Introduction

2b2t, the oldest anarchy server in Minecraft, has finally made the leap to modern versions of Minecraft. This update has been a long time coming. Multiple test servers have been created and used since 1.16, but these versions never came to fruition on 2b2t. However, on August 14th, 2023, the unthinkable happened: 2b2t updated to 1.19.

Implications

The idea of a version update on 2b2t has been a fantasy for many until now. Many believed that the features introduced over seven versions of Minecraft would change 2b2t forever. This was absolutely the case for 2b2t when it updated in August. However, many players were not happy with the changes that the admin team of the server introduced. This article will outline specific breaking changes on 2b, and highlight how they affect the community.

Economy Reset

The administration at 2b2t has decided to erase years of exploit history and has made an attempt to restore the server to it's original "vanilla" roots. Part of this effort includes removing duped items that have existed on the server for years. Some of the items the team listed include:

• End Crystals
• Bottle o' Enchanting
• Enchanted Golden Apples ("Notch Apples" or "Gaps")
• Totems of Undying

These item resets will impact the PvP meta substantially on 2b2t. The erasure of these items will be detrimental to player satisfaction and also affects the overall image of the server, which has been touted as "no resets" for over a decade.

Illegal Items

Prior to the server update in August, illegal items such as items with broken durability, bad enchants, or invalid stack sizes existed on the server but were not usable. This update has removed these items entirely, erasing a part of 2b2t history.

Chunk Culling

The world size of 2b2t is over 20TB. Naturally, this causes lag and other assorted issues on the server. The administration has taken a new approach to managing world size, and this approach is called chunk culling. Chunk culling is when an automated program is used to analyze the chunks on the server and the data related to them. In 2b2t's case, they are culling chunks that have only been loaded for a few seconds and have not been modified. Generally, this would be a good thing because it increases server performance and improves scalability. However, with a server as old as 2b2t, chunk culling can remove chunks that could be historical or memorable to the playerbase.

Obfuscation of Unique Data

2b2t has decided to obfuscate (obscure) a lot of identifying player and item data. The reason for this is to prevent players using cheat clients from having an unfair advantage. The data that is obfuscated includes:

• Map IDs
• World seed
• Player enchantments, health data, and held item durability

Major changes to the underlying engine that runs 2b has enabled the administration to obscure this data. Some might say that preventing cheat clients from accessing this information is a positive change, but it undermines the philosophy that 2b has advertised: being a vanilla server.

Vanilla Mechanic Changes

Along with these other changes that would not be considered vanilla changes, some functions of the game itself have been reduced or removed entirely. For example, duplication exploits have been removed as a whole (according to the team at 2b2t, who declined to elaborate). Additionally, some intended game mechanics have been disabled or modified:

• The End Dragon can be fought again, and gateways have been regenerated.
• Phantoms and the associated mechanics have been disabled
• Mob spawn radius was lowered while rate has been upped in an unsuccessful attempt to simulate vanilla spawn mechanics.
• Animal spawn rate near the spawn area has been increased
• Health and hunger now regenerate slower

Most of these changes stray far from the vanilla philosophy that 2b relies upon. While some of these changes may be beneficial to the playerbase, things like increasing mob spawn rates can hurt server performance, which counterbalances some of the performance improving changes the administration has made.

Broader Anarchy Implications

2b2t is not the only Minecraft Anarchy server, and it is certainly not the only one running a modern version of Minecraft. In fact, 2b2t was the last to finish the race. So, what does 2b finally crossing this line mean for other anarchy servers?

Minecraft Anarchy Servers like 2b2t (2b2t Clones)

It is not unlikely that clone servers such as 6b6t, 9b9t, and Constantiam follow in 2b2t's footsteps. Since the dawn of clone servers, these servers have tried to mimic the style of 2b2t as much as possible while fixing the things they deem problematic. It remains to be seen how these servers will react to these changes. However, it is safe to assume that some of these servers will ignore 2b2t's changes, and some will follow suite. Based on the reaction of 2b2t's playerbase, it seems more likely that these changes will be ignored by clone servers. A spike in new joins on clone servers was recorded shortly after the update on 2b2t. It seems almost certain, though, that these players will shift away from this subgenre of minecraft anarchy and move on to truly vanilla anarchy servers.

Non-Clone Servers

There are a few unique minecraft anarchy servers, such as our top pick 3 years running, avas.cc. Absolute Vanilla Anarchy (AVAS) is a server nearing 4 years old. It has no anticheat or other restrictions, and hasn't since the server has started. Additionally, these changes that 2b2t has introduced is not even a consideration for the admins of AVAS and servers like it. If you would like to see some of our choices for non-clone 2b2t-esque servers, we've recently released our Top 5 Minecraft Anarchy Servers like 2b2t for 2023. Some of these servers are even more modern than 2b2t, supporting versions up to the latest version, 1.20.1. This includes our top pick for 2023, avas.cc, which has yet to miss an update.