My 1.8 observations

[MagusUnion]

I actually quite like this feature and has made cave spelunking more fun. I always hated the "chow down on cooked pork and heal instantly" thing. Now there is more of a "Take time to recover and luick your wounds" feel to combat which is good. This combined with blocking makes for a good and flexible combat experience.

It also use to be harder to mine because you had to weigh up how important those 4 x hearts were as it potentially took up a perfectly good slot that could hold 64 x iron. The fact that you now heal slowly over time feels well balanced to me. It also adds a proper "Survival" mechanic to the game. it forces a more creative design of your buildings as you now need to factor in food collection.

I agree... food feels like food now.. no whoring up in a base not interacting with the world any longer... You actually have to either invest in a farm or kill animals for food, and give it more of a use beyond "omg massive dmg! ffs heal!" It also makes farms a much more valuable resource, seeing as how 'Steve' will do more with said food than just look at it ascetically...

[Tekei]

I also like the new food/hunger system. Besides the points already raised I like that fact that minor fall damage isn't such a big deal anymore but combat is more difficult (in a sense).

[DaveYanakov]

Yes, it is more realistic but can you name a single game that features a health system but lacks a mechanic where the player controls the healing? Even if you have to find a medkit or recharging station, there is very nearly always a way to heal when you want to.

Ok, yes, certain cover based shooters feature systems where there is no health meter and you wait for the raspberry preserves to fall off your face instead. This is one of the flaws with those titles. As far as I know, Minecraft is not a game about chest high walls. Build those suckers up past head height or go home!

[Tekei]

Ok, yes, certain cover based shooters feature systems where there is no health meter and you wait for the raspberry preserves to fall off your face instead. This is one of the flaws with those titles. As far as I know, Minecraft is not a game about chest high walls. Build those suckers up past head height or go home!

Pretty much ever shooter these days features the "stay out of trouble for a few seconds and you'll heal automatically"-function rather than health packs. Whether it's a flaw or not is up to the player to decide. Personally I enjoy those games much more when I don't have to continually have to glance in whatever location they've decided to put the health GUI and can focus my attention on my environment and enemies instead. That said, those are shooters and minecraft isn't so the comparison is not really helpful either way.

Personally I couldn't care less what other games do, I'd rather think about the pros and cons of the new and old systems and in my eyes the new system offers far more interesting things to the game. Preparation for exploration goes further than just putting 2-4 pieces of bacon in your inventory. Combat is more involving since you have to make sure you don't take too much damage during a battle (but can heal in between battles). You can build high structures without having to worry too much about fall damage and farming/fishing has become much more useful.

[Urian]

From the looks of it, there will be potions for instant healing. If not in vMC then I'm pretty certain a mod will introduce them since the mechanics/functions already seem to be in the code.

On the note of regenerating health: Oh yes, the modern day FPS(/almost any other game) with the player being part starfish can get quite annoying. I just finished playing through the original Deus Ex, one of the best FPRPGs - heck one of the best games - ever and one thing that makes it great is that you haven't got regenerating health. You can get upgrades for it but it will require you giving up a valuable augmentation slot and the regenerating eats power like candy, making normal health packs a very viable option.

[BigShinyToys]

-Clay is all over the frigging place (at least in swampy biomes). This will likely affect mod balance somewhat, as I do not believe I can consider it a rare or limiting resource any longer.

Some people like me like the look of Brick homes AND now we can make them . In the real world Clay is in most soils and in Farming land It is in the creek Behind my house . It is a very common substance on earth unless you are in a desert so mojang has fixed that. Because of clays Non rarity Humans have been making bricks for Hundreds of years dating back to antiquity.

I would be against a Re-balance of the pottery system.

I don't mean that in a argumentative way it is just my opinion In the end i will still be playing BTW with or with out a re-balance :)

[grimper12341]

-The terrain definitely feels a lot more epic. I haven't done much above-ground exploration yet, but have observed several massive mountains nearby my starting location, and I seem to be in some kind of swampy biome.

Those mountains get old fast, they all look the same and they are all super steep. Can't seem to find any of the old style mountains that had trees and lakes, or mountains made out of sand/sandstone/stone :\

Pretty much the only variances in the new mountains is how many overhangs they have, and whether they border the sea or not.

