Java Lucky Islands My ACTUAL Thoughts on the Recent Update (just for Lucky Islands)

[h0pefulll]

Just played the updated Lucky Islands on Java and it's definitely been a blast!

It's really cool seeing some of the ideas I made back in the day come to fruition, and their designs are fabulous too, good job artists! The ones I've found so far are the Infini-Tato (I called it the Infini-Carrot), the Elevator (I called the Elevation Sceptre), the Lightning Wand (same name) and the Weighted Amulet (same name as well, nice). I personally love the Elevator, and it seems useful in a ton of situations. can't believe nintendo stole my idea for their new zelda game smh
Also, the new glitched lucky blocks or whatever they're called seem really neat and fix one of the big problems I had with Lucky Islands before: getting into the final 2 players and having to look for the last person, who may or may not be hiding away or something. From what I can tell, by breaking the glitched lucky block, you just teleport to the other player. Definitely helps prevent wasted time just running around.
The new maps are great, and all of the overhauls to the existing maps are also great, in my opinion. That coral-underwater one especially got a big glow-up. The "Nest" map unfortunately got most of its TNT removed, which is a fair enough decision, though will be greatly missed.


One of my major-ish gripes so far is that the new Rainbow Lucky Block is simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming. So far, it seems to give either 15 seconds of flight, 15 seconds of wielding a 1-hit-kill sword, or a fishing rod that allows you to yoink the items of other players based on what they're holding.
The 15 seconds of flight seems to be the most powerful drop, as it allows you to scout for players and get free kills. The problem here is that players pretty much have no counter-play against a player with flight. I suppose the warning in chat gives players time to hide or get ready, but I doubt, especially for newer players, seeing someone flying at mach speed towards them while they're minding their own business is particularly engaging.
The 15 seconds of the 1-hit sword would be quite powerful too, but what tends to happen is that one player runs for mid to get the flight and get free kills, but because they rushed mid and everyone else is at their starting island, a temporary close-range weapon is pretty useless.
The yoinkster is probably the most balanced drop out of the three, but feels the least like an item you'd find from a "SUPER ULTRA RAINBOW POWERFUL LUCKY BLOCK". Like, a fishing rod? I feel like this is something you'd get from a regular lucky block, though definitely quite powerful. The other two drops immediately have some use, but with this one, it's quite tricky to hit a player with the hook, and you're better off just fighting them with an actual weapon. This kind of tool would be useful if you have less powerful gear than the enemy, but if they're so powerful, then they more than likely went to mid and got whatever was in the Rainbow Lucky Block, or at the very least before you did.

I suggest that for the flight and sword, an animation should play while the player begins receiving the ability, so that the other players have more time to react to someone opening the Rainbow Lucky Block.
I also suggest that the Rainbow Lucky Block shouldn't appear at the beginning of the match, but a bit later, maybe about two minutes? That way, people are more prepared for what's inside it, but also the player that opens it will have players around as by this time more players are at mid.
Maybe it could also re-appear after a certain amount of time, if there's more items like that fishing rod.
To finish off talking about the Rainbow Lucky Block, I've suggested some additional abilities/items that it could provide:

• All armor and weapons in the player's inventory is "upgraded", by being given additional levels of Protection and Sharpness for armor and weapons respectively.
• The player is given some additional hearts (to clarify, not Absorption hearts), which last for 60 seconds.
• The player's nametag is hidden for 60 seconds.
• All cooldowns for wands in the player's inventory are refreshed, and all wands have a 5 second recharge time for 60 seconds.
• For 30 seconds, all lucky blocks that the player breaks will give much better drops. Additionally, the Lucky Blocks found at mid will regenerate.
• The player is immune to fire, lava, monster damage, fall damage, and negative potion effects for 60 seconds.
• The player is given a Totem of Undying that, if the player hasn't used after 60 seconds of receiving it, will destroy itself.
• The player is given an item which when used, opens a menu that allows them to swap inventories with any player of their choosing. This item lasts for only 60 seconds, so they must pick someone relatively quickly, or alternatively they can choose to not swap with anyone.

For all of the ideas above, a broadcast should be made in chat saying that the player has received the abilities/items.


Another thing I still have a problem with is the kits, and how most of them absolutely suck. There's a reason as to why most people (after acquiring enough points) pick either the Diamonds kit or the Heavy kit: everything else is extremely underpowered. And what I don't mean by that is to nerf these two kits, because they're 100% fun to use, and gives you versatility and options. It's just that every other kit is either lackluster (eg. Barricade, Tracker, Egg Farmer) or relies too much on random elements that are nowhere near worthwhile (eg. Wizard, Villager, Lucky) (the kits in the brackets are just the most egregious examples, all the others aren't quite as bad, but still too underpowered.).
Also, it's a bit strange that the Chef kit and Builder kit exists as they are when now players get Lucky Blocks that contain solely food and blocks.
I've gone over how to balance kits in the past but now there's new Lucky Blocks and many new items from 1.13 to 1.19, as well as some original items!
With the new items in mind, I've suggested some simple but very needed changes to some kits:

