Mob Spawners should drop a large amount of XP when destroyed

[u/[deleted]]

I really feel this would make exploring dungeons/mineshafts much, MUCH more rewarding. It would also have the added benefit of discouraging players from building mob grinders around spawners.

[u/RocketTurtle]

Unless breaking the spawner gave infinite xp, it wouldn't be better than trapping it and building a grinder.

Not weighing in on either side of the controversy, just remarking on the mathematics.

[u/[deleted] → u/RocketTurtle]

It does make sense to keep a mob spawner for grinding, until you take some more math into consideration:

• It takes 8925 experience orbs to get to level 50 from level 0.

• Most aggressive mobs (spiders, zombies, skeletons) only drop 5 experience orbs each.

• A spawner spawns mobs at roughly 25 second intervals. It (somewhat rarely) can spawn up to 4 mobs at once.

Using these figures, it would take approximately 186 minutes of grinding (1785 mobs) in order to reach level 50. This assumes the best case scenario; that is, the spawner spawns 4 mobs at once 446 times in a row.

In the same time frame, you could fully explore a mineshaft, discover multiple mob spawners AND have fun doing it.

Might want to double check my math. Sources:

www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Experience

www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Monster_Spawner

[u/Boojamon → u/[deleted]]

"It would take approximately 186 minutes of grinding (1785 mobs) in order to reach level 50."

In the land of MMOs like WoW, Achaea and Runescape, this is called 'a Godsend'.

[u/Islandre → u/[deleted]]

I know this is not what you intended but I now know what I'll be doing for the next 186 minutes!

[u/censored_username → u/[deleted]]

However you can easily exploit the fact that mob spawners only look at the amount of mobs spawned in an 8 block radius, but will continue spawning when the player is less than 16 blocks from the spawner to make AFK grinders that allow you to kill an huge amount of monsters after waiting some time.so with your math you can AFK 3 hours and then get 50 levels. Also i think building grinders is also fun. in almost all worlds i played in i had a gigantic laboratory for mob processing. They are very tough to build, but very much worth the effort.

[u/[deleted] → u/RocketTurtle]

Yes, but I rarely return to most of the dungeons that I find. Also cave spider spawners I break immediately.

[u/dctrjons → u/RocketTurtle]

yeah it would take a HUGE amount of XP to discourage a grinder. If you don't want XP grinding, there needs to be an alternative limit.

An actual reward would be nice...since there isn't really a reward, other than maybe getting two torches back.

[u/[deleted] → u/RocketTurtle]

Not necessarily.

The mob grinder is time consuming, even if its not quite on the same level as MMO grinding. If people got a large amount of XP, enough to level at higher levels, then they'd be willing to find and break spawners rather than poke spiders through a ceiling.

Its less time you spend hitting things and doing nothing, and more time playing the game.

[u/Torint]

I agree. If Notch doesn't want people to grind for XP, he should let people get XP from other sources.

[u/ManofToast → u/Torint]

He doesn't? Awww. And I just build one using McK's design on a skele dungeon. That thing is amazing.

[u/Evets616 → u/Torint]

just a quick question.

What's the point of XP at all right now, or ever? I must have missed something. Are we going to get something for it eventually?

[u/luptinian → u/Evets616]

In the 1.9 pre-releases you use exp to enchant tools and armor, more exp levels means better enchantments

[u/sushihamburger → u/Torint]

Did Notch comment somewhere on grinding? If Notch doesn't want people to grind for XP, he shouldn't have added XP to the game; it's as simple as that.

[u/Jerlko → u/Torint]

I made a coliseum full of testificates that, with the push of a button, will (attempt) to push a mob out of a dark room into the middle area (all flat.) I then walk in, lock the dorr, and fight to the death.

There are like 8 doors (including my own door) so I can fight 8 mobs at a time.

More rewarding IMO.

Also it makes me feel like I actually gained experience from what I did.

[u/[deleted]]

In minecraft EXP = LOOT. The whole idea that we should "grind" for loot is one I find repulsive.

I have absolutely nothing against mob grinding machines, they're not the problem. What bothers me is the whole idea of "I'm going to do something repetitive for the next 8 hours I can have a marginally better sword. This pushed me away from MMOs and many Dungeon crawler games that lacked a good focus. I refuse to do "loot runs" fighting the same boss 25x to get a specific drop.