[RHCPepperfan]

I noticed that the grass biome is wayyyyy overpowerd. I'm in a grass biome and I get like a million zillion seeds, and next to the grassy biome there is a swamp biome so there is also enough wood and water. Now I have always food and that kinda blocks the whole survival aspect. Found an awesome cave tho, really worth exploring. Hostile mobs seem to spawn alot more then before, and lighting the place up doesn't seem to work as good as earlier. The survival aspect IS harder if your not in a grass biome.

[Tekei]

I noticed that the grass biome is wayyyyy overpowerd. I'm in a grass biome and I get like a million zillion seeds, and next to the grassy biome there is a swamp biome so there is also enough wood and water. Now I have always food and that kinda blocks the whole survival aspect. Found an awesome cave tho, really worth exploring. Hostile mobs seem to spawn alot more then before, and lighting the place up doesn't seem to work as good as earlier. The survival aspect IS harder if your not in a grass biome.

Really... All you need is a few seeds anyway since wheat drops seeds when fully grown as well as wheat. Sure, lots of grass helps out the start of your farm but in the end it doesn't matter much. I usually rely on fish the first few days (and zombie flesh if I can't get enough string for a fishing rod soon enough).

[RHCPepperfan]

I noticed that the grass biome is wayyyyy overpowerd. I'm in a grass biome and I get like a million zillion seeds, and next to the grassy biome there is a swamp biome so there is also enough wood and water. Now I have always food and that kinda blocks the whole survival aspect. Found an awesome cave tho, really worth exploring. Hostile mobs seem to spawn alot more then before, and lighting the place up doesn't seem to work as good as earlier. The survival aspect IS harder if your not in a grass biome.

Really... All you need is a few seeds anyway since wheat drops seeds when fully grown as well as wheat. Sure, lots of grass helps out the start of your farm but in the end it doesn't matter much. I usually rely on fish the first few days (and zombie flesh if I can't get enough string for a fishing rod soon enough).

Well when you start in a grass biome you basicly have infinite amount of food right from the start. I don't like it.

[Tekei]

Well when you start in a grass biome you basicly have infinite amount of food right from the start. I don't like it.

My point is, haven't that always been the case? And tbh, the amount of seeds you get from a grass biome isn't much different from any biome that has a few patches of grass. I mean, a grass biome doesn't make your wheat grow any faster (and personally I don't use more than maybe 10-20 plants of wheat anyway) so even if you start in a forest or swamp you'll still end up with a big enough wheat farm to supply you with bread. So if you think that food is too easy to come by in grass biomes then logical reasoning would tell you that it is too easy to come by in any biome (except maybe deserts). On the other hand, fish is an unlimited food supply in and of itself. All you need is some water and you can fish for food as much as you like.

EDIT: That said, I'd rather have it this way where farming is necessary than nerf farming just to make food more difficult to come by.

[gftweek]

Well when you start in a grass biome you basicly have infinite amount of food right from the start. I don't like it.

There's food everywhere! There's mushrooms in swamps, fish in the ocean, pigs/cows/chickens, wheat in the villages, melon seeds in the mines.

However, some foods are better than others, turns out there is a hidden "satisfaction" bar than has to be depleted before your hunger starts decreasing again, steak and pork chops fill this a lot, bread only a bit and cookies hardly at all.

[CapnRedbeard]

-I really don't like the opening/closing chests animation/sound. Inventory management was annoying enough in Minecraft without that damned sound (which seems to be MUCH louder than most other sounds in the game) everytime you open/close a chest. I find myself avoiding moving things around just because I hate the sound effect :\

Probably one of the smaller quibbles, but I heard it that the sound effect was going to be updated, to a hopefully less annoying one.

It's on the future features list for 1.9.
Of course, lots of things go on that list so it's by no means a certainty :)

Honestly I hardly ever play with sound (circumstance of where I have my computer, don't want excessive noise) so I personally haven't noticed it. But I can imagine it would get annoying mighty quick, especially with my lack of forthought for what I actually need to build with!
On that note - ghasts freaked my out when I finally heard them screaming about 3 weeks ago.

[Battosay]

So, after a few days testing 1.8 with FaceFoiled :
- I really love the new lighting system. Besides some weird effect on non-opaque blocks (delayers, paintings), it's looking great.
- New biomes are really amazing !

