Originally, I only wanted to make a small discord post about how the update will go and update that as we proceed. However, with Mojang’s recent announcement things got a little more complicated and fuzzy.
Today we announced that the much-anticipated Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Update will now release in two parts instead of a singular update. The first update is coming this summer, and the second update will release around the holiday season.
from the Mojang FAQ
Some general information regarding updates on Server26 first. Currently, my plan was (and still is) to update the server to every major version eventually. It could very well happen that a version is skipped however, as this almost was the case with 1.13.
It took such a long time to get the Update Aquatic in a workable state with all necessary plugins that 1.14 was almost around the corner. Releasing 1 month after Server26 was updated to 1.13.2. When I updated to 1.13 in 2019 it was already clear the 1.14 version was not improving Minecraft performance. It was actually even more demanding than before. So, the 1.14 version would have been out of the question as an easy replacement for 1.13 shortly after its release. But if that would have not been the case, and 1.14 would have actually improved Minecraft’s performance, I would have waited a few more week/months and would have directly updated to 1.14.
So, what does this mean in the lights of Mojang splitting cave and cliffs into two parts. Well, it means that we probably wont update to the part 1 of the update when it comes out in a few weeks and will wait for the winter release of part 2.
The important thing to consider is that the changes in worldgen (copper, tuff, amethyst) would mean players would start flocking out into new chunks and start caving for the new blocks, loading a lot of chunk patches all over the map (for a lot ore than 5 minutes). This would mean we would have a lot of “garbage” terrain laying around for every version after 1.17. This would mean players would have now to go even further out to explore new chunks. Deleting (mostly) unused chunks is only one thing to consider when never resetting a map. Trying to be conservative with chunk generation and updating strategically is another.
The first part of the Caves & Cliffs Update will focus on some cute and fun mobs, cool items, and new blocks such as: Goat, Axolotl, Crystals + Spyglass + Geodes + Tinted Glass, Copper + Lightning Rod, Glow Squid + Glow Ink, Powder Snow, Lush Cave Blocks, Dripstone Cave Blocks, Deepslate + Ore Variants, Glow Lichen, and Multiplayer Sleeping Rule (Java only).
from the Mojang FAQ
As much as I would like to update as soon as 1.17 is playable I believe it is wisest for the long term to wait until 1.18.
I know this is detrimental to the player base and engagement with the server. It is “waiting-for-1.13-to-become-better-but-its just-not-gonna-happen” all over again. I wont judge anyone for jumping ship. Some servers can just add a new world or reset for a new season and I won’t blame anyone that prefers to play on such a server, that would be stupid.
I hope you can understand the struggle. In the mean time (when I actually will have time in a few weeks/months) I look forwards to have some fun events once in a while. Or start a modpack together if anyone is interested.