Brilliant points. I never thought about the chestfinder hackers before, actually... (Although I have to disagree with one thing - there would still be plenty of skill involved, it wouldn't all be luck...although yes, it would be a lot more luck than before, and kinda ruin the competitive community a bit. Part of the reason some of our users have been here so long is for the competitive aspect, of which people like myself highly enjoy.)
Randomizing chests also seems to be a weird way of doing it - how are they going to be randomized, are there going to be preset locations for them to spawn, with a, say, 50% chance of spawning, or will they spawn on any "ideal" block, like randomly on the landscape? The first option allows for the chests to be placed in locations like behind redstone contraptions and puzzles and the like...but with only a chance of spawning, meaning little reward for your efforts and really disappointing. This method allows chest routes to still be too much of a part of play for the randomized chests to really matter. However, the second option makes said redstone locations have literally no point in existing, as well as makes chests absolutely complete luck to find, since they are out in the open...first come first serve. There needs to be at least some "skill" in finding the chests, in ceilings, around corners, not just mindless looking and hoping to find one...
Chestfinder hackers are hard enough to catch, they don't need to actually benefit from it so much that it ruins it for everybody else. (I've seen chestfinder hackers on youtube before - I get more stuff than they do almost every game. Making this change would change that, though. >.>)
I like the idea of randomized tiers, that's actually a great idea, it adds just a little bit of luck to "help out the noobs" without removing the strategic aspect of routes for the more skilled players. Randomized chests, though...it has to be done really cleverly and right for me to agree with it. I hope that if it's added, it's really well thought out, because that's a game changer...heck, more than a game changer, many users will and won't like it, there will be arguments and debates, I can see the ten million threads that have to be deleted a day already...this change shouldn't be taken lightly.
This brings me to another point as well, actually - for changes as large as that, things that some people will definitely not agree with/dislike in general, I think it'd be wise to discuss that with the community before implementing it and putting so much time into it - as this thread proves, there are many people who realize the flaws with the idea and I'm sure they hope to get Chad's attention...New and improved leaderboards? Sure. 48 player servers? Sure. But a game changing thing like this should be discussed before implementation happens, or at least be put on "trial period" and see how people react first.
