xHobbes
Titan
xHobbes
xHobbes
About three years ago, I joined this server in hopes for a new zombie survival gamemode that was fun, re-playable, and smooth after MineZ essentially died. After I tried finding a new home, I just decided to go to another server in the meantime. I had some friends on there, and they told me about an active, welcoming server. It was called The Mining Dead. I joined, and I was hooked. It had an amazing texture pack that looked very good and barely lagged, very welcoming community, and fun mechanics. I would play everyday, meet new people and make new friends, and hang out and kill walkers. Everything about this server was perfect: A large and detailed texture pack; tons of different locations to explore and memorize; and of course, the people that dwelled here.
By no means am I an "OG" compared to a lot of others. I only started in 2015, still relatively early on, before it's peek, but still after the age of the of the server starting up. I played almost exclusively PvE, the people were friendlier and more accepting to the new players, and making friends was easy. I had an amazing upbringing on the server, to say the least. This stayed like this for a year. I made friends, and hung out. Not many at this time lasted long without them leaving, or isolating themselves. I too left for about 4 months. Once I came back, it was almost like a fresh start. Not many people I was friends with in the previous year stuck around, and those who did never talked. I made new ones, with this group of friends lasting longer. This is where I made my more long-term friends, some of which I'm still in contact with today. This is when I started playing Hell Night, and when I got started on the forums. One of the biggest events in the server's history, the reset in 2016. This is where a lot of the problems in the server originate from. There was a lot of drama and controversy surrounding this update, which seeped into the other forum boards, as well as in game. When it eventually hit, it was not a bad update, but a lot of players disliked the new map and mechanics. After this, however, Havoc went uphill dramatically. Sometime in March 2017, the server passed 1000 players for the first time, marking a historic moment in the Mining Dead's story. However, this was short-lived. Many updates came out, which were either poorly received or did nothing. This, as well as the ongoing complaints about the new map and reset, piled into a huge load of backlash from the community, specifically with the OGs. People that liked the new features disagreed with them, and what essentially an all out war ensued. Because of this, many quit the forums for good, and with the new, bad updates, people left the server in masses. Different gamemodes were taken down for maintenance for long amounts of time, most notably Hell Night, and almost everyone from that gamemode left the server. Poor moderation also played a role in the downfall, and feuds between different people arised, some so big that the most of the server even took sides. This was what it is today, but on a bigger scale. This lasted for a while, and then I decided to quit the server in September of last year.
What has happened since I left, I didn't really pay attention to. And today, I decided to hop back on and see what it is today.
That's enough of a little history lesson, (most of it is probably not accurate, but I tried). Now, onto what I mean to talk about right now: the current state of the server.
The first thing I noticed when I came back to the forums, is that drama and fighting is still the main topic. More stuff has come out about the owners, tons of staff have quit, and player-base is at the lowest it's been since starting up. Most people I knew have left, and the forums are very bare and even eerie. The entire front page of the forums is filled with drama threads, with the occasion misplaced suggestion thread. Seeing this is quite weird, as when even during late-summer of last year, there were people looking passed the drama, and wanting to help solve everything. Now, however, I see very little of that. I'm surprised the forums are still this active. However, Havoc has a rather small, but very loyal fanbase, which I have to give credit for. The new design for the forums is kind of strange, mostly because it looks super depressing. It does fit with the theme of the Mining Dead, but the old layout looked much friendlier and better, in my opinion at least. There's not much else that's seemed to changed from the forums I remember, minus the fact that it has kind of calmed down. However, I might not be credible to commentate this due to me not knowing much about the server now.
The server itself is a completely different story. I am disappointed with it to say the least. Many gamemodes that were generally well liked have been removed, especially Map Maker. The thing that was so special about Map Maker was that it was much more free then a normal creative server. You can do literally whatever you want on your map, making it a super fun place to just hang out with friends when your bored and don't want to start up your own server. This is what attracted people to it, and its removal is a major let-down from Havoc.
