It’s April already, and time for Easter! I know, I can’t believe it either. Between schooling-at-home and a total lack of routine I hardly know what day it is anymore. Even though we’ve continued holidays on the server, I haven’t been posting about them on the site so let’s try to get back into a routine.
If you’ve never participated in an Egg hunt before let me explain how it works. Back when we started this event years ago, Minecraft didn’t have colored eggs, or even colored egg (head) blocks. However, player head blocks were available so we hid those instead. Everyone seemed to enjoy their collection of player heads either for personal collections or for trading like Pokemon cards, the event has always been a fun success!
The admins have designated an area for the event and hidden the “eggs” all around the island for players to find. The command block will be open during our Monday night stream. In the meantime, the holiday area is open! Come visit the Easter Bunny and be sure to bring him carrots for trading (although there are some available).
And don’t forget to take your picture with the Easter Bunny! Post your screenshots in the group for our memory album!
On an additional note, we know everyone is going through so much lately. We hope all of our friends and neighbors are staying healthy and safe! We’re all in this together! If you’re having a hard time staying entertained with Minecraft, don’t forget to join our 7 Days to Die or Animal Crossing: New Horizons groups if you’re looking for new games to occupy your time. They’ve been saving my sanity through all this isolation. Hopefully they’ll do the same for you!
There are months, and then there is June. Let’s look ahead to July shall we? I’d like that.
1.14 and the Amazing Technological Dreamcoat
This weekend is Link’s make-up birthday party, despite already making up for his original birthday plan (circumstances were just ugh) with a last-minute Orlando escapade skillfully put together by my ace in the hole, a.k.a. my wife, which Link had already said was the “best birthday ever”. But I’m a total pushover, and he’s a born salesman, so here we are. To wit, that means we’re scheduling a tentative AquaNu update to 1.14 over the holiday weekend, starting July 5th with a don’t build anything you’re in love with couple of days following that, just in case something corrupts and we have to do a rollback. That being said, with the exception of a couple non-essential plugins, things are shaping up pretty nicely according to current tests. So get ready for some Pandas Power.
AquaNu 616 is Still Up & Stable
Yes it’s a Marvel Universe joke, which I will not apologize for, even though it was pointed out to me by a few people that 616 is the canon universe, and this is a test server, so yeah, I’ve been better with clever names.
Anyway, in case you don’t know, we have a 1.14 server up and running that is a copy of AquaNu. Everyone has Creative over there, so feel free to fly around and scope stuff out. Once we’ve migrated the true AquaNu over, you can go claim land that you might have seen over on the other server. Everybody is once again going to get one free claim so make sure you have those coordinates ready, and we do expect you to be at the coordinates you want to request a for when we go to mark it off (or if you’re logged off, we can see the coords you last logged off at). The trick is making sure you can get to those coords quick enough to claim your spot, but not before we switch over (because then they’d end up being 1.13 loaded chunks) so you’ll need to stay frosty yo.
You can visit the test server at 616.smaws.me. If you have trouble getting on, let me know.
RUSH MAP PARTICIPANTS
If you logged into the Rush Map at any point, and you have stuff in your inventory, you will receive those items in a shulker box which will be placed in your backpack. If your inventory overflows into your enderchest, you will receive two shulker boxes in your backpack with said items. Obviously you can’t have more stuff than that, so two is the max you can get. I will be personally taking on this responsibility and it is a little tedious so please bear with me on that once 1.14 is deemed a sure thing.
End of July Steam Run
We owe you guys for sticking with us through this fraught and frustrating year so far so what better way to make it up to you than with a juicy 1.14 Steam Run. I can say with conviction that it will not be as bonkers as the last one, but I can assure you it will still be worth your while. If you’re new and you don’t know what a Steam Run is yet, check out the video of January’s run below for a general idea.
Sign ups for the Steam run will be available once we do the Facebook poll for best two days. As per usual, Awesome Tier players will be able to attend both days of the run if they can make it (as of the time of this writing, there are currently 4 more slots available for Awesome Tier so try not to lollygag if you want one).
There’s More on the Way!
