NickG365

I have no idea what you're talking about.  There is no "black market."

After showering off all of that dirt, the judges have finally chosen winners for the Dirt Build Contest!
 
1st Place
Benpenguin2
40 Coins 2nd Place
LettieT
30 Coins 3rd Place (Tie)
PlatinumWolf
20 Coins 3rd Place (Tie)
IntenseMoose
20 Coins Honorable Mention
Best Use of Redstone
Demoneyes2013
300 tokens Honorable Mention
Best Dirt Blending
JasonPrimate
300 tokens Honorable Mention
Made Us LOL
C_rex101
300 tokens  
We had a hard time deciding who the winners would be for this contest, there were actually quite a few creative uses of dirt and fun builds, even beyond our winners and honorable mentions listed here. In addition to the prizes above, all participants who finalized their plots with /plot done will receive 100 tokens.
Thanks to everyone who took part in finding new and interesting ways to use dirt and creating some cool builds for this contest!

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I have no idea what you're talking about.  There is no "black market."

I don't know what you are talking about....
What is this "black market" you speak of...
never heard of it...
don't ask me again....
 

We actually do accept requests to take over land and unlock chests if a player has been offline for an extended period of time (generally at least a few months), which are all evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
As for PvP in the world, it's something that we've considered before, including the idea of not having players drop their items on death.  Additionally, I've seen in practice that world PvP generally isn't popular in this style of survival server, aside from a few short-lived bursts here and there, and is often only abused to harass players (since there isn't much to be gained with no drops), even with specific rules in place.  Ultimately, we're not looking to be like other survival servers, and would rather provide an experience that our community finds enjoyable.  It's possible that we would make changes to how PvP works on survival in the future if there is more interest, but most players seem to enjoy the more peaceful style at the moment, as supported by the less than occasional use of the PvP arena.
Hardcore is definitely something we'd like to see more interest in, as we feel that it has the potential to be really fun and enjoyable for those seeking an adventure with more risks involved.  I feel that it complements survival quite well by providing a lot of the gameplay points that you mentioned; it's just that there aren't a lot of people interested in the PvP aspect at the moment.  We do have additional plans for improving hardcore in the future, so hopefully we can draw more attention to it after we've had a chance to add some cool new features and objectives to it.

We actually do accept requests to take over land and unlock chests if a player has been offline for an extended period of time (generally at least a few months), which are all evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
As for PvP in the world, it's something that we've considered before, including the idea of not having players drop their items on death.  Additionally, I've seen in practice that world PvP generally isn't popular in this style of survival server, aside from a few short-lived bursts here and there, and is often only abused to harass players (since there isn't much to be gained with no drops), even with specific rules in place.  Ultimately, we're not looking to be like other survival servers, and would rather provide an experience that our community finds enjoyable.  It's possible that we would make changes to how PvP works on survival in the future if there is more interest, but most players seem to enjoy the more peaceful style at the moment, as supported by the less than occasional use of the PvP arena.
Hardcore is definitely something we'd like to see more interest in, as we feel that it has the potential to be really fun and enjoyable for those seeking an adventure with more risks involved.  I feel that it complements survival quite well by providing a lot of the gameplay points that you mentioned; it's just that there aren't a lot of people interested in the PvP aspect at the moment.  We do have additional plans for improving hardcore in the future, so hopefully we can draw more attention to it after we've had a chance to add some cool new features and objectives to it.

Sorry for the delay!  The winners will be announced by the end of this week.  There were a lot of cool entries -- it's awesome seeing the interesting ways everyone worked mass quantities of dirt into their builds!

We have no plans to add item rewards to the ranks, as we feel that it would create an unfair economic advantage.

We have no plans to add item rewards to the ranks, as we feel that it would create an unfair economic advantage.

happy B-Day

The latest and greatest PickAxis build contest has arrived!  Get ready to build the most awe-inspiring and magnificent creation of your life... with tons of dirt!  That's right, it's the Dirt Build Contest!
Now through the end of the day on April 7th, let your creativity run wild!  Just jump onto the build contest server (/server buildcontest), claim a plot (/plot auto), build something awesome, and submit it (/plot done) before building ends on April 7th!  We'll announce the winners a few days after that.
Speaking of winners, check out the prizes for this contest:
1st place
40 Coins 2nd place
30 Coins 3rd place
20 Coins And of course, don't forget the bragging rights to having the awesomest* and most marvelous dirt creation!  Sometimes it's more fun to build as a team, so we've got you covered!  Teams can split the prize and glory!**
So, let's talk rules.  Yeah, we've gotta.  I know, I know... I'll make this quick.  First, don't go off and build anything offensive!  I don't want to end up having to disqualify dirt-y builds.  Second, make sure that your build looks like it's made of at least 75% dirt.  This can be any kind of dirt, whatever your heart desires!  Be sure to submit your plot with /plot done when you're finished, so that we can find it for judging!  Oh, and we'll be judging based on creativity, originality, design, and adherence to the use-a-lot-of-dirt rule.
So what are you waiting for?!  Get out there and build something awesome!
* "Awesomest" isn't a real word, but if it were, that would be pretty awesome!  It's totally the kind of word we'd use to describe really cool things made of dirt.
** We're not sure how splitting glory works, but we've been assured it can be done without even needing any power tools (we typically use a saw to split the coin rewards).
April Fools'! But hey, this is an actual contest, so get to building!

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I'm planning on going for at least 110% dirt

I think you'll be happy to hear that we're planning on announcing another build contest very soon.  There's quite an interesting theme to this one, and hopefully we'll be able to hold them more often again afterwards.