Another disappointment was Mine Wars. It too, was removed. Mine Wars meant a lot to a lot of people, and the community was very loyal. Seeing it go is very upsetting, especially soon after a major update was announced. Havoc has a bad habit of taking down games for long amounts of time while updating, which destroys the player-base of said gamemode. When Mine Wars eventually goes back up, I doubt there will be anyone left to play it. It happened to Hell Night, it will happen to Mine Wars, too.
Speaking of Hell Night, I played a few games recently to see what it's like now, and to be honest, I like it. The player-base is ****, but I did enjoy the games I did play. It getting taken down last year ruined it, and was essentially the final straw for me quitting, as it was my favorite gamemode. If Hell Night ever becomes popular again, I'll be back to play it as it is in a very good spot in terms of gameplay right now.
The last gamemode I will talk about is the Mining Dead. It's so crazy how much it's changed since last year, with new texture packs, maps, and resets. That being said, modern day TMD is terrible. The new texture pack is weird, especially the guns. This might be biased, but guns like the Glock look like ****. It's thicc as hell and looks visually displeasing. However, other guns have never looked better, especially ones like the AUG and AK-47. The gameplay is much more repetitive then it used to be. Making the map smaller may be good for PvP, but absolutely not for anything else. Since everything is so crammed together, it all looks the same and I can barely tell where I am in terms of visuals. I don't like using the compass, but it is the only way for me to find or tell where I am anymore, asides from the obvious places like Alexandria or Atlanta. The worst thing about the new TMD was the reset. This reset was unneeded. The previous resets had good reasons, like there being to many duped items in circulation. This one felt more like "evening the playing field" and while that isn't a bad idea, it was poorly timed. That being said, the idea for TMD seasons is very good, and I think it is the best change to TMD in a long time. The last thing I'll talk about TMD is the gameplay. I'm not a fan. Mythical is too overpowered and pay to win, the sheer amount of perks it has over even Titan is completely ridiculous and it's no wonder this server is now blacklisted because of it. Not only that, but standard gameplay things are weird, too. I don't know why they decided to add an extra health bar, but if I'm taking 6 hearts for falling five blocks, it's a bad addition.
Those were my criticisms of the server now. The people running this server are going the wrong direction. They need to hire developers, they need to test things more, and especially need to advertise a lot more. I doubt the server will be able to continue into the future, especially with this low amount of energy put into it. While I think it has a chance of making it big again, they need to step up their game big time.
By no means am I an "OG" compared to a lot of others. I only started in 2015, still relatively early on, before it's peek, but still after the age of the of the server starting up. I played almost exclusively PvE, the people were friendlier and more accepting to the new players, and making friends was easy. I had an amazing upbringing on the server, to say the least. This stayed like this for a year. I made friends, and hung out. Not many at this time lasted long without them leaving, or isolating themselves. I too left for about 4 months. Once I came back, it was almost like a fresh start. Not many people I was friends with in the previous year stuck around, and those who did never talked. I made new ones, with this group of friends lasting longer. This is where I made my more long-term friends, some of which I'm still in contact with today. This is when I started playing Hell Night, and when I got started on the forums. One of the biggest events in the server's history, the reset in 2016. This is where a lot of the problems in the server originate from. There was a lot of drama and controversy surrounding this update, which seeped into the other forum boards, as well as in game. When it eventually hit, it was not a bad update, but a lot of players disliked the new map and mechanics. After this, however, Havoc went uphill dramatically. Sometime in March 2017, the server passed 1000 players for the first time, marking a historic moment in the Mining Dead's story. However, this was short-lived. Many updates came out, which were either poorly received or did nothing. This, as well as the ongoing complaints about the new map and reset, piled into a huge load of backlash from the community, specifically with the OGs. People that liked the new features disagreed with them, and what essentially an all out war ensued. Because of this, many quit the forums for good, and with the new, bad updates, people left the server in masses. Different gamemodes were taken down for maintenance for long amounts of time, most notably Hell Night, and almost everyone from that gamemode left the server. Poor moderation also played a role in the downfall, and feuds between different people arised, some so big that the most of the server even took sides. This was what it is today, but on a bigger scale. This lasted for a while, and then I decided to quit the server in September of last year.
