5 ms·

I'm almost surprised nobody mentioned beta 1.7.3 yet. Some people, myself included, consider it to be the last good version of the game. It came before the adve

by 256_ 2y ago

I'm almost surprised nobody mentioned beta 1.7.3 yet. Some people, myself included, consider it to be the last good version of the game. It came before the adventure update, beta 1.8, in 2011. To put it simply, 1.8 is the inflection point where Minecraft stopped being a sandbox and started being, as I once saw someone call it, a "pseudo-RPG". Obviously, this view is not common (EDIT: judging by some responses, maybe it is, at least on Hacker News). If people enjoy newer versions I'm not going to stop them. For me, though, the main disadvantage of modern Minecraft is its complexity. I enjoyed beta 1.7.3 because I had pretty much a complete encyclopedic knowledge of it. This is much harder for modern Minecraft. I get the feeling that most people don't enjoy that game for the same reasons I did.

lolinder 2y ago
See, I was very much the opposite. Even after Minecraft's full release I was huge into the mods because I never felt like the vanilla Minecraft experience had enough content.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  I'm the other way. I hosted a cracked 1.5.2b server for 4 years and it has a block shaped place in my soul.
- 256_ 2y ago
  Hmm. I wonder if this is the distinction between people who prefer old Minecraft and new Minecraft. How do you feel about modern Minecraft?
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    > I wonder if this is the distinction between people who prefer old Minecraft and new Minecraft. I'm old. But to be fair, I got into Minecraft by helping my kid set up a server - and then he moved on and it became my server. At least it wasn't a puppy.
  - lolinder 2y ago
    I honestly haven't had much time for Minecraft in the last 5+ years, but when I have it's mostly been with old versions and mods I liked back in the old days. I doubt that's because I wouldn't like the modern game so much as that when I turn to Minecraft it's for the nostalgia.
  - hoseja 2y ago
    Unmodded Minecraft has been steadily getting worse and worse. Mods had a peak at 1.7.10, then Mojang effed it all up but the community seems to be getting really impressive lately, especially with Distant Horizons.
cole-k 2y ago
I've played a lot of Minecraft and I still remember beta 1.7.3 very fondly -- albeit for different reasons -- but I want to offer a differing perspective. I have always struggled with balancing my desire to create with my capability to create, in and out of Minecraft. I would get so inspired by all the awesome things people built, that I could never graduate from my barebones cave-with-chests because my desire to make something great made any attempt feel crummy in comparison. The most I would accomplish was making redstone contraptions because -- to be a little reductionist -- those either work or they don't. I hope you will pardon my digression, but the point I'm getting to is that in beta 1.7.3, the goals you set for yourself, and therefore the reasons for you to keep playing, were largely creative in nature, like building a cool house. Updates past this point gave players the opportunity to make simpler, game-directed goals. It used to be that you reach resource satiation quickly, but now it will take hours to obtain a fully enchanted set of diamond armor, kill the ender dragon, explore all the new generated structures, etc. In later years they've codified these goals in achievements, including crazy ones like getting every positive and negative effect at the same time or exploring every biome. With these updates, the people who enjoy building cool things also got more cool things to build with, but this has in my opinion been a little more secondary. I understand why people might be disappointed, or at least confused, by Minecraft's updates now pushing it toward "pesudo-RPG" status, but I have at least welcomed these changes because they gave me and my friends a reason to reboot our server every few years to try out the new stuff. Although I will add that if your gripe is regarding combat/pvp changes (e.g. shields) then yeah I have nothing to add to that discussion. EDIT: I also agree with sibling comments about more content = more enjoyment, at least for me. I enjoy playing games where there are just a lot of things to learn and know.
- 256_ 2y ago
  Well put. > It used to be that you reach resource satiation quickly, but now it will take hours to [do so...] I think this may actually be the most important point. It is also not true, but also is at the same time, I feel. If "resource satiation" refers to the ability of the player to build/do whatever they want, then it is true. If "resource satiation" means "having enough resources", then for some people it is impossible by nature. There's always a temptation to do more and build more. For me, I think this temptation was independent of the game itself. Looking back at my childhood, I don't feel like there was any sharp distinction between my creations in Minecraft and any of my other creative pursuits, including programming; it all sort of blended together. The game was less a game, more like yet another creative medium.
joelkoen 2y ago
Have you tried Better than Adventure[0]? It's a fork of Beta 1.7.3 for exactly this reason! [0] https://www.betterthanadventure.net/ https://www.betterthanadventure.net/
- cole-k 2y ago
  Thank you for sharing, all this talk of beta 1.7.3 (which is over 10 years old, my goodness how time flies) has made me nostalgic to try it, and this might be what convinces me to, since without anything new I probably would set up in a cave and then quickly quit.
- jwrallie 2y ago
  For people that would prefer the vanilla experience, I recommend the Betacraft client. I have been using for some time since I had some issues with sound being missing when playing older versions on the official client. [0] https://betacraft.uk/ https://betacraft.uk/
- trs-80 2y ago
  I think Minetest is in a similar vein, and for similar reasons. And it's F/LOSS.
p0w3n3d 2y ago
And Metallica ended at kill'em all Tbh everyone has some favourite version and un-favourite changes. But the game evolves and you can still play old and new simultaneously
kjkjadksj 2y ago
The thing is, you don't have to play the rpg aspect of it at all. You can still play the same game you played in beta 1.7.3 and get benefits like more variety of blocks for building and better automated farm setups leveraging the newer items like unmeltable ice. No one is forcing you to slay the end dragon.
- mmis1000 2y ago
  For real, I play this game for hundreds of hours and not even bother to beat end dragon in vanilla survival even once. I mostly play around redstones/command blocks/mods. The game don't really force you to play survival mode at all. No "unlock creative mode after beat this game" sh*t exists in this game. If you really don't like it, just ignore this part as a whole.
hot_gril 2y ago
I liked the simplicity of 1.7.3 beta, but the addition of hunger made pvp more interesting. Enchantments also made XP farming a thing, which brought in creativity. Mobs got needed buffs so caving was actually a challenge. Overall I liked most of the changes until MSFT bought it and did the bad combat update, which online arcade modes rejected. They just could've done without The End.