 

 

Hey guys, 
So Minecraft 1.9 has arrived and will soon be available on Pickaxis. I have seen lots of players asking questions about the update and how it will be implemented on the the server. This is the place to ask! 
If you have a question or a concern please ask below, together we can create a hub of 1.9 answers!
Clare
 

As requested, here is an updated list of the challenges on skyblock. Below is Huskers original document with all the challenges on, below that is a list of all of the more recently added challenges that were made permanent 


    Repeatable Repeatable Repeatable Name Requirements Reward EXP reward $ Reward           The Arrow 64 Arrows 3 slime blocks 5 XP $5 HayThere 64 Hay bales, 64 Bread, 64 Wheat 1 Villager Egg 10 XP $10 NethernLights 64 Glowstone blocks 64 Sea Lanterns 1 XP $1 Sandstorm 64 sand 2 diamonds 10 XP $10 WhatTheNether 64 nether warts 4 glowstone, 4 soul sand, 4 nether brick blocks 10 XP $10 GoGreen 5 redstone dust 1 emerald 5 XP $5 CandyCorn 10 stacks of sugar 1 stack of yellow, white and orange wool 10 XP $10 JackOLantern 64 jacko'lanterns 64 mossy cobblestone and 32 spiderwebs 10 XP $10 WickedWitch 5 golden apples 1 god apple 10 XP $10 TrickorTreat 1 rabbit hide, 1 book 3 cake, 3 pumpkin pie, 8 cookies 10 XP $10 SpookySounds #11 disc 64 Quartz ore 10 XP $10 HeadlessHorseman 1 iron and 1 gold horse armor 1 diamond horse armor, 1 saddle, 1 head. 1 horse head 10 XP $10  

I will update as and when it is required
Clare
 

heh clare 

The results are in! February's top voters are...
In 1st place,
LettieT
30 coins & 1000 tokens In 2nd place,
_SammyBaer
20 coins & 800 tokens In 3rd place,
mpclass3
10 coins & 600 tokens In 4th place,
angell1988
400 tokens In 5th place,
r4ans0m
400 tokens
And, in this month's double-feature, January's top voters are...
In 1st place,
_SammyBaer
30 coins & 1000 tokens In 2nd place,
killaboymol
20 coins & 800 tokens In 3rd place,
EnderMist_123
10 coins & 600 tokens In 4th place,
joncraft92
400 tokens In 5th place,
mpclass3
400 tokens
Also, the following lucky players won some coins from the recent drop parties hosted by SheTolerance and ZTolerance!
Player Reward ScribNyan 30 coins KittyxLover 20 coins rampage1779 10 coins EnderMist_123 10 coins C_rex101 10 coins LettieT 5 coins JazzyHorseLover 5 coins shadowpyrolily 5 coins Southparkboy13 5 coins
Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who supported PickAxis by voting, as well as everyone who made the recent drop parties a huge success! Who will be next month's top voters?

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Hey guys, IntenseMoose here. As the completion of my rather large castle in Elchmein comes to conclusion, I'm seeking to design another new huge design. And yes, in Survival. 
 
A few ideas that have currently come to mind are Hanging Gardens, Sith Temple, Assassin's Creed//Parkour Course, The Dark Tower (Stephen King), or a freelance idea with sculptured dragons fighting that may double as, yet another, castle. 
 
Throw some new ideas in the comments or pick your favorites! 

I personally wanted to thank SheTolerance and ZTolerance for all of their wonderful work with this weekend, along with Nick and Husker because I am sure that they helped. I have handed out a surprise present myself for anyone who participated in the drop party on Survival of 300 dollars. Make sure you guys thank staff for all their hard work, for everything they do for us. I know I am staff but I am not counting myself in this post. Staff members like SheTolerance and ZTolerance work hard on a daily basis to make sure they can create drop parties and other activities to keep players entertained and make sure players are always having fun. Just keep that in mind when playing the game and make sure to always have fun when surrounded by friends, even if they are just minecraft buddies.

Our island is approaching level 5000 and we are pushing to reach that level by February 29th so me and my island mates are putting together a drop party on our Skyblock Island on Monday, February 29th at 2:00 pm EST.  Everyone is invited. We have all manner of items to "drop." Advanced players and beginner Skyblock-ist will want to attend.  Come help us celebrate at Nutter Butter Island!

mpclass3
tmntmaster2002
visualcape1

This is something that we've discussed before and would like to do in the future, but we have other (hopefully more exciting) things that we'd like to do first.

We've just completed an overhaul of the PickAxis community site.  You'll find that we've modernized quite a few features and the look of the site.  In particular, you might find the new activity streams worth checking out.  Activity streams can show you what's new on the site, or content that you haven't seen yet.
Let us know what you think of the update in the comments!

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We've just completed an overhaul of the PickAxis community site.  You'll find that we've modernized quite a few features and the look of the site.  In particular, you might find the new activity streams worth checking out.  Activity streams can show you what's new on the site, or content that you haven't seen yet.
Let us know what you think of the update in the comments!

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The results are in! December's top voters are...

In 1st place,
Adensem911
30 Coins & 1000 tokens In 2nd place,
RoryTheRoman94
20 Coins & 800 tokens In 3rd place,
_SammyBaer
10 Coins & 600 tokens In 4th place,
mpclass3
500 tokens In 5th place,
skarzs
400 tokens Most time spent playing in December
_SammyBaer
1000 tokens
Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who supported PickAxis by voting! Who will be next month's top voters?

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