I know the admin ladies have a bunch of stuff in the pipeline with regards to Fourth of July, plus we’ll be revealing a fantastic new Secret Beta, an updated Command of the Week ( /firework ), Serverus Shack updates for the holiday, and whatever groveling I have to do to ensure that everyone continues to like me, because I have a fragile ego and need constant validation that I’m not a fraud ?
Seriously though, I can only thank you guys for your continued support and dedication to this server yet again, another month going, while Tonya and I continue to navigate this minefield that is currently our lives. I’m not necessarily trying to be dramatic here or anything, we’re not asking for pity, but we certainly appreciate your patience, and we just want you to know it.
So now, here is a video salute to all our players…
It has been quite the ride since we first opened the server back in 2013. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but we couldn’t be happier with where we are today. Some of you have been here since the beginning (like our very first player and beloved admin Sarah “Akumo” Penney) and some of you have only been here a few months, but we wouldn’t have an anniversary at all if it wasn’t for the amazing support we get from you guys year after year. So thank you all for another trip around the sun for SAMC!
Every year we put up a throwback map and this year is no different (well maybe a tad different). It will be running on Spigot 1.13.2 so it’s also a nice little pre-test for moving Main onto the latest version too. We’ve taken down the Rush Map for a couple days but it will be back up (and at snapshot 19w14b) after the stream on Monday night.
Since the traditional six year gift is something made of iron, we’ve made it so that when you type /kit annie into chat, you will spawn your very own Iron Golem. This Kitz has a cooldown of 100 minutes, so feel free to use it more than once. There’s also another new Kitz in the Serverus Shack, a one-time use providing you with a free $6000 SAMCoin, as our way of saying thanks for so many great years!
Of course, you could just use it to buy more Lucky Blocks in the Kitz a few signs over 😉
Wait! What are Lucky Blocks?
Oh yeah, I am SUPER BEHIND on announcements. Let’s get to those shall we?
Remember this post I made in March? Yeah well we finally got to implementing Lucky Blocks at the end of last month, which was kind of a blessing in disguise really, because we were also able to use them as part of April Fools week, since some of these blocks ain’t so lucky! You can get them occasionally from mining, or for $100 SAMCoin each in the Serverus Shack.
Speaking of blessings in disguise, since it is in fact April Fool’s week, we’ve turned on our perennial joke plugin, iDisguise! Turn yourself into any mob (except the ender dragon) and annoy or terrify your fellow player! To use it, type /d in the chat, followed by the mob you want to disguise yourself as. So if you wanted to be a blaze, type /d blaze into the chat. There should be a success message pop up when you’ve done it correctly, though you will not be able to see yourself as the mob. Everyone else will though 🙂
We’ll keep these on for the next couple of weeks since I’ve been slow to alert everyone to their presence. Watch out for some of those Lucky Block surprises though! Some will kill you, which is why we also have KeepInventory on for the time being too (only in the overworld of course as per usual).
Anniversary Map
Every year during our anniversary we would put up the first backup map we ever had, taken just a few days after we launched the server to the public back in April of 2013. This year I found one that is a backup of a few months later (more of you were on by this time). This is a chip off of Main, our very first world (and one that is raring up to make its comeback soon) and the previous home of the LeMorris Family when we played offline before all this.
The Anniversary Map will be where Tonya and I will be streaming during Minecraft Monday so if you’d like to join us over there, you can get to it by using six.smaws.me as the server address.
Buy Fly Time with SAMCoin
A month or so ago I talked about adding /fly to the Command Zone, but it ended up being more practical (and easier for people who didn’t have access to the Command Zone) to just add a plugin where you could instead buy blocks of flying time directly with your SAMCoin balance. To take advantage of this April offer, just user /flymenu in the chat.
You can choose between a 3 hour block for $500 or an 8 hour block for $1000. These are “real time” hours meaning that if you leave the game, the clock is still ticking, so pick wisely.
We’re doing some other interesting things with flying options right now as well that the Secret Beta folks are testing out for us, so look for more great stuff ahead!
Quick Notes
Here are a few small things that you might want to know, or you might not care at all about. That’s why they’re at the end of the article!