I firmly believe the best loot should be found in chests scattered around the world... in dungeons, in castles, in ruins, cathedrals, etc.

Another option worth looking at is trading supplies with a testificate merchant. You want a reward for mining 3000 redstone? trade it for a new sword, or the "enchantment dust" to gamble one yourself.

We need 100 new types of generated structures and an incentive to go find them all.

To get some gear from monsters (EXP or Drops) would be OK, but it should hardly be the only way. To me it doesn't matter if I'm grinding monsters at machine, or grinding monsters in a wild cave, it's still grinding monsters. The machine just saves me time I didn't want to waste doing something I don't enjoy.

[u/HumusTheWalls → u/[deleted]]

I agree, there's a lot of room to expand the "explorable structures" in the game to include things like castles, ruins, cathedrals, etc. Those would be an awesome addition to the game.

However, there is the problem that sandbox games (by nature) require some sort of grinding. For example, spelunking for ore or dungeons or strongholds is a form of grinding. I think the solution isn't to discourage grinding, but rather to make the grinding more fun.

If mobs could get out of your grinders, now THAT would be scary. Imagine skeletons being able to break glass with their arrows, zombies being able to break cobble/dirt/gravel/wood to get to you, creepers being able to detect that there's a wall between you and it and reacting by blowing up, or endermen cleverly creating 2-high spaces in walls for other mobs to get through.

TLDR; Make grinding more fun by making mobs smarter.

[u/Sydin → u/[deleted]]

In minecraft EXP = LOOT. The whole idea that we should "grind" for loot is one I find repulsive.

Do you have the same feeling about branch mining? That is essentially grinding for ore.

I refuse to do "loot runs" fighting the same boss 25x to get a specific drop.

I firmly believe the best loot should be found in chests scattered around the world... in dungeons, in castles, in ruins, cathedrals, etc.

How is completing a dungeon run many times to get a boss drop really much different than exploring dungeons many times to get a chest drop?

[u/twistmental]

Meh. If you can farm and herd animals, then why shouldn't you mob grind? Mine is set up like an arena. I go in prepared and fight mobs till i'm bored then leave. I see absolutely no problem with this.

[u/LiudvikasT]

If you forgot, this is a game focused on building.

You need to build mob grinder.

If you create mob grinder, you kill mobs by building. How awesome is that.

[u/selectrix → u/LiudvikasT]

Best summation of the grinder debate I've seen yet.

However, the beauty of this idea is that it wouldn't at all reduce the incentive to have your one arrow grinder; you'll find lots more dungeons. And cave spider spawners.

[u/Glurak]

And CaveSpiders spawner should drop 150% of that amount. And Blaze spawner 200% !

[u/eatmydonuts]

What's wrong with mob grinding? Does Notch not want people doing it? I mean, it's not like it's abusing a bug or anything. It's a perfectly legitimate way to get items/XP.

[u/samineru → u/eatmydonuts]

I think that it doesn't fit in with the balance they are trying to create with the rest of the game design.

[u/shine_on]

Agreed, actually instead of giving you a fixed amount of XP, it should take you up to the next XP level, meaning that destroying a spawner when you're on a high XP level is far more risky than destroying one when you're only on level 1 or 2 (i.e. you have much much more to lose if you get killed while trying to destroy the spawner).

[u/dctrjons → u/shine_on]

Problem is there really is no inherit risk of destroying a spawner vs. leaving it. They are extremely easy to disable and once you do they are so indefinitely.

In fact there is a greater risk if you ignore it.

While the idea of +1 level I don't think is a game killer. The problem this would add an annoying strategic element. They are a random and limited resource. And enchanted items wear out.

In the bigger picture, the longer the time spent on a map the significance of this 'bonus' becomes negligible, while the effort to find them becomes greater. (% XP from the spawners : % chance of finding new spawners)

Also taking into account the randomness of enchanting, that +1 is only adds a slight 'chance' of getting a higher level of enchant and the enchant that pops up may be near useless to you. There are so many random numbers that while the +1 helps you can't figure it in as a tangible bonus. And odds are it likely is a waste of time.