When I started to play on cubecraft regularly, its main selling point was that it completely updated to Minecraft 1.9. That was about 19 months ago and there have been many updates since.
I see three main problems with updating:
1. New players are less likely to join the server if they can't connect with the version they are currently using. Solution: Use ProtocolSupport to enable backwards compatibility instead. With ProtocolSupportStuff you can even use all the new items. Of course it doesn't look as good as the actual items, but if players really want that they can still update to the newest version.
2. Updating takes up developing time. That's actually a valid point, but I think it's worth to take the time to update all minigames. The spigot api actually didn't change much as far as I know. If games are designed in a way that it takes longer than a few days per game to update, I think they should be redesigned anyway to allow faster updated in the future. You can't let the servers run on 1.9 forever.
3. Some games need to be rebalanced to take the changed shields into account. That could be done by changing shield mechanics so the player still gets damage and/or knockback while blocking or increasing shield durability loss from melee attacks.
There are many benefits of this:
1. New blocks in freebuild. This is pretty obvious, I'm not really into building, but If I decide to build something I'd rather do it on my own server or singleplayer world if the server restricts what blocks I can use.
2. New blocks for builders and new items for devs/game designers. Maps could look better and more interesting (for up to date clients, while still looking somewhat decent for outdated clients thanks to ProtocolSupportStuff). You could add totems and new mobs to games.
3. Bug fixes. Maybe the most important part. There are many bugs that I only noticed on cubecraft and not on other servers so I assume many are caused by the outdated servers. This bug prevents players from using horses in UHC and is very annoying on maps with ocean at the center. I think the bug where you accidentially eat food from your offhand happens more often on cubecraft, as well as the bug where your shield keeps blocking after you release right click. The skywars map Farm is almost unplayable, when I stand on farmland, I can't aim with a bow, I can's sprint with Speed II and I generally glitch around a lot.
On a side note, this is my 1500th post. Some of them are the rather bad suggestion threads I made lately, since no Administrator or Owner such as @rubik_cube_man responded to them I'd like to plug a few of them again now.
I see three main problems with updating:
1. New players are less likely to join the server if they can't connect with the version they are currently using. Solution: Use ProtocolSupport to enable backwards compatibility instead. With ProtocolSupportStuff you can even use all the new items. Of course it doesn't look as good as the actual items, but if players really want that they can still update to the newest version.
2. Updating takes up developing time. That's actually a valid point, but I think it's worth to take the time to update all minigames. The spigot api actually didn't change much as far as I know. If games are designed in a way that it takes longer than a few days per game to update, I think they should be redesigned anyway to allow faster updated in the future. You can't let the servers run on 1.9 forever.
3. Some games need to be rebalanced to take the changed shields into account. That could be done by changing shield mechanics so the player still gets damage and/or knockback while blocking or increasing shield durability loss from melee attacks.
There are many benefits of this:
1. New blocks in freebuild. This is pretty obvious, I'm not really into building, but If I decide to build something I'd rather do it on my own server or singleplayer world if the server restricts what blocks I can use.
2. New blocks for builders and new items for devs/game designers. Maps could look better and more interesting (for up to date clients, while still looking somewhat decent for outdated clients thanks to ProtocolSupportStuff). You could add totems and new mobs to games.
3. Bug fixes. Maybe the most important part. There are many bugs that I only noticed on cubecraft and not on other servers so I assume many are caused by the outdated servers. This bug prevents players from using horses in UHC and is very annoying on maps with ocean at the center. I think the bug where you accidentially eat food from your offhand happens more often on cubecraft, as well as the bug where your shield keeps blocking after you release right click. The skywars map Farm is almost unplayable, when I stand on farmland, I can't aim with a bow, I can's sprint with Speed II and I generally glitch around a lot.
On a side note, this is my 1500th post. Some of them are the rather bad suggestion threads I made lately, since no Administrator or Owner such as @rubik_cube_man responded to them I'd like to plug a few of them again now.
Duels:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/multiple-pvp-suggestions.192793/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/duels.196748/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/enderpearls-and-no-debuff.196973/
Skywars:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/remove-enchanted-golden-apples-from-normal-skywars.194298/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/skywars-update.197477/
SG:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/rename-corpses-in-survival-games.197577/
General:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/allowed-mods.197362/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/multiple-pvp-suggestions.192793/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/duels.196748/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/enderpearls-and-no-debuff.196973/
Skywars:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/remove-enchanted-golden-apples-from-normal-skywars.194298/
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/skywars-update.197477/
SG:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/rename-corpses-in-survival-games.197577/
General:
https://www.cubecraft.net/threads/allowed-mods.197362/
Last edited: