Jungle balance discussion (SPOILERS)

[FlowerChild]

I'd really like to hear people's feedback on my recent changes to jungles to make them more balanced, so I'm creating this thread in the hopes that people will post their comments on it here.

Have at it :)

[woeuntoyou]

Jungles aren't an animal reserve anymore. I like it.

[Gilberreke]

I've never been to jungles much. It seems like mob movement is a bit different, but I can't quite put it together yet.

EDIT: Oh god. That's evil. And they were the mob I hate most in that biome already

[william711]

I was living on the border between a jungle and desert.
I built a pathway through the jungle (which is a real pain by the way)
and I am very glad I did. The new speed on leaves is awful.
I haven't really noticed the changes that make the jungles more dangerous though.

[Equitis1024]

Yeah, I set up an observation post in the middle of the jungle near my base to try and discover the changes. For the first few minutes of the night I only saw a couple of mobs and was concerned that jungles might still be too safe. Then I got a closer look at one of them, and now I'm never going back there ever again.

I love it. :) I'll have to see later if and how it affects caving, but I really like how appropriately scary this makes jungles.

[Taleric]

That was a surprise :)

Between the new arrivals and mobs no longer spawning in the trees, jungles feel right now. A little preparation and thought before entering for sure.

[Wafflewaffle]

Found it! It ate my balls!! Good stuff FC

[DreamsofFury]

Due to the fact my spawn was in a jungle and I decided to settle it....I'm actually terrified to update.

[Thyrllann]

Yep, Jungles are now officially no-go areas for me, at least until I've got a sword and armour of some description.

The changes are definitely working though - what used to be a pretty darn safe biome is now, in my opinion at least, one of the most dangerous. It hurts so good...

[Whisp]

Great addition!
Now I don't dare to leave my treehouse without at least a full set of leather armor after several encounters.
A single encounter is manageable rather easily, but god beware another mob joining in or you already being hurt before.
I guess it's time to clean up my jungle, good thing it's not that big. :)

[FlowerChild]

BTW guys, no need to dance around the Cave Spider thing. It's a spoiler thread :)

[Rich131]

In my world that I started with 4.891 I am comfortably equipped with steel and found tonnes of danger in the new jungle. I made a nether tunnel that goes roughly 6,000 blocks north in the hopes of finding potatoes and carrots. On my travels I found a jungle temple and some badly needed gold ingots.

The slow speed of leaf walking was too painful so I went all out with a battleaxe clearing large areas of leaves for faster walking. It just felt right that I had to clear the dense plant life of a jungle floor. I never had that kind of experience in Minecraft's jungles before. I got ambushed in the jungle temple by 3 cave spiders and it scared the crap out of me. 1 block gaps are plentiful in those temple walls!

[FlowerChild]

1 block gaps are plentiful in those temple walls!

It's not just the 1 block gaps you need to worry about ;)

That bit is rather central to why I chose cave spiders. It's not just a matter of them being a dangerous mob, it's that they are able to go where no other mobs can, making for different building constraints in jungles.

Like I mentioned previously, I almost created my own mob to do precisely that before realizing recently that Cave Spiders already could (although it didn't matter much previously unless you were building right next to a spawner, so I doubt anyone noticed). As the cherry on the cake, I think having to worry about insects sneaking through your fortifications in jungles is entirely thematically appropriate.

[Gilberreke]

I'm next to a jungle and it did surprise me a bit to see this jumping out. I'd move, but the rest of the visible world is taiga :p

[Equitis1024]

I'm posting again here to say that, having recently died and respawned near a jungle, there's a very cool tension to that situation. Part of me immediately wanted to search the jungle in the hopes of finding a temple and early redstone, but another part wanted to avoid poisonous spiders at all costs. Fear won out in the end, but I enjoyed the fact that every morning as I surfaced from my shelter, I couldn't help but look across to the jungle and think of how much time I could save if I decided to explore it and happened to find a temple. Having a big strategic decision like that hanging over my head every day was really awesome.

[jorgebonafe]

FC, I wonder how your jungle survival playthrough is going so far. With the cave spiders and the lack of animals a pure jungle survival seems like a pretty brutal experience...

[DaveYanakov]

I haven't managed to get much f the nearest edge of the jungle yet but I am wondering if the spiders have spawn conditions beyond ifJungle then spawnTerrorbeasts. Do we have defenses beyond erecting solid spiderproof barriers?

[EtherealWrath]

Prior to this has anyone been settled in a jungle long enough for a mob grinder?

Spoiler

Show

Just a passing thought that now cave spiders have a reliable spawning mechanism that there may be some special loot.

[Gilberreke]

Just a passing thought that now cave spiders have a reliable spawning mechanism that there may be some special loot.

Hasn't there always been a reliable spawning mechanism with the spawners?

[DaveYanakov]

Mobs that spawn from spawners never drop special loot though. The properties of cave spiders would make them a nightmare to automate tho.

[Six]

Just a passing thought that now cave spiders have a reliable spawning mechanism that there may be some special loot.

Yeah, as much as I've derided the thorns enchant in the past, jungle spiders would be pretty much the most sensible place in the entire game for the scroll to drop.

[DreamsofFury]

Around the time HCoD was added I ended up spawning in a jungle and for giggles decided to settle in it, currently im using a crappy oldschool vanilla mob trap setup underground in said jungle, I just updated last night not expecting the current updating, I will be testing things out and seeing if I get spawns sometime today....but first...to play the original NWN with the girlfriend for awhile, so expect a few hours before I get to it.

[Gears]

Flowerchild, I just spent the last two days turning the jungle by my base into a parking lot. I'd say job well done on making jungles feel less safe.

[DaveYanakov]

Flowerchild, I just spent the last two days turning the jungle by my base into a parking lot. I'd say job well done on making jungles feel less safe.

You destroyed Ferngully you heartless bastard! All for your own comfort!

[FlowerChild]

You destroyed Ferngully you heartless bastard! All for your own comfort!

Not to mention what he did to the ozone layer :\