Town Hall January 2024

Hello WolvHaveners, we held our very first Town Hall for 2024 on 13 January earlier this month, and I would like to thank everyone who attended and provided their input. Your input and engagement as a community is what keeps us motivated to continue WolvHaven.

With that, I am excited to announce that I am excited to provide more details on what was discussed and our plan(s) moving forward.

The discussion took place over two sessions, one for the American timezone and the European timezone. While the attendance for the American timezone was rather disappointing, the session held for the European timezone was much more lively.

Following some feedback regarding the timing, the next Town Hall for the American timezone will be adjusted to happen after the European timezone instead, so that it occurs on a Saturday night instead of a Friday night.

The discussion covered several areas including:

  1. WolvHaven’s Transition to a Creative Server
  2. Updates to Vision 2023
  3. The State of the WolvHaven Community
  4. Definition of the Architect & Engineer Ranks, as well as the Builder rank application processes
  5. Adjustments to current server ranks
  6. National-level infrastructure

The major points and findings from this town house are:

  • There is little-to-no objection for the shift to creative; including the scrapping of survival entirely from the server
  • Expedited implementation of ImageFrame, as well as LiftsReloaded plugin
  • The server will explore methods of promotion, but also implores the community to help by creating and posting content from the server
  • Further refined definition of the Architect and Engineer Ranks
  • PR and Citizen will be merged, existing members without build access in Gardellia & Calidia (i.e. did not convert since 2021) will be demoted to Visitor

Part 1: WolvHaven’s Transition to a Creative Server

Key Findings/Points

  • Overall, there was strong support for the server’s refocus towards creative mode as the server’s main gamemode; this will be a major shift from the server’s roots as a survival multiplayer and city-roleplay server.

We asked what quality-of-life improvements can help make creating in WolvHaven more enjoyable; and some of the input you provided were:

  • Access to commands like /speed, /echest, as well as the debug stick in the creative worlds
  • Updating of several plugins such as TrainCarts to take advantage of latest features for NMT creation
  • ImageOnMap plugin replacement (ImageFrame)
  • Elevator plugin replacement
  • Player-created warp (MyWarp) implementation
  • Updating of the server to the latest minecraft version to take advantage of latest blocks as well as expansion of Calidian world borders
  • Increase of WorldEdit limits for commands such as //hcyl

We have decided to take the following action(s):

  • Expediting of plugin updates (completed 22 January 2024)
    • ImageOnMap replaced to ImageFrame plugin
    • New Lift plugin LiftReloaded installed
  • A full permission revamp will be done to:
    • fix access inconsistencies for plugins such as WorldEdit in Lab/Gard/CA
    • provide access to commands as requested/mentioned above
  • Update to 1.20 will be scheduled and held at a later time, due to its more complicated and time-consuming nature; there is currently no concrete timeline for it but we’ll get to it eventually
    • Expansion to Calidian Borders will be performed after migrating to 1.20, this will likely entail an expansion in the radius by ~3-7km which will be determined at a later time
  • We will look into the dynmap reskin update
  • WorldEdit limit increases to be looked into and assessed

Part 2: Updates to Vision 2023

Some updates to Vision 2023 were given, the most major proposal was to remove Survival out of the server entirely; which would allow us to further simplify the server’s existing operations, as well as free up server resources. In addition, SandBox would be scrapped due to its low adoption

Key Findings/Points

  • Overall, there were no objections to the scrapping of Survival and the SandBox world. If we manage to find the save file for the Innovate world, we may load it back.
  • The server may shift back to Europe and hosted on a new hosting service; we admit we over-estimated the infrastructure capaibilities of our European playerbase, and and also want to reduce the frequency of which issues arise due to matters within the control of only a few people (e.g. Networking issues)
  • A new clause for hate speech has been added to the server rules; staff will take firmer and stricter action on individuals who spread/participate/advocate hate speech

Questions and Answers

  • At what point will it be suitable for 5H to become main city world for the server?
    • When the survival worlds are retired, would be a good point to trigger the transition period
  • Is an economy reset still on the table?
    • When it was discussed, it was primarily a survival reset; not an economic reset. Economic rebalancing is still on the table, however

Part 3: State of the WolvHaven Community

We asked if you had any concerns regarding the state of the community?

Questions and Answers

  • Is there an “existential threat” to the community due to the ageing server population?
    • It is true that the server population has decreased over the past few years. But this can be attributed to multiple factors including (a) recovery from the pandemic, (b) lack of server promotion over the years, (c) lack of investment by server management, and (d) increased competition from other games such as Roblox
  • What will the server do in order to promote itself?
    • Posting on server list website(s) is not preferred as it has historically only attracted troublemakers
    • Other forms of promotion will be explored
    • WolvHaveners can help through content creation by uploading YouTube videos etc. NewsNet has also offered itself to be of assistance for creating content if needed

Part 4(a): Redefining the Architect & Engineer Ranks, and Builder application process

Key Findings/Points

  • Building blasts will be re-introduced; held less frequently once a month instead of every 2 weeks; with the added introduction of 3-month plans to facilitate guidance on contributions to 5H
  • Builder rank will be given to building blast attendees which satisfy the rank’s requirement(s) with accessibility to beginners in mind
  • Promotion to Architect/Engineer will be based on Endorsements from existing Architects/Engineers
  • Architect and Engineers should act as key planners, as well as mentors for builders
  • Architect has been defined to people who posess impressive building skills (buildings & infrastructure) with assessment based on:
    • Contributions to 5H for buildings
    • Contributions to infrastructure in 5H, or National-level infrastructure in Gardellia & Calidia
  • Engineers has been defined to be people who posess impressive redstone abilities, with assessment based on:
    • Contributions within the WolvHaven server itself
    • TrainCarts proficiency
  • A one-time audit of existing Architects & Engineers is on the table, and individuals who do not meet the new criteria may be demoted to builder

Part 4(b): Merging PR and Citizen Rank, and Rank Changes

Key Findings/Points

  • PR will be scrapped; all existing PRs with Gardellia & Calidia build permissions will be promoted to Citizen
  • Existing members without building access in Gardellia & Calidia will be demoted to Visitor
  • Supporter rank title will be made a suffix, existing supporters without Gardellia & Calidia build access will continue to have access to supporter benefits
  • SrMod will be scrapped and merged into Mod, and BargainBinAdmin will now still be BargainBinAdmin

Part 4(c): Calidia Road Network Signage Details

Key Findings/Points

  • There was a lot of confusion regarding the purpose of this suggested topic, and has been deferred.

Other points

  • Warp sign to the drivercentre in spawn has been reinstated