Quick update: The Mining World, Nether & End worlds have been reset for October now!

• /warp mining
• /warp nether
• /warp end

I'm going to start doing a monthly recap of Noobstown's goings on to keep everyone up-to-date about what's happening in a summary at the end/start of each month. It will outline some of the important announcements, updates, events we've ran, changes planned, and other important announcements for the last or coming next month. This is the first one, looking back over September 2016. I've seen people saying not much happens; but we've changed loads in this last month, and coming in October we'll be getting back into events!

General

• 3rd September - Temporary Worlds reset
• 10th September - We came back from maintenance, transferring over to new hardware
• 11th September - An important message about Noobstown moving forward now that Foob has stepped down from his ownership and administration role

Server & Site Changes

• 10th September - The big site update and new logo
• 24th September - More maintenance and updates including:
  
  • Wilderness changes
  • Sponges in all worlds
  • Slime blocks with Pistons in the Wilderness
  • General smaller fixes
  • A massive update to the way we store data ready for name changing
• 28th September - Changes to Chest shops
• 30th September - Finally support for complete Minecraft account name changing!

Competitions & Events

• 3rd September - Top Voters for August were announced
• 3rd September - Chunk of the month returned! (Prizes and winners for this will be announced later this week, plus the October contest will begin then too)

Coming in October
Just a few already announced/known things coming this month, there will obviously be more than this so keep an eye out, but some of the known things:

• A new themed month will begin later this week! Noobween
• Temporary worlds will be reset this coming weekend.
• September's Top Voters will be announced, as well as Chunk of the Month winners and the next contests for them
• We'll be bringing back regular events, including a clear timetable of what's going on when.
• We'll finally introducing a decorative head shop!
• Plus more...!

That's right! You can now play on Noobstown.com with a changed name! If you've already changed your name you can now connect as normal, and if you've been putting it off until now, feel free to change your name and connect as normal.

You don't need to do anything special really, if you change your name (or have changed it) simply connect to the server as normal, everything will automatically adjust to your new name. If you've got a site account your site account will be updated and you'll be sent an email with your new details including a new temporary password.

You can now keep track of everyone who has recently changed their name and connected to the server at https://www.noobscraft.com/namechanges/ too.

This is something that has been in the works and planned for almost two years now, it's finally here! I know this is something that literally hundreds of players have been waiting for, it's finally done!

If anyone has any problems with connecting or notices things aren't quite working as intended, do let me know though! If you've got any feedback or comments please let me know!

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If you've got any chestshops please make sure you update them to the new system before connecting with a different name.

The server is now back online after the planned maintenance earlier today. This update has brought in a number of fixes and some updates to the Wilderness and a lot of the behind-the-scenes features ready for the final step to allow name changing to come later in the month.

Included in this change were some of the bigger "Summer Updates" to the Wilderness, plus some other things. Here's some of the more important changes:

• A new command to check how many free Wilderness chunks you've got left able to be claimed as part of our free chunks system. Simply use /wild free in-game to find out how many you can claim before you'll have to pay some in-game money. (Work item)
• A small adjustment to the pricing of the Wilderness chunks (if you choose to pay for them), this is likely to be adjusted down again in the future too though
• Slime blocks can now be pushed using pistons in the Wilderness too! (Work item)
• Sponges now work in all worlds! (Work item)
• Several Wilderness bugs/fixes and small changes to make things easier to use, including:
  
  • An alias of /wild chunks list, you can now just use /wild list
  • /wild go will no longer land you in water, and will give you a minute of protection when used
  • Fixed: Daylight sensors which have been set to night mode can be toggled to day mode without building rights
  • Fixed: Blocks which are more than one block wide can be placed outside the edge of owned land
  • Fixed: Dark oak fence gates aren't protected
  • Several command descriptions and help information has been reworded
  (General Work item)
  
• The 'Moderator' title in-game has been shortened back to just 'Mod'

While it's not quite ready yet, the main reason this downtime was longer than a normal update is because it involved converting most of the data we store over to a new system ready to facilitate name changing which will be coming in just a few days now (keep an eye out for that post) !

