules, new zones, and new rewards. As they're made I'm going to record them here.

If anyone has any suggestions or wishes to help in any way, please let me know here or contact me in-game.

Changelog:

12-?? - Claiming, power loss, and PvP protection are now disabled outside Westeros and Westeros Nether.

12-15 - Created the first competitive mining area. These areas will have all natural ores in them changed to the same ore. This particular one has had all coal, iron, gold, redstone, and lapis ore changed into diamond ore. The locations will be a secret, but this being the first one it should be fairly easy to find. Of course there's risks too; the area is unclaimable, has PvP enabled, and is riddled with several hidden mob spawners.

12-16 - Finished constructing the remaining unfinished project in my faction so as to focus more attention on the rest of the realm.

12-18 - Created Dragonsgate, a temporary spawn point for Westeros. Provides a portal to Riverdale and a currently unnamed mining area. Dragonsgate is a Safe Zone, meaning PvP and monsters are disabled.

12-19 - Mongooses was the main rival to Sirrus Farms for a good period of time. However, following certain events, their base was abandonned for a time. During this time the base was ripped apart by creepers and exploding lightning. It looked awful; normally it'd take days or weeks to fix it all. Well, in hopes of encouraging our rival to come back for round two, I've rolled back all creeper- and explosion-related damage to the entire base by a whole month (!!). The mob grinder and massive xp farm have also been patched and made functional again. Hear that Mongooses? You're out of excuses.

12-22 - To motivate players to explore, I've started creating labyrinths. Labyrinths vary in size and will typically be secluded and difficult to find, but will have a reward that makes finding them worth it. All you have to do is find it and solve the puzzles inside. They'll be safe-zone'd so no breaking blocks or PvP. The first labyrinth, which is very small and easy, has been added. Just go to Westeros spawn and enter the left gate marked "Labyrinth". Future labyrinths will not have gates; this one is just to let you guys test it. Let me know what you think!

aleady beat the first one

LinkCLX wrote:aleady beat the first one

Same

12-22 (cont'd) - Reset first labyrinth. A second, slightly larger but more dangerous labyrinth has been added... but this time you gotta find it. Happy hunting!

12-24 - Alright here's a hint for the second labyrinth's location.

1-4 - Labyrinth #3 is complete. This one is much harder than the previous two, as well as harder to find.


1-23 - Mob Arena 2.0 has been added underground near Sirrus Farms! The arena comes with spawning huts for mobs to build up. A command center on the opposite end of the entrance controls the huts as well as the contestant gate.

You can get to the arena using '/warp WestArena'. When 1.2 hits the arena will be replaced by an updated version (which I've already created).

The recent permissions overhaul set, by request, to turn Westeros into another creative world. With this addition survival is trivial, and along with it the need for factions has more or less been eliminated (other than to protect structures and resources). Westeros has become a shell of its former self, and while some people still visit it, none use it for what it was intended for anymore.

Factions can't fight each other because you're invincible in creative.
Resources don't need to be pooled, and there's no motivation to steal from other factions, since resources can be replenished instantly by anyone.

I'll be the first to admit it: Westeros, relative to what it could have been, is dead. But it wasn't the addition of creative that caused it. I believe, for one, that it was the lack of moderation, a task I volunteered to undertake, for which I apologize to those who expected more from this world. For another, it was lack of a player base, which has been increasing and will no doubt explode closer to June.

But I have in mind a solution, which would occur in steps:

1. Using WorldGuard, admins can protect players' and factions' buildings, and preserve them. Members of the appropriate factions may still build and access chests in these regions.
2. Once the above is completed, remove factions from Westeros. As stated above their use in Westeros has become void. The most major disadvantage to losing factions in Westeros is all land becomes unclaimed, however the above step will prevent them from being destroyed.
3. Eventually, once we have the player-base and the demand, create a new faction-based survival world. This time there will be clear rules which will be moderated. Factions will have a maximum effective capacity, and will only be able to claim enough land to protect their faction's core.
4. Furthermore, anyone good at making awesome buildings (dustynbush, EZCOFLOUNDER, JJoiler, etc) will be given permissions to create neutral sites and hubs as needed, so hopefully the new spawn won't be a dinky island I made in ten minutes.
5. Way down the road, move all structures from Westeros into Ivalice then shut down Westeros. Eventually it will just be another creative world like the others.

But this isn't up to me, it's up to you. Anyone who's made any contribution to Westeros or has an interest in a faction-based survival world say so here. Tell me what ideas you have. What should the new rules be? What should the new world be called? Do you disagree with the whole idea entirely?

I'd be willing to build any neutral-type areas for a new survival world. Arenas and all that too.

Myr would actually be perfect for this. That way we wouldn't have to worry about a few people running around there with Creative. They can build in Myr and have it moved over to the survival world.