• The Builder kit is given multiple "Building Lucky Blocks" (the red ones), as well as any items it had previously.
• The Chef kit is given multiple "Food Lucky Blocks" (the green ones), as well as any items it had previously.
• The Miner kit is given a Netherite Pickaxe rather than a Diamond Pickaxe.
• The Archer kit is given a Crossbow, as well as any items it had previously.
• The Barricade kit is given multiple Ancient Debris and multiple Player Traps. The Ancient Debris, though having potential to be very useful in general, is intended to be an alternative to a block like Obsidian though with a shorter mining time.
• The Lucky kit is given multiple "Blessed Lucky Blocks" (the blue ones).
• The Tracker kit is given a telescope and multiple Sculk Sensors, as well as any items it had previously.

If I had it my way, I'd have a straight-up overhaul of the entire roster of kits, starting from scratch, but that's a bit much.


So that's all of my thoughts and some suggestions in regards to the Lucky Islands portion of the 1.19 Java update. In summary, CubeCraft improved Lucky Islands greatly and did a good job adding features and renovating the maps, but I think there's some things that could use fixing. Thankfully, Lucky Islands didn't get butchered as hard as everyone said that EggWars did.

 

[Legotornado]

That's great!

 

[Cube Nerd]

Just played the updated Lucky Islands on Java and it's definitely been a blast!

It's really cool seeing some of the ideas I made back in the day come to fruition, and their designs are fabulous too, good job artists! The ones I've found so far are the Infini-Tato (I called it the Infini-Carrot), the Elevator (I called the Elevation Sceptre), the Lightning Wand (same name) and the Weighted Amulet (same name as well, nice). I personally love the Elevator, and it seems useful in a ton of situations. can't believe nintendo stole my idea for their new zelda game smh
Also, the new glitched lucky blocks or whatever they're called seem really neat and fix one of the big problems I had with Lucky Islands before: getting into the final 2 players and having to look for the last person, who may or may not be hiding away or something. From what I can tell, by breaking the glitched lucky block, you just teleport to the other player. Definitely helps prevent wasted time just running around.
The new maps are great, and all of the overhauls to the existing maps are also great, in my opinion. That coral-underwater one especially got a big glow-up. The "Nest" map unfortunately got most of its TNT removed, which is a fair enough decision, though will be greatly missed.


One of my major-ish gripes so far is that the new Rainbow Lucky Block is simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming. So far, it seems to give either 15 seconds of flight, 15 seconds of wielding a 1-hit-kill sword, or a fishing rod that allows you to yoink the items of other players based on what they're holding.
The 15 seconds of flight seems to be the most powerful drop, as it allows you to scout for players and get free kills. The problem here is that players pretty much have no counter-play against a player with flight. I suppose the warning in chat gives players time to hide or get ready, but I doubt, especially for newer players, seeing someone flying at mach speed towards them while they're minding their own business is particularly engaging.
The 15 seconds of the 1-hit sword would be quite powerful too, but what tends to happen is that one player runs for mid to get the flight and get free kills, but because they rushed mid and everyone else is at their starting island, a temporary close-range weapon is pretty useless.
The yoinkster is probably the most balanced drop out of the three, but feels the least like an item you'd find from a "SUPER ULTRA RAINBOW POWERFUL LUCKY BLOCK". Like, a fishing rod? I feel like this is something you'd get from a regular lucky block, though definitely quite powerful. The other two drops immediately have some use, but with this one, it's quite tricky to hit a player with the hook, and you're better off just fighting them with an actual weapon. This kind of tool would be useful if you have less powerful gear than the enemy, but if they're so powerful, then they more than likely went to mid and got whatever was in the Rainbow Lucky Block, or at the very least before you did.

I suggest that for the flight and sword, an animation should play while the player begins receiving the ability, so that the other players have more time to react to someone opening the Rainbow Lucky Block.
I also suggest that the Rainbow Lucky Block shouldn't appear at the beginning of the match, but a bit later, maybe about two minutes? That way, people are more prepared for what's inside it, but also the player that opens it will have players around as by this time more players are at mid.
Maybe it could also re-appear after a certain amount of time, if there's more items like that fishing rod.
To finish off talking about the Rainbow Lucky Block, I've suggested some additional abilities/items that it could provide:

• All armor and weapons in the player's inventory is "upgraded", by being given additional levels of Protection and Sharpness for armor and weapons respectively.
• The player is given some additional hearts (to clarify, not Absorption hearts), which last for 60 seconds.
• The player's nametag is hidden for 60 seconds.
• All cooldowns for wands in the player's inventory are refreshed, and all wands have a 5 second recharge time for 60 seconds.
• For 30 seconds, all lucky blocks that the player breaks will give much better drops. Additionally, the Lucky Blocks found at mid will regenerate.
• The player is immune to fire, lava, monster damage, fall damage, and negative potion effects for 60 seconds.
• The player is given a Totem of Undying that, if the player hasn't used after 60 seconds of receiving it, will destroy itself.
• The player is given an item which when used, opens a menu that allows them to swap inventories with any player of their choosing. This item lasts for only 60 seconds, so they must pick someone relatively quickly, or alternatively they can choose to not swap with anyone.