If you notice any problems please do let me know.

Just a reminder than the Chunk of the Month competition is still on-going for September, find out more about it here. Plus we'll be bringing back regular events next month!

As promised I'm going to outline several different areas of Noobstown and my plans for them moving forward now that Foob is taking a step back from his ownership and administration role. This is on top of the information outlined at https://www.noobscraft.com/server/the-future-of-noobstown-17952/. This might not answer all of your questions moving forward so if you have any questions please just ask. I am also open to feedback about any of this, it doesn't have to be fixed in stone, so if you've got an opinion or idea feel free to put it forward.




Planned Updates
We're going to continue on with the existing plans for development, including name changing, the wilderness update, etc. The list of items available at https://www.noobscraft.com/work/ hasn't changed, I will also continue to add to this as new ideas and plans come forward. I am obviously the only developer here and as such things won't be lightning fast, but I will be spending a large chunk of my time trying to work out updates to keep new things coming to Noobstown. The final few "Summer Updates" should be released this month, this includes:

• Name Changing - This is the big one in the list, almost everything is now in place and a few players who have changed their name have already trialed this. There will be more information about how exactly this is going to work. As part of this there will have to be an update to how Chest Shops work (since they list your name currently ), but this will be explained as it happens, and I'll give you all time to adjust accordingly.
• Wilderness Updates - Things like the free chunks check commands, sponges in the wilderness, slime blocks with pistons and a number of bug fixes will be coming. As well as further adjustments to the pricing of chunks if you use Nbz to buy them.
• Head Shop - This again will be coming, the specifics of pricing and which heads will be available just need to be determined and then this won't take long to implement. If you've got any suggestions, or have any specific decorative heads you would like to see please suggest them.

If you've got any specific questions about the updates themselves just ask them.




Donations
As you will likely have noticed the "Donate" messages and links on the server and site have been removed. Currently for now we will no longer be accepting donations in exchange for rewards as we previously did. The server costs are not that high and at the moment I can afford to fund things completely myself, however in the near future I might introduce a quick and simple 'donate button' to allow you to simply donate if you really want to, but again at the moment no rewards will be given in return. Some form of revised store for purchasing things and assisting with the funding of Noobstown will likely return in the future but for now you cannot donate in the same form as you used to be able to. The reason for this relates to old changes in to the Minecraft Commerical Guidelines and also in terms of the personal complications caused by taxation which would have to be paid on any purchases made. Anything already purchased is already yours so don't worry about losing things.

This does mean a few things:

• There is and will no longer be any way to donate to get VIP or VIP+ through payments. All existing VIPs and VIP+s will keep the rank obviously but for now there will be no way to become a new one or to upgrade from VIP to VIP+. The perks of being VIP and VIP+ are going against the Minecraft commerical guidelines as such we will not be able to ever sell it in its current format again.
• Those spawners which were previously for sale on the old store will be added to /spawners at an increased price compared with the other ones. These being available for purchase using real money is going again Minecraft's Commerical guidelines and as such we will not be able to sell them to fund the server in the future.
• The purchase of additional Wilderness land or extra homes will no longer be possible. You can already earn Wilderness land for free just for playing anyway.
• For now the option to purchase 2x mcMMO XP for the whole server will be unavailable. I have however been doing random periods of double XP at random times anyway, so if you're online you might be able to take part in some of those anyway.

Events
As you are probably aware we've been quite lacking on the event front for the last few months, I do plan to change this though. As you have hopefully read Chunk of the Month has returned as the first step to improving. We'll be moving back to the more scheduled events with times and dates soon too. I'm planning to bring in some regular weekly/month recurring events, and I'm going to add a calendar/timetable feature on the site so you'll be able to look at days and see whether we've got anything special going on for that day. Keep an eye out for announcements about those soon.




The Staff Team
A few people have asked me if we're going to be getting new admins, and the simple answer at the moment is no . At the moment we aren't in direct need of such as large team as we don't have as many players at the moment. If things pick up again then I might look into expanding the team, but they aren't really needed at the moment.