Redstone Block Sale Sign in the Serverus Shack works again
Get Fire & Ice Bows using the special kitz in the Serverus Shack
Points are in for Patreon Patrons over at SomeAwesome.com
We’ll be doing a stability update for Spigot and AWS tonight in the wee hours
Loot boxes are on the way for Awesome Tier patrons!
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and the villagers are celebrating with a parade!
Meanwhile, the town is completely overrun with leprechauns hiding their gold.
After the parade, enjoy some delicious pub food down at the Pug and Pine and kiss the Blarney Stone!
Don’t forget to stop by the leprechaun house at the end of the garden path for some St. Patrick’s Day swag. (XP Bottles and a bundle of sticks required!)
Hello and welcome to another episode of Serverus Catches Us All Up At The Last Moment, now on NBC Thursdays directly following Two and a Half Men
It’s been a month, but a short one, and in some ways that is good for us, and in others…not so much.
I feel like I complain about every month at the end of every month. Pretty soon I will be shooing whippersnappers off my lawn. Anyway, let’s get to the stuff.
Build Wars 5 Continued
I admit, I messed up on the messaging for Build Wars 5, therefore we ended up having a lot of people who forgot about it after the poll, so we’re going to have another one this month, for anyone who didn’t participate in the first one. Same prizes will be available for this one as well. I’ll be putting up a poll this weekend to ask for best availability again.
Also it’s a great excuse for me to use this map again. Hey it’s my first challenge map give me a break ?
But hark! you say…what about the one we just had?!? No worries young Spartan, for your creations will be added to an album and thus made into a Sponsored Post on Facebook, where the public will judge ye. That happens this weekend as well.
To remind everyone how that works, it’s pretty simple.
MOST LIKES: $30 Amazon Gift Card 2ND MOST LIKES: 30,000 points on SomeAwesome.com 3RD MOST LIKES: 30 Levels of XP on AquaNu
RUSH MAP UPDATES!
We’re on 19w09a now. That’s the update. More pillaging villaging killaging things in this one. Also it seems a little more stable than the last and if I believe what my trick knee is telling me, that means a pre-release is right around the corner!
Trash Can. Remember, a trash can…
And also remember that today is the last day you can change your Patreon pledge, which will be processed tomorrow. Secret Beta folks should have received their items in their backpacks, if you can’t find yours please let me know, some of you guys have messy backpacks, I did what I could ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We are still working towards moving away from Patreon, and will have more news on that this month. All current patrons will be able to retain their tiers moving from one platform to the other so no worries about that.
COMMAND OF THE WEEK
SmoothSleep is on if you haven’t noticed already (it’s kind of hard not to) and Marriage Master is ending today, so get those smooches in while you can. There are new Kitz in the Serverus Shack as well.
Powaz Kitz: Increases your strength for 24 hours
Featherz Kitz: Adds slow falling + no fall damage to you for 24 hours
Affleck: I’m not going to explain this one
All $500 SAMCoin apiece with a short cooldown, as per usual.
March is typically notorious for special plugins so you are sure to expect some unorthodox weeks ahead ?
Upcoming Events
Yes there are more events than even Build Wars 5 Part 2: Electric Boogaloo lined up for March. The area around CT will be home to our Pot O Gold Hunt, featuring a special chest that disappears and reappears each time it is found by a lucky player, each time with different loot!
During the entire month of March, the Lottery will run twice a day, so you can get double lucky!
And with any luck, we’ll finally get 1.14 and Spigot will update quickly!
Any questions, you know where to find me. ~Serverus
Happy love day everyone! We’ve got such a wonderful group and family here among us, we just wanted to show you all how much we love you. Come visit our very special LOVE inspired holiday area, built by our beloved blackbird_cloud. Take a ride down our river of love, just watch out for Cupid’s arrows 😉
Visit our holiday villager for some holiday souvenirs (don’t forget your bottles of XP).
Take a moment to leave a love note for your special someone on our Dedication Wall.
Just our little way to show you how much we love and appreciate all of you! Thank you for all the years of support and encouragement. We love our Minecraft family!
