It’s been 1.5+ years since CubeCraft introduced their version of BedWars and the game seems to be doing quite okay. Consistently reaching the same amount, if not more players then SkyWars and EggWars. Bedwars also seems to pull quite a lot of new players to the server, as I’m seeing a huge amount of low lever players in games on a daily basis (correct me if I’m wrong). As opposed to the previously mentioned gamemodes where the games are usually filled with more experienced players. And that’s a good thing for a Java server in my opinion!
Right now, I’ve played a little over 9,000 games, and I have some thoughts about the gamemode that I felt like writing down. So, as one of BedWars’ biggest sweats, I’m going to give my opinion on what could be improved and what should definitely not be changed. I’m also looking forward to hearing other players’ opinions!
To be clear: I’m not here to shit on the gamemode, not at all. I love CubeCraft’s version of BW. While every BW server just copies the game mechanics of that one big server, Cube made something that’s unique. The simplicity of the game (especially when compared to EggWars) is what makes it so much fun in my opinion. Players are forced to come up with creative strats with the few items that are available, and every tiny decision matters. The maps are fun and well thought-out. The item & upgrade selection makes sense. I think they nailed it. I just want to help make it even better.
Also, obviously every gamemode has tons of features and mechanics that could be added/changed, and many tiny bugs that could be fixed. But in this post I’m not going to nitpick. I’ll just go over a couple of suggestions that would improve the gameplay significantly.
1 - Blindness totems are unbalanced
I think this is an obvious one that most players will agree with. The blindness totem in its current state might be the most game-breaking item on the entire server. And there’s actually a lot to say about it:
I know there are players who would rather remove blindness totems entirely, but I disagree. Personally, I think they can be a fair addition to the game - but only in certain situations. The problem isn’t the item itself; it’s the way some players (ab)use it.
When blindness seems UNFAIR:
At the start of the game.
Players rush 10 diamonds, place a blindness totem, and dominate the middle generator for minutes while getting insanely rich. If you’re very good (and a bit lucky), you might still take them out, but most players won’t be able to. In most cases, the team that locks down mid with blindness will end up with a massive loot advantage and steamroll the entire game.
When players overuse them.
Some players cover entire parts of the map in blindness, or drop one every single time they PvP someone. I’m sure most players can think of more scenarios where this item gets abused to the point of being annoying.
And yes, I know there are ways to deal with blindness totems - or you could just buy a ton of them yourself. But let’s be honest: is that really the type of gameplay we want? Does it make the gamemode more enjoyable, or does it just create frustration and toxicity?
When blindness seems FAIR:
When rushing a stacked or extremely defensive team.
A camping team will always have the advantage, especially if they’ve stacked upgrades and placed tons of totems around their base. In this case, a blindness totem is a great strategic tool to even the odds.
In a 1v2.
When you’re up against two good or stacked players, it’s gonna be a tough fight to win. In that situation, a well-timed blindness totem feels justified.
Solution:
To sum it up: blindness totems should be more of a strategic item, not a go-to item everyone keeps in their hotbar. Raising the price to 20–30 diamonds would fix most of the current issues:
2 - Axes are not that overpowered
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about axes being too overpowered in BedWars, mostly from players coming from gamemodes where axes aren’t as common. I get the frustration of dying in two hits when you don’t see it coming, but I don’t think axes are OP at all (and I’m a sword player myself).
Yes - axes deal massive damage, and if you don’t have strong armor or any health upgrades, you will die quickly. But that’s pretty much the only advantage axes have.
3 - Add enderchest
At first this may seem like small change, but it will affect the gameplay quite a lot, and reward players who play proactively a bit more.
Every player who prefers to rush other teams instead of collecting diamonds has been in this situation: you manage to take out two teams, but when rushing team number three you die. Team number three, who have only been sitting on a generator for the entire time, and are equipped with iron armor and sharpness swords, are now approaching your island. You respawn with a wooden sword. At this point your chances of winning are quite low, even tho you did all the work by taking out the other teams.
If there had been enderchests, you could have saved up quite a few resources from the generators of the teams you rushed. You’d be able to buy something useful on respawn: maybe a regeneration hat and a stronger weapon, a couple of fireballs or TNT to defend your island, or even a pearl from the side generator diamonds you collected along the way. Basically, you’d actually have a fighting chance instead of instantly getting rolled by a stacked camping team.
Of course this is an extreme example, but it's one of many different scenarios where the ability to just store some resources would be a nice-to-have.
Oh, and having an enderchest would also finally stop teammates from robbing your items, lol. Sometimes I put a pearl and/or home-TP in the chest as a getaway for when I die. Very often a teammate will just take them out of the chest (only to fall into the void 7 seconds later).
4 - Some other suggestions for future updates
Anyway, those were my thoughts. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say!
Right now, I’ve played a little over 9,000 games, and I have some thoughts about the gamemode that I felt like writing down. So, as one of BedWars’ biggest sweats, I’m going to give my opinion on what could be improved and what should definitely not be changed. I’m also looking forward to hearing other players’ opinions!
To be clear: I’m not here to shit on the gamemode, not at all. I love CubeCraft’s version of BW. While every BW server just copies the game mechanics of that one big server, Cube made something that’s unique. The simplicity of the game (especially when compared to EggWars) is what makes it so much fun in my opinion. Players are forced to come up with creative strats with the few items that are available, and every tiny decision matters. The maps are fun and well thought-out. The item & upgrade selection makes sense. I think they nailed it. I just want to help make it even better.