As for the existing team; I'm very grateful for all of the help they provide, they're an often under-appreciated key part of Noobstown. As we need the moderation  team will expand . They'll hopefully assist me in running the planned events which will be coming soon! You can find information about the current staff team at https://www.noobscraft.com/team/.




Reduced Player Numbers
I just want to address a few people who have mentioned concern about the fact Noobstown doesn't get as many players as we used to. While I agree it's not great, it doesn't symbolise the end of the server, I've got no plans to slow down in development or features and as explained above we will be bringing back events, and introducing other fun features in the future. We will be likely introducing features to make it easier for new players to get started too, and will try to have a more active role in helping new players.

I keep saying this but if you've got any ideas for how to make Noobstown more fun so people (including yourself) want to stick around and so it's generally more enjoyable for you to play then please do suggest them. If it's a big idea I'm still open to it too, things can change and new ideas can be introduced. Noobstown is meant to be a community for us all to enjoy; ideas don't just have to come from the staff, I'm welcoming anyone to put forward their ideas.




Finally I want to give a great thanks to Foob for getting Noobstown to where it is today, and for giving me the opportunity to continue on with things now that he has stepped down. I wish him all the best in whatever future ventures he takes part in .

If you have any questions about anything mentioned above, the future of Noobstown, my plans or anything similar please do just ask.

- ItsLawrence

In other news the Map is now available again from the link at the top of the site and https://www.noobscraft.com/map/.

Just a quick update to inform you that the scheduled downtime is now complete (hopefully) and the server should be back up to normal again. Still connect through 'Noobstown.com' as normal . If you have any problems connecting please keep trying, it might just need to update to our new machine on your PC.

There will likely be a number of posts over the coming days regarding the plans for the server moving forward so be sure to keep checking back for those.

If you notice any problems with the server which might be due to the transfer please immediately let me or another member of staff know.

That's right we're bringing back the old Chunk of the Month competition! Each month you get the opportunity to submit a chunk you own to be reviewed in our contest, we're looking for creative, interesting and well-designed plots according to a monthly theme! You can find out about the previous winners at Noobs.town/cotm/.

I know a number of you have probably joined since we stopped doing this, and it's changed slightly so be sure to read how this works:

• Each month we'll make a post like this on the site and give a theme for that month.
• You then have the rest of the month to make design and build something in either the Wilderness OR the Town world according to the monthly theme, in a chunk you own.
• You then submit your chunk using /cotm submit while stood in that chunk. Then make a reply to the monthly post outlining your design, explain it a bit.
• At the end of the month I (and possibly other members of the staff team) will then go around all of the entries and judge which we deem to be the winner. Another post will then be made announcing the winner and all entries/prizes will be handed out.

It's very simple to take part, just use /cotm submit and post a reply to the monthly topic .

A few rules:

• Your build must be within 1 single Minecraft chunk (16x16), but height doesn't matter. If you're using Minecraft 1.10+ you can use F3+G to view the boundaries in yellow !
• You must own the land you're submitting your entry in, if it's in the Town world you must individually own the plot, and in the Wilderness you must own the land.
• You need to follow the theme.
• You need to actually build something, just submitting a simple few blocks to get the rewards won't count.
• You need to submit your design using /cotm submit before midnight on the last day of the month (UK time)! This deadline is automated so don't miss it.
• You need to leave your build up after the end of the month because we need chance to judge it!

The winner of each month will earn themselves:

• A unique winner trophy for that month
• 100,000Nbz
• Your chunk showcased at Noobs.town/cotm/
• Your name forever listed in-game when doing /cotm contests
• 5 FREE Wilderness Chunks This is irrespective of if you built in the Town world!

Plus everyone who takes part will receive a participation prize and a free wilderness chunk (again irrespective of if you built in the Town world).