by 256_ 2y ago

lolinder 2y ago

See, I was very much the opposite. Even after Minecraft's full release I was huge into the mods because I never felt like the vanilla Minecraft experience had enough content.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
I'm the other way. I hosted a cracked 1.5.2b server for 4 years and it has a block shaped place in my soul.
256_ 2y ago
Hmm. I wonder if this is the distinction between people who prefer old Minecraft and new Minecraft. How do you feel about modern Minecraft?
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  > I wonder if this is the distinction between people who prefer old Minecraft and new Minecraft. I'm old. But to be fair, I got into Minecraft by helping my kid set up a server - and then he moved on and it became my server. At least it wasn't a puppy.
- lolinder 2y ago
  I honestly haven't had much time for Minecraft in the last 5+ years, but when I have it's mostly been with old versions and mods I liked back in the old days. I doubt that's because I wouldn't like the modern game so much as that when I turn to Minecraft it's for the nostalgia.
- hoseja 2y ago
  Unmodded Minecraft has been steadily getting worse and worse. Mods had a peak at 1.7.10, then Mojang effed it all up but the community seems to be getting really impressive lately, especially with Distant Horizons.

cole-k 2y ago

I've played a lot of Minecraft and I still remember beta 1.7.3 very fondly -- albeit for different reasons -- but I want to offer a differing perspective. I have always struggled with balancing my desire to create with my capability to create, in and out of Minecraft. I would get so inspired by all the awesome things people built, that I could never graduate from my barebones cave-with-chests because my desire to make something great made any attempt feel crummy in comparison. The most I would accomplish was making redstone contraptions because -- to be a little reductionist -- those either work or they don't. I hope you will pardon my digression, but the point I'm getting to is that in beta 1.7.3, the goals you set for yourself, and therefore the reasons for you to keep playing, were largely creative in nature, like building a cool house. Updates past this point gave players the opportunity to make simpler, game-directed goals. It used to be that you reach resource satiation quickly, but now it will take hours to obtain a fully enchanted set of diamond armor, kill the ender dragon, explore all the new generated structures, etc. In later years they've codified these goals in achievements, including crazy ones like getting every positive and negative effect at the same time or exploring every biome. With these updates, the people who enjoy building cool things also got more cool things to build with, but this has in my opinion been a little more secondary. I understand why people might be disappointed, or at least confused, by Minecraft's updates now pushing it toward "pesudo-RPG" status, but I have at least welcomed these changes because they gave me and my friends a reason to reboot our server every few years to try out the new stuff. Although I will add that if your gripe is regarding combat/pvp changes (e.g. shields) then yeah I have nothing to add to that discussion. EDIT: I also agree with sibling comments about more content = more enjoyment, at least for me. I enjoy playing games where there are just a lot of things to learn and know.

256_ 2y ago
Well put. > It used to be that you reach resource satiation quickly, but now it will take hours to [do so...] I think this may actually be the most important point. It is also not true, but also is at the same time, I feel. If "resource satiation" refers to the ability of the player to build/do whatever they want, then it is true. If "resource satiation" means "having enough resources", then for some people it is impossible by nature. There's always a temptation to do more and build more. For me, I think this temptation was independent of the game itself. Looking back at my childhood, I don't feel like there was any sharp distinction between my creations in Minecraft and any of my other creative pursuits, including programming; it all sort of blended together. The game was less a game, more like yet another creative medium.

joelkoen 2y ago

Have you tried Better than Adventure[0]? It's a fork of Beta 1.7.3 for exactly this reason! [0] https://www.betterthanadventure.net/ https://www.betterthanadventure.net/

cole-k 2y ago
Thank you for sharing, all this talk of beta 1.7.3 (which is over 10 years old, my goodness how time flies) has made me nostalgic to try it, and this might be what convinces me to, since without anything new I probably would set up in a cave and then quickly quit.
jwrallie 2y ago
For people that would prefer the vanilla experience, I recommend the Betacraft client. I have been using for some time since I had some issues with sound being missing when playing older versions on the official client. [0] https://betacraft.uk/ https://betacraft.uk/
trs-80 2y ago
I think Minetest is in a similar vein, and for similar reasons. And it's F/LOSS.

p0w3n3d 2y ago

And Metallica ended at kill'em all Tbh everyone has some favourite version and un-favourite changes. But the game evolves and you can still play old and new simultaneously

kjkjadksj 2y ago

The thing is, you don't have to play the rpg aspect of it at all. You can still play the same game you played in beta 1.7.3 and get benefits like more variety of blocks for building and better automated farm setups leveraging the newer items like unmeltable ice. No one is forcing you to slay the end dragon.

mmis1000 2y ago
For real, I play this game for hundreds of hours and not even bother to beat end dragon in vanilla survival even once. I mostly play around redstones/command blocks/mods. The game don't really force you to play survival mode at all. No "unlock creative mode after beat this game" sh*t exists in this game. If you really don't like it, just ignore this part as a whole.

hot_gril 2y ago

I liked the simplicity of 1.7.3 beta, but the addition of hunger made pvp more interesting. Enchantments also made XP farming a thing, which brought in creativity. Mobs got needed buffs so caving was actually a challenge. Overall I liked most of the changes until MSFT bought it and did the bad combat update, which online arcade modes rejected. They just could've done without The End.