- There's clay everywhere ! I found over 30 stacks of clay in a single lake ! But still, I can't stop myself from picking it.
- The craft all key is great, and I like it instead of "just one stack in your mouse". If you want less, just place the correct amount in the crafting box.
- Ravines looks amazing. Just found a place underground where 5 ravines are connected to each others, going into 5 directions. Epic.

- I crafted my very 1st map ever, and it's been really usefull actually. We just need to have the ability to add locations to the map, which should be in 1.9 (from the wiki)

- Finally using some boats, and it's great to ride rivers :) Wish they were more resistant though (steel boat ? :p)
- I seem to find way less passive mob than before. Only found a couple of pigs, and absolutely no sheeps so far.
And I don't get why they changed their spawn before they introduced breeding.

- Endermen are a joke. Too easy to kill, not very frightning. Just a pain in the ass in old mobtraps (you need to make them 2 high instead of 3 now, that's all).
- The new hunger/food system is stupid. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to deplete, and with just 1 stack of bread I can easily explore a cave/mineshaft during weeks or even months without starving. And the "no insta heal" is really boring, instead of healing yourself to jump back into action you have to hide for 30sec, then go back, and if you're hurt again, hide, go out, hide ... etc. Boring.

[razar51]

Enderman are useless and a major annoyance. They tear apart the landscape, leaving floating trees. They can randomly spawn in or near my large creations and rip up blocks in my redstone areas, making the game less about making new things and more about me running around to all of my stuff every morning to check for damage. (i built a small test house and left it for a few hours, came back and the whole floor was ripped up and there were about 10 holes in the walls)

Passive mobs don't spawn on islands in ocean biomes, so the island map I generated makes food a problem until I can kill a spider or 2 for a fishing rod. (got 1 seed for wheat from the 10 or so tall grass on the island)

Melons and pumpkins only grow from the vine you plant onto an adjacent tilled dirt block, but when they grow, they un-till the block. Planters will probably fix this problem, but a lot of the features introduced in 1.8 are half finished/could use iteration.

[FaceFoiled]

I love the world generations. The biomes looks really cool, and there are some wicked mountains on my randomly generated world (random seed). I currently have a love/hate relationship with food. I kinda like the idea of having to eat once in a while, instead of during a fight. I thoroughly dislike it when building though. Running about and running out of food/life and jumping down the smallest of jumps (read: fall off a wall) kills me quite regularly! :P

[Tekei]

I thoroughly dislike it when building though. Running about and running out of food/life and jumping down the smallest of jumps (read: fall off a wall) kills me quite regularly! :P

It's is the exact opposite for me. pre-1.8 I died regularly from falling off walls/roof tops/cliffs. Now I slowly heal the damage until I fall the next time :)

[Stormweaver]

I thoroughly dislike it when building though. Running about and running out of food/life and jumping down the smallest of jumps (read: fall off a wall) kills me quite regularly! :P

It's is the exact opposite for me. pre-1.8 I died regularly from falling off walls/roof tops/cliffs. Now I slowly heal the damage until I fall the next time :)

This. I used to go through a ton of doughnuts simply from constructing things, and now I won't need to worry about it.

Thanks to the ledges, it also makes going down ravines a non-issue. Getting back up...is a bit harder, but getting down is cake.

[redrew89]

That's both a ton of resources, and a hell of a lot of effort to build it. Compare to rigging up netherportals, which while they require a diamond pickaxe to build them netherside, are still pretty easy to put up, and the fact that the nether's honestly not that hard to travel through (And you can easily ghast-proof the travel-ways with cobblestone if you really feel the need to - although i suspect with the new bow mechanics, Ghasts will somewhat lack in challenge)... there's just not a good argument other than how hap-hazard Portals tend to be for linking up properly. And as said, with a minimap mod, that issue goes away.

I can attest to the fact that, aside from actually getting a good aim on a distant Ghast, they are also a two-arrow kill with the bow. This made me feel both excited for having killed my first Ghast, and somewhat disappointed, as they no longer had that "boss monster" intimidation factor to them. It's still quite tricky to redirect fireballs with the bow, however. Perhaps we could get an achievement for killing a Ghast with his own projectile. (Not a suggestion for BTW, of course. Just pondering if it might ever exist.)