Just a note of a few changes since the last time we ran this contest:

• You can now build pixel art if you want to, but we'd prefer proper building work.
• As above, this can now be done in either the Wilderness OR Town worlds! Either one is fine now, as long as you own the plot/land.
• You don't need to place the sign now, just make sure when you submit the chunk you're inside/looking at your build!
• You don't need to use your visits anymore; use /cotm submit now! If you want to change its position just use

Got any questions? Just ask them below in a reply or in-game!

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As for this month's theme! We're going to start it off again with a general building contest to see who can build the best Tree House!

The theme is: Tree Houses; take from that what you want to, it could be an actual tree house, a house made of trees, trees on a house, just the theme is Tree Houses, we'd love to see what you can build!

Just a quick post to inform you that the Mining World, Nether and End have been reset for September!

Top Voters for August will be announced later today also.

Great thanks to everyone who voted last month. We're very grateful for everyone who voted and remember every single vote gets you 2,500Nbz straight away, plus enters you into this competition.

The Top Voters for July 2016 were as follows:

• eboniics (+40k)
• WarriorBen (+40k)
• rueyeet
• Prof_Templeton (+20k)
• SweetCrazyOne (+40k)
• Ruinwen
• ButterfliRose (+40k)
• TidalMewMew
• MeriLizzie (+30k)
• Xylira (+30k)

They've all won themselves the money prizes plus eboniics has earned the rare head for being the top voter. Those with + amounts next to their name have earned the bonuses for being in the last months in a row too! The base prizes are as follows:

Rank 1 - 100,000Nbz
Rank 2 - 80,000Nbz
Rank 3 - 60,000Nbz
Rank 4 - 50,000Nbz
Rank 5 - 40,000Nbz
Rank 6 - 30,000Nbz
Rank 7 - 25,000Nbz
Rank 8 - 20,000Nbz
Rank 9 -  15,000Nbz
Rank 10 - 10,000Nbz

If any of those in the top 10 list make it into next month's list too they'll earn a bonus 10,000Nbz on top of the prize for their rank too for each consecutive month they've been in the top 10 for! (So those with +10k this month could get a bonus 20k next month , 20k get 30k, etc., and the rest still +10k if they keep in the top 10!) For more information about this read this post.

August's competition already started on the 1st (over 2 weeks ago now) so be sure to take part to try and get into the top 10 for this month! Use /vote in-game or visit Noobscraft.com/pmc! The Top Voters for this month (August) will be announced hopefully in the first full weekend in September!

As per the work item here; we've now introduced a command to check when the server has double (or more) mcMMO XP going on! Just use /xpcheck when in-game now; no need to reconnect to check it!

As part of this I've also introduced a message which will appear roughly every 10 minutes while 2x (or more ) mcMMO is going on to let you know and make sure even if you connected after it started you still don't miss out!

It's only a small change but I hope you enjoy this, it's something that was requested quite some time ago and it's finally here!

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As for the rest of the Summer updates they will be still coming over the next month or so, things have been delayed slightly because of the admin changes coming soon, but they hopefully will all still be here this Summer!

You can finally transfer in your Snowball Winners Tokens in for a range of different items available at /warp snowball. There are dozens of possible items to trade in for, most of them are collectable variants of common items but there are also a few exclusives. You can play a game of Snowball with others using /snowball join.

The prices/availability of certain items may be adjusted as it becomes clear if they're not suitable though.

I hope you like some of the items on offer, they're not all special but it will give you at least some reward for winning. If you've got any feedback about the options available or you'd like to see something specific just suggest it below.

We've now introduced a change to /shop so it works like the old system we used to use, you now just need to click on the item and it will sell the amount according to what you click on, including the option to sell all of the selected item.

As part of this change we've also merged together the old VIP Shop and existing /shop, so everyone should now use that command; when selling it will now sell for the price according to your rank, VIP+ will get the increased price and then everyone else gets the other ('Normal') price. Just 1 shop, with different prices.

As part of this change we've also increased the price of a few items in the shop, and will be reviewing the other prices and adding new items also in the future possibly.

If you have any feedback or questions regarding this please put them forward .