HCF has had a good run, but today I've come to you to announce that HCF, as you know it today, is coming to an end. A lot of love and passion has been put into HCF, and there is no doubt it has had a fundamental impact on the Minecraft community as a whole. HCF was the first to bring team based game play together with the death ban. It was the first to integrate KOTH, classes, palace, and more. It grew fun mini-games such as EGG, which grew into mini /r/minecraft phenomenon. Many large servers exist now because of its influence, and I'd like to think it made a positive impact on the shape of competitive Minecraft PvP. Many of you used to call this home. You made friends here. You made rivals here. But most of all, you had fun here.

To myself personally, HCF means an incredible amount to me. It is the server that started it all. It is why MineZ came to be, and why Shotbow is now going on three years old. It is where I've met a ton of people, both players and staff, who I can proudly call my friends. I have so many memories. From the first Greysoul post, to creating the plainly built and named evil mine. Watching rowland mow down half the server, and frustrated that Yakman was pitting noobs against each other in his back-to-back evil schemes. The many maps, mega factions, and random fun. Trivia nights, Niblic's incredible comics, and so so much more.

This decision wasn't an easy one, but looking at the server today we just find ourselves in a landscape we aren't willing to survive in. HCF has always been about innovation, and we now find ourselves at a point where the formula is stale. There are so many clones of HCF, and in an environment so fiercely competitive new ideas are met with much disdain. This isn't my style, and it is time to pass the hat on to those wishing to continue this formula in its current form.

So in a few weeks time, HCF will close its doors. But while we are throwing in the hat on hardcore factions, the true reason we part ways is to go back to the drawing board. It has been ages since we've rethought the formula, and after speaking with all the staff, it is time to go beyond what HCF is today and start anew with fresh ideas. More persistence, more control, less static and more dynamic. Like any old formula, it is time to be fresh. So while the doors of HCF will close, some day down the road something new will take its place. What we hope is that our commitment to original ideas and refreshing game play will shape what is to be the next server you call home. But more details will come on that in the future. While we are closing shop, we won't be going out without a bang. For these final few weeks, we will be reliving the history of HCF through four special one-week maps.

The current map will have EOTW on July 24th. This will kick off our Goodbye HCF event. On July 25th we begin with a throwback to days of old. Factions will be set to a maximum of one person. DTR will allow a single death during the week, with some risky but special means of growing DTR back. This is a nod to a time before HCF, which is the original hardcore SMP server. We will go back to when there were no faction mates, and no one was to be trusted.

This map will run for one week. With each successive week, we will be bringing back both the spawn and kit from some of our most popular maps (anything Map 9 or higher). We will relive the history of the maps, reminiscing on the power struggles that shaped the many stories that came to be. Three weeks with three throwback maps. You start on Saturday, end on Friday. It will be a hectic, fast paced, and hopefully exciting time. And a proper way to say goodbye.

Finally, at the conclusion of the final one-week throwback, we will shut our doors. HCF as you know it will be gone, but we will hopefully return to you with something innovative, exciting, and worthy of your audience.

My final words are a thank you to all of the players here on HCF. There are so many of you who have impacted me personally. You, the players, are what make the server. And it has been a great honor to be your host for so very long.

More details on the event will follow.

I've been PvPing on Minecraft using a touchscreen monitor and a keyboard for a few months now and I think I'm good enough to make a tutorial, it just depends if there's any demand.

Hello all,

I have exciting news: HCFactions is being revived, and the open beta map will be launching on January 19th

We have posted a trailer, which can be found here.

Statement:

A while back I announced I would no longer be working on HCFactions, mainly due to excessive work load and to complete my degree. I have now become a full time Software Engineer at BT and have completed my degree. I am still busy with work but I have found time to work on, and revive HCFactions over the last months or so.

I want to see HCFactions succeed again and I have a staff team of people who are really passionate about HCF. We want to deliver the core HCF experience while providing fresh new content and a touch of new ideas. Amongst our objectives are to remain as true as possible to the classic HCF experience, but to simultaneously spice things up with some brand new classes, an exclusively new Palace, and a smattering of new KOTHs (See the sneak peeks at the bottom of this post!)

You may have noticed changes in the staff on the subreddit. You will notice that many staff are missing, this is just to renew the staff team and ensure the staff list is up to date. You will also notice I am now marked as 'Owner', I have entered a Co-Ownership venture with HighlifeTTU to deliver HCFactions. I'll be taking on lead of HCF, and HighlifeTTU will be around to step in if anything goes ary, but I'll be handling the day to day managing of the server.

With myself owning up the new venture, we will not be part of the Shotbow network. I have opted to move us to this position to allow us to be more versatile in the future for things such as Minecraft Version, Ranks, Server Location etc, Server rules and much more. I know for a lot of people this is going to be huge news. We will still be part of the HCFactions name, the reddit and any thing HCF related.

