It has been almost 5 years now that we've been around and lots have happened. However, not all of it necessarily went our way and things kind of suffered as a result. We haven't exactly been giving everyone the gameplay we intended so we've come together as a team to try to figure out what the best solution is right now before moving forward with other ideas.
One thing we covered was the effect of TinyWE. This created a big gap between those who couldn't use it, and those who could. It made things pretty easy for those who could use it, especially since they could use it almost unhindered in the resource zone. It seems that over the years this tool has had restrictions placed and removed. Well, the biggest problem with it we came across was that it could be used in the resource zone, and this affected other things than just TinyWE. So our plan for now is to disallow its use in the resource zone.
Another thing, and this is important, is that everyone seems to have already acquired what they wanted, so they don't feel as much of a reason to come on and play anymore. Why play when you have done everything, and it was too easy as a result? We have creative world, but survival was pretty easy, especially with TinyWE. This is why we've decided to have a reset of everything survival-related. Don't worry, you're not out of luck yet.
We don't want to leave you all with nothing, which is why we are allowing supers and up to preserve one of their survival lots and bring it with them to the creative world. They must choose though: if they already have a lot in creative, keep either that one or one of their survival lots. This way, they can preserve an aspect of survival and convert it to a creative experience.
This is all being done because we've had enough. People who don't play much anymore have what they already wanted, and there isn't much more for them. Time to bring them back for a fresh start, albeit a bit differently. This wasn't an easy decision, but in the end we pretty much decided that it was the best course of action.
At this time, the server is going to be in maintenance mode while we work on properly setting up lot areas, both in the main world and even creative world. The server will be back on 1.8.8 as we do not yet have everything required for Minecraft 1.9 but we are close.
One last thing: if you had any special items that were awarded during events, you will be given replacements.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here. We will also post back here when we have more information to share.