For all of the ideas above, a broadcast should be made in chat saying that the player has received the abilities/items.


Another thing I still have a problem with is the kits, and how most of them absolutely suck. There's a reason as to why most people (after acquiring enough points) pick either the Diamonds kit or the Heavy kit: everything else is extremely underpowered. And what I don't mean by that is to nerf these two kits, because they're 100% fun to use, and gives you versatility and options. It's just that every other kit is either lackluster (eg. Barricade, Tracker, Egg Farmer) or relies too much on random elements that are nowhere near worthwhile (eg. Wizard, Villager, Lucky) (the kits in the brackets are just the most egregious examples, all the others aren't quite as bad, but still too underpowered.).
Also, it's a bit strange that the Chef kit and Builder kit exists as they are when now players get Lucky Blocks that contain solely food and blocks.
I've gone over how to balance kits in the past but now there's new Lucky Blocks and many new items from 1.13 to 1.19, as well as some original items!
With the new items in mind, I've suggested some simple but very needed changes to some kits:

• The Builder kit is given multiple "Building Lucky Blocks" (the red ones), as well as any items it had previously.
• The Chef kit is given multiple "Food Lucky Blocks" (the green ones), as well as any items it had previously.
• The Miner kit is given a Netherite Pickaxe rather than a Diamond Pickaxe.
• The Archer kit is given a Crossbow, as well as any items it had previously.
• The Barricade kit is given multiple Ancient Debris and multiple Player Traps. The Ancient Debris, though having potential to be very useful in general, is intended to be an alternative to a block like Obsidian though with a shorter mining time.
• The Lucky kit is given multiple "Blessed Lucky Blocks" (the blue ones).
• The Tracker kit is given a telescope and multiple Sculk Sensors, as well as any items it had previously.

If I had it my way, I'd have a straight-up overhaul of the entire roster of kits, starting from scratch, but that's a bit much.


So that's all of my thoughts and some suggestions in regards to the Lucky Islands portion of the 1.19 Java update. In summary, CubeCraft improved Lucky Islands greatly and did a good job adding features and renovating the maps, but I think there's some things that could use fixing. Thankfully, Lucky Islands didn't get butchered as hard as everyone said that EggWars did.

nice feed back!! I love the update to, and I agree with the rainbow lucky blocks

 

[Lyriie]

I love reading your threads, they are always so organised and well-explained! Because you took the time to write this long thread, I will take the time to write a (kind of) long response! Seeing community suggested items make it into the game is really nice, as that does not tend to happen too often anymore, both for the lack of suggestions on such topics and the lack of official responses to them.

There seems to be a lot more to the glitched lucky block, teleporting to another player is one of many possible things, but it is such a useful feature. I still have some more experimenting to do, but the only other things I have received from the block so far have been fake "Your egg has been broken" messages and wooden hoes xD

I agree with what you have pointed out about the fishing rod drop; it definitely does not seem like something that would be found in the OP lucky block. While it can be quite powerful, as you said, it can be quite hard to aim it at the right time, and it doesn't have a lot of durability. Even if you manage to grab their item, it does not guarantee victory in the fight like the giga sword would, and it does not guarantee a quick escape like the flight would. It just seems extremely underwhelming and disappointing to get this drop.

I would love to see some more variation in the rainbow lucky block; a lot of these ideas seem good if they can be balanced well with the flight and the giga sword. The five second recharge time for wands may be a bit too short, as for high-damaging wands such as the lightning wand I can imagine it being a bit much. I experienced this wand in use before the cooldown was changed to sixty seconds, and it killed me extremely quickly with barely any opportunity to fight back. Perhaps making it halve or quarter the wands' usual cooldown would be a better solution?

I would not add a temporary totem of undying to the rainbow lucky block, simply because there is an existing drop that gives you a permanent one which you may not know about. Unless you mean something else by this drop that I am missing!

The swap inventory item sounds really interesting and I would love to experiment with that if it is possible to make such a drop happen!

I don't have much to say about the kits, I literally fit your description of being that person who always uses Diamonds, so I'm not really experienced enough with the other kits to form a good opinion. However, I 100% agree with the changes to the Builder and the Chef kit, as there is no point to using them as they currently are.

I feel that Lucky Islands received the best update here out of the four updated games, I know I may be biased, but I think generally it has had the most positive response. This could mean that priority with making changes and additions will go to the other games first, but I truly hope this thread can still be seen as it has some wonderful feedback!