As many have probably noticed, our player numbers have been very low.  My personal opinion is too much was carried over from the previous season and everyone was overpowered too fast.  Players quickly advanced and got bored too quickly.

After discussing with Staff, we have decided to move in another direction.  Therefore, I'm announcing that CookieCraft is being relaunched with some major changes.

Items/Balance - Nothing is transferring, including items, balance, CookieCoins, lands, etc.  We are starting fresh to get players reengaged on the server.

Economy - We will move to a Diamond-based economy.  These Gemstones will drop from naturally-generated diamond and deepslate diamond ores.  1-3 Gemstones will drop and Fortune will have zero effect on Gemstone drops.  Diamonds can be deposited/withdrawn at the Bank at spawn or with /bank.  The normal economy commands such as /balance and /pay work as before but will only count Diamonds you are carrying.  UPDATE - There is a slight delay with /balance updating.  It's just how our new bank system works.  The scoreboard will show the correct balance, but when players pay or receive payment, the slight delay occurs.  Shops will be restricted to a Shopping District near the center of the main world.  A warp will be set there for easy access.

Rewards - Daily rewards will be given with /rewards after 15 minutes of active daily playtime.  Vote rewards will be given for each vote site.

Ranks - Ranks are being reworked therefore NO ranks will carry over.  UPDATE - We have decided that all players with a current donor rank will be upgraded to the first donor rank: Cupcake.  After the initial 2 weeks of play, players will be instructed to put in a Discord ticket to have their new rank enabled.  New donor ranks will cost much less than previous seasons and you will be able to gain enough CookieCoins over the course of time to get the donor ranks.  Also, all players will earn Fly Time, with donor ranks earning permanent Fly.  Rankups will require Diamonds, playtime, and votes to help prevent players just voting and ranking up.  We want players to actually be playing and voting helps promote our server.

Crates - Crates are being reduced to Daily, Spawner, Seasonal, Cookie Collector (best loot).  Custom items will be more cosmetic and not overpowered like before.  The most powerful items will only have enchantments that can be achieved in Vanilla.  Daily crates will be the only one available at relaunch as we work on some new things.  As a free gift, all players will get a Summer Crate Key on the first login.  Crates are being finalized so give us some time to get them into the game.

World - The initial world size will be 3000 blocks wide or 1500 from the center.  A big complaint is everyone goes off to do their own thing.  We would love to see more people teaming up so we are keeping the world size small initially and will expand as needed.  The nether will be 2500 from the center and the End will be 5000 from the center.  We are also using custom world generation to make things more interesting.  Resource worlds will be available as well, reduced to 2000 from the center.  /rtp and /fly will be disabled for up to 2 weeks to have everyone do some exploring.

Land Claims - We are keeping the same claiming system but expanding to 300 total chunks across all claims (up from 200).  Land claim blocks will be 35 Diamonds.  Phantom/Monster Spawn land flags will be 500 Diamonds each.

Online Store - The only store will be disabled for 2 weeks as players explore.  We will do a 50% discount upon reopening.  Also, only CookieCoins will be available in the store.  Ranks and other items will be purchased via /CookieShop.  Crate items will no longer be traded in for CookieCoins.

MapArts - A new MapArt world will be setup as a flat world so we can preserve all MapArts.  Rule add - Copying another player's MapArt is considered stealing and is punishable by bans.  More details in the next day or two on the new MapArt world.  We will assist players with moving MapArt to this new world.

Other - Staff is evaluating what will return as far as side items.  Things like Custom Fishing, Custom Enchants, Quests, etc will be reevaluated to see if they fit our new style.  Community Goals will be coming!

When? - The plan is to relaunch on Sunday, April 19, taking the server down sometime on Saturday, April 18.  This should give everyone enough time to transfer MapArts.

I hope everyone understands why these changes were needed.