Also, obviously every gamemode has tons of features and mechanics that could be added/changed, and many tiny bugs that could be fixed. But in this post I’m not going to nitpick. I’ll just go over a couple of suggestions that would improve the gameplay significantly.
1 - Blindness totems are unbalanced
I think this is an obvious one that most players will agree with. The blindness totem in its current state might be the most game-breaking item on the entire server. And there’s actually a lot to say about it:
I know there are players who would rather remove blindness totems entirely, but I disagree. Personally, I think they can be a fair addition to the game - but only in certain situations. The problem isn’t the item itself; it’s the way some players (ab)use it.
When blindness seems UNFAIR:
At the start of the game.
Players rush 10 diamonds, place a blindness totem, and dominate the middle generator for minutes while getting insanely rich. If you’re very good (and a bit lucky), you might still take them out, but most players won’t be able to. In most cases, the team that locks down mid with blindness will end up with a massive loot advantage and steamroll the entire game.
When players overuse them.
Some players cover entire parts of the map in blindness, or drop one every single time they PvP someone. I’m sure most players can think of more scenarios where this item gets abused to the point of being annoying.
And yes, I know there are ways to deal with blindness totems - or you could just buy a ton of them yourself. But let’s be honest: is that really the type of gameplay we want? Does it make the gamemode more enjoyable, or does it just create frustration and toxicity?
When blindness seems FAIR:
When rushing a stacked or extremely defensive team.
A camping team will always have the advantage, especially if they’ve stacked upgrades and placed tons of totems around their base. In this case, a blindness totem is a great strategic tool to even the odds.
In a 1v2.
When you’re up against two good or stacked players, it’s gonna be a tough fight to win. In that situation, a well-timed blindness totem feels justified.
Solution:
To sum it up: blindness totems should be more of a strategic item, not a go-to item everyone keeps in their hotbar. Raising the price to 20–30 diamonds would fix most of the current issues:
- It becomes much harder to get blindness early game.
- When you could spend 20-30 diamonds on 2-3 actual upgrades, most players won’t waste that on a totem.
- The scenarios where blindness is fair usually happen late-game anyway, and by that time 20–30 diamonds isn’t that hard to get due to the faster generators.
2 - Axes are not that overpowered
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about axes being too overpowered in BedWars, mostly from players coming from gamemodes where axes aren’t as common. I get the frustration of dying in two hits when you don’t see it coming, but I don’t think axes are OP at all (and I’m a sword player myself).
Yes - axes deal massive damage, and if you don’t have strong armor or any health upgrades, you will die quickly. But that’s pretty much the only advantage axes have.
- If an axe player misses a single hit - specially early-game - they’re basically doomed. A decent sword player will be able to combo or kill them very quickly after that. And honestly, if someone can’t counter an axe player, they probably would’ve died to a sword too, which makes the “axes are OP” argument kind of invalid to begin with.
- Axes also aren’t nearly as useful in void-based gamemodes. A lot of kills come from knocking people into the void. With an axe, that’s usually much harder. The same goes for bridge fights - axes are not that useful. Axes are only really strong on the flatter parts of the map, but because of their slow hit speed, you can almost always just run away and take the fight onto a bridge or an edge where a sword has the advantage.
- Players have also suggested reducing axe damage - not fair in my opinion. I dont think we should change a vanilla PvP mechanic that has been around for 10 years. People that spend hours practicing their axe hits on PvP servers should be able to use those skills in BW.
3 - Add enderchest
At first this may seem like small change, but it will affect the gameplay quite a lot, and reward players who play proactively a bit more.
Every player who prefers to rush other teams instead of collecting diamonds has been in this situation: you manage to take out two teams, but when rushing team number three you die. Team number three, who have only been sitting on a generator for the entire time, and are equipped with iron armor and sharpness swords, are now approaching your island. You respawn with a wooden sword. At this point your chances of winning are quite low, even tho you did all the work by taking out the other teams.
If there had been enderchests, you could have saved up quite a few resources from the generators of the teams you rushed. You’d be able to buy something useful on respawn: maybe a regeneration hat and a stronger weapon, a couple of fireballs or TNT to defend your island, or even a pearl from the side generator diamonds you collected along the way. Basically, you’d actually have a fighting chance instead of instantly getting rolled by a stacked camping team.
Of course this is an extreme example, but it's one of many different scenarios where the ability to just store some resources would be a nice-to-have.
Oh, and having an enderchest would also finally stop teammates from robbing your items, lol. Sometimes I put a pearl and/or home-TP in the chest as a getaway for when I die. Very often a teammate will just take them out of the chest (only to fall into the void 7 seconds later).
4 - Some other suggestions for future updates
- Solo and teams-of-4 maps. This would be a lot of fun and completely transform the gameplay.
- Achievements - no further explanation needed. Will also attract more of the oldschool players (they love achievement hunting). I will probably make another forum post with a list of suggestions for fun achievements.
- Do not add potions (my personal opinion). Other BW servers usually have the option to buy potions (speed/jump boost/invis), and I've seen multiple suggestions that Cube adds them too. I personally don't like them and the gameplay that comes from them.
Anyway, those were my thoughts. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say!