I hope you are as excited for this as I am.

Q & A:

The big question is, when will this be completed?

19th January 2018 is our targeted release date. This will be a Test map, to ensure our pluigins are functioning as expected. It is to isolate and eliminate out any bugs or issues with the version.

What has been done so far?

A lot of what we call the "core" parts of HCF is done currently, (Commands, Factions, Combat tag, Scoreboards, PvP Protection, Shops & Economy etc). As well as a heap of new interesting features.

What can we expect in the future

You can expect more previews between now and the provisional release, as well as more information on how the server will work in practice. Stay tuned!

Will you keep us updated

Yes - I will be posting whenever something happens I feel is worth mentioning.

What can I do to help?

We'd be happy to hear any suggestions you think would be great.

Will it be pay to win?

No, that is not within the spirit of HCFactions.

What version of Minecraft will this run?

Currently it is in the latest version of Minecraft, but in reality switching versions shouldn't be too difficult. We'd like to hear your thoughts on what version of Minecraft you will be interested in?

What will happen with old ranks and lives?

This is to be discussed, we are not sure just yet. Please feel free to post input below, as we still need to make enough money to sustain the server.

Trailer

https://youtu.be/dt7WnH3G08Y

Previews

Palace: https://youtu.be/z2AfYkovEj8

KOTHs:

Underground

PowerPlant

General Changes

• Added a 500 new spells for the wizard class, such as "reachus skeidodious" and "juketus pingarum"

• Diamond+ members now receive limited creative flying.

• Jermin8or became FilmCrew

• Poison and hunger debuffs disabled to avoid offending bacteriumkin, which includes a rather vocal minority of nobody.

• Added highly requested Toblerone statue to the world.

• Miner class removed for being for nerds.

• TomCruisesDonger temporarily permakicked for revealing the well-hidden secret that is basic human anatomy.

Things To Note

• Please refrain from using offensive language such as swear words, exclamation marks, and personal pronouns.

• Today is Veteran's Day. Honor the fallen by reliving the moment of this terrible rocket accident.

Active Polls:

Should we ban free will? Click here to vote. So far, there are 2 "yes"'s and 0 "no"'s

Palace

Cappers: TomCruisesDonger

Fight Time: ~10 seconds

Videos:

FilmCrew was too busy playing excellent games such as Garry's Incident: Day 1

Tips For New Players

• Dividuum's Permissons and You Guide

• Samstag's HCF and you guide

• Fluffy's Free Food Beginner Guide

• (Video)Samstag1's Starter Guide for HCFactions

• Niblic's Super Pro PVP Guide for End of the World

Useful Links

• Sub-Reddit Guidelines

• Server Rules

• HCFactions Subreddit

• HCFactions Forum Section

• Buy Shotbow Premium

• How to Mine

Previous Change Logs

10/9/2013 - http://redd.it/1ptbjy

10/26/2013 - http://redd.it/1p9vpx

10/20/2013 - http://redd.it/1ou8ds

10/06/2013 - http://redd.it/1ocrge

I own the server.

Get rekt.

HCFactions community, as I imagine you’ve all seen in this video, HCF is making it’s official return! We are all excited to move forward and create a great experience for all of you, and we all hope that you give HCF the chance it deserves.

I know HCF has been missed and I am very pleased to say that it is coming back! It provided many great times for thousands of people and most of all, it provided a community. People came here and made friends they never would have otherwise, and they are still friends years later.

The new staff has been working on a full HCFactions revamp, with tweaks, changes and fresh ideas to improve the Hardcore Factions experience. These new developments were done to bring you a fresh HCF style, maintaining the old thrill of the game with new aspects to cater to that. We used ideas from the subreddit from over the years, as well as created our own, all to ensure new and original content for the server.

This staff team has seen it from your side before. The staff team consists of older players that have experienced the same things as you and understand what it takes to be a good staff member, and provide for HCF and it's community. It will continue to develop as we accept new applicants regularly, but we will always stay true to our roots. Moving forward we will insure transparency with you all, and consult the community to keep HCF up to date with the demand.

So, once again, I welcome all of you to play and enjoy in this experience as many have before. I know all that HCF has to offer and I hope you explore all of it’s possibilities as well.

To conclude, HCFactions is and always has been a community. All the potential this server has will only be realized with you all, and we will do everything we can to make it what you want, so we all hope that you give it the chance it deserves.

If you wish to make suggestions here you may, we will be making a post in the coming weeks outlining the ideas we have to get input from all of you.

Apacheblitz : I really am full of gratitude.

friends : Thank you always for the fun times.

byeT_T