What has happened since I left, I didn't really pay attention to. And today, I decided to hop back on and see what it is today.
That's enough of a little history lesson, (most of it is probably not accurate, but I tried). Now, onto what I mean to talk about right now: the current state of the server.
The first thing I noticed when I came back to the forums, is that drama and fighting is still the main topic. More stuff has come out about the owners, tons of staff have quit, and player-base is at the lowest it's been since starting up. Most people I knew have left, and the forums are very bare and even eerie. The entire front page of the forums is filled with drama threads, with the occasion misplaced suggestion thread. Seeing this is quite weird, as when even during late-summer of last year, there were people looking passed the drama, and wanting to help solve everything. Now, however, I see very little of that. I'm surprised the forums are still this active. However, Havoc has a rather small, but very loyal fanbase, which I have to give credit for. The new design for the forums is kind of strange, mostly because it looks super depressing. It does fit with the theme of the Mining Dead, but the old layout looked much friendlier and better, in my opinion at least. There's not much else that's seemed to changed from the forums I remember, minus the fact that it has kind of calmed down. However, I might not be credible to commentate this due to me not knowing much about the server now.
The server itself is a completely different story. I am disappointed with it to say the least. Many gamemodes that were generally well liked have been removed, especially Map Maker. The thing that was so special about Map Maker was that it was much more free then a normal creative server. You can do literally whatever you want on your map, making it a super fun place to just hang out with friends when your bored and don't want to start up your own server. This is what attracted people to it, and its removal is a major let-down from Havoc.
Another disappointment was Mine Wars. It too, was removed. Mine Wars meant a lot to a lot of people, and the community was very loyal. Seeing it go is very upsetting, especially soon after a major update was announced. Havoc has a bad habit of taking down games for long amounts of time while updating, which destroys the player-base of said gamemode. When Mine Wars eventually goes back up, I doubt there will be anyone left to play it. It happened to Hell Night, it will happen to Mine Wars, too.
Speaking of Hell Night, I played a few games recently to see what it's like now, and to be honest, I like it. The player-base is ****, but I did enjoy the games I did play. It getting taken down last year ruined it, and was essentially the final straw for me quitting, as it was my favorite gamemode. If Hell Night ever becomes popular again, I'll be back to play it as it is in a very good spot in terms of gameplay right now.
The last gamemode I will talk about is the Mining Dead. It's so crazy how much it's changed since last year, with new texture packs, maps, and resets. That being said, modern day TMD is terrible. The new texture pack is weird, especially the guns. This might be biased, but guns like the Glock look like ****. It's thicc as hell and looks visually displeasing. However, other guns have never looked better, especially ones like the AUG and AK-47. The gameplay is much more repetitive then it used to be. Making the map smaller may be good for PvP, but absolutely not for anything else. Since everything is so crammed together, it all looks the same and I can barely tell where I am in terms of visuals. I don't like using the compass, but it is the only way for me to find or tell where I am anymore, asides from the obvious places like Alexandria or Atlanta. The worst thing about the new TMD was the reset. This reset was unneeded. The previous resets had good reasons, like there being to many duped items in circulation. This one felt more like "evening the playing field" and while that isn't a bad idea, it was poorly timed. That being said, the idea for TMD seasons is very good, and I think it is the best change to TMD in a long time. The last thing I'll talk about TMD is the gameplay. I'm not a fan. Mythical is too overpowered and pay to win, the sheer amount of perks it has over even Titan is completely ridiculous and it's no wonder this server is now blacklisted because of it. Not only that, but standard gameplay things are weird, too. I don't know why they decided to add an extra health bar, but if I'm taking 6 hearts for falling five blocks, it's a bad addition.
Those were my criticisms of the server now. The people running this server are going the wrong direction. They need to hire developers, they need to test things more, and especially need to advertise a lot more. I doubt the server will be able to continue into the future, especially with this low amount of energy put into it. While I think it has a chance of making it big again, they need to step up their game big time.
