Basically I am here to plead the case of melons. First I'll throw around some numbers. I have a 20 x 30 plot, not huge, its average. in that plot, most of it is dedicated to farming. By digging down, and building up, I have acquired exactly 3010 blocks for farming. Once again, it's not a ton, but it is significant for a an average player. I have converted those 3010 blocks for melon farming. Now i should have 1505 spaces for melon blocks due to my efficient melon farm design, but due to accidentally destroying stalks, the ratio is not 50% as it probably would not be for the average player. I have 1485 slots available for melons in a full harvest. Per harvest I make 2598.75 if it is a completely full harvest, which it rarely is. So lets say I farm every hour and it is a full harvest, I would have to farm for nearly 7 hours (6.93) to make the 18k an hour you can make with cjb fly, eff V and such on pumpkins. Now I have yet to show someone In my town my farm, and them not be amazed at the size of my farm, simply because we are average players. I work 30-40 hours a week, so I simply cannot play minecraft 7 hours a day, and even if I did, farming for 7 hours a day isn't fun to me. I digress, my point is simply this, yes melons can be overpowered if you have the resources to make a 200x200 melon farm. However, the average player does not have those resources, plus a Good silk enchant to make melon farming not painstaking is very hard to come by. So, how about raising melons, and giving the average player a way to move up. Right now I am saving for mayor. With the current output of melons in my farm it would take me over 32 hours to get the complete 85k for mayor, while people with a 200x200 pumpkin farm can get it in less than 5. All I ask for is a little balance to help out the average player, and stop worrying about the few people that can afford a 200x200 dedicated just to farming
raising the prices gives the people with their massive farms a giant profit, I suggest you buy access to a big farm and farm in there.
The game can't be balanced off the "average" player, because of the other elite players. If we set the farming prices to where the "average" player makes $18k an hour, then the elite players will make $60k an hour. It is not a simple task to just up your income for an "average" player while not doing the same for the elite players. You do have options to try to compete with the elite players, but at a price. As Kuke stated you can rent our time at a larger farm, you can rent out an eff 5, you can donate for fly. If you are unwilling to do all of this, then you needed to realize that you are an "average" player and you will make an "average" salary farming. The difference between the two will always be there whether it is 6k vs 18k for average and elite, or 18k vs 60k for average and elite. To keep this server in check we need to ensure that the elites cap out at 18k an hour to keep some kind of control of the economy. RagMan
Even a multi level 50x50 plot is relatively cheap and can make you several thousand an hour. Melons grow fast enough that if you were to invest in something as large as 50x50 you could make your money back and more very fast. The price that the server is designed to give out to a hard worker can be met by any ranked player. Even a builder can buy a plot and a pick axe if he works hard enough. It is all a matter of the time you are willing to put in. If you want to be a rich ecc player, you'll have to put in a lot of time. :]
I myself bought a 20x20 plot in a city where there is also a public 50x50 farm. The city is rather empty though so I got all the melons and I earn a lot of money. As long as you have enough floors you can make almost as much as 200x200. In one run I can harvest like 2700 melons so I can make over 18k per hour without a problem. You can either ask the mayor to make a nice public farm in your town or you buy another plot in a town with a public farm. A plot isn't that expensive anyways and if you're not up for all that you can buy perms to a 200x200 farm for like 7-8k. Melons are already the easiest way to get money, so I don't think they should be increased. If anything, I'd say they get decreased.