[DaveYanakov]

Passive mobs don't spawn on islands in ocean biomes, so the island map I generated makes food a problem until I can kill a spider or 2 for a fishing rod. (got 1 seed for wheat from the 10 or so tall grass on the island)

Bone meal when used on a grass block will spawn more tall grass in a 2-3 block radius along with the occasional flower.

I got my first sword kill on a ghast last night. He drifted close to my nether road and I nailed him with a jumping critical hit while sprinting. One hit did the job so apparently they're weaker than zombies and creepers.

[razar51]

Passive mobs don't spawn on islands in ocean biomes, so the island map I generated makes food a problem until I can kill a spider or 2 for a fishing rod. (got 1 seed for wheat from the 10 or so tall grass on the island)

Bone meal when used on a grass block will spawn more tall grass in a 2-3 block radius along with the occasional flower.

I got my first sword kill on a ghast last night. He drifted close to my nether road and I nailed him with a jumping critical hit while sprinting. One hit did the job so apparently they're weaker than zombies and creepers.

Yeah i'm aware of the bonemeal thing. I have options (kill a skelly for bonemeal for more seeds or kill a spider for string for fishing rod or wait for my existing wheat to grow) but right now i'm starving.

[Damion Rayne]

So, after a few days testing 1.8 with FaceFoiled :
- I really love the new lighting system. Besides some weird effect on non-opaque blocks (delayers, paintings), it's looking great.
- New biomes are really amazing !

- There's clay everywhere ! I found over 30 stacks of clay in a single lake ! But still, I can't stop myself from picking it.
- The craft all key is great, and I like it instead of "just one stack in your mouse". If you want less, just place the correct amount in the crafting box.
- Ravines looks amazing. Just found a place underground where 5 ravines are connected to each others, going into 5 directions. Epic.

- I crafted my very 1st map ever, and it's been really usefull actually. We just need to have the ability to add locations to the map, which should be in 1.9 (from the wiki)

- Finally using some boats, and it's great to ride rivers :) Wish they were more resistant though (steel boat ? :p)
- I seem to find way less passive mob than before. Only found a couple of pigs, and absolutely no sheeps so far.
And I don't get why they changed their spawn before they introduced breeding.

- Endermen are a joke. Too easy to kill, not very frightning. Just a pain in the ass in old mobtraps (you need to make them 2 high instead of 3 now, that's all).
- The new hunger/food system is stupid. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to deplete, and with just 1 stack of bread I can easily explore a cave/mineshaft during weeks or even months without starving. And the "no insta heal" is really boring, instead of healing yourself to jump back into action you have to hide for 30sec, then go back, and if you're hurt again, hide, go out, hide ... etc. Boring.

Yeah I have to agree that the new food system might not be what it was intended to be. I don't like having to hide in a hidey hole till I re-heal up all my damage. In my opinion, actually on-use healing (that is costly to make, ala potions) along-side hunger that not only causes damage when you are hungry, but maybe does other things like make you swing slower when working (fatigue anyone?) would be a much better system.

[PuppetRebel]

Passive mobs don't spawn on islands in ocean biomes, so the island map I generated makes food a problem until I can kill a spider or 2 for a fishing rod. (got 1 seed for wheat from the 10 or so tall grass on the island)

Bone meal when used on a grass block will spawn more tall grass in a 2-3 block radius along with the occasional flower.

I got my first sword kill on a ghast last night. He drifted close to my nether road and I nailed him with a jumping critical hit while sprinting. One hit did the job so apparently they're weaker than zombies and creepers.

Yeah i'm aware of the bonemeal thing. I have options (kill a skelly for bonemeal for more seeds or kill a spider for string for fishing rod or wait for my existing wheat to grow) but right now i'm starving.

If you're really desperate, even though it makes your hunger go down faster, I've been eating rotten flesh to keep from starving to death.

[FaceFoiled]

Omnom zombie flesh! =)

[Camerinthus]

Perhaps we could get an achievement for killing a Ghast with his own projectile. (Not a suggestion for BTW, of course. Just pondering if it might ever exist.)

What, you mean like Legend of Zelda?