Experience

[Thorin]

Okay, so I tried out the experience thing today; it took me 35 minutes at my skeleton XP farm to go from level 0 to 30.  That's a lot better than 4+ hours!

Then I did a bunch of mining, and got XP from mining coal.  Yay!  Then I found iron and smelted it, got XP when I took it out of the furnace.  Then I decided to turn my cobblestone into smooth stone - turns out you get XP when you take that out of the furnace, too!  So in about three and a half hours of mining / smelting, I'm back at level 28 (2 away from max).

Yeah, I can see enchanted weapons, armor, and tools becoming much more common on our server.

[Mr. Analog]

After having played for 30+ hours I have to say I'm VERY impressed with the new XP system, I find myself enchanting a lot more.

Cows are a LOT more important now as leather is a component of books, and books help you enchant.

Also I've found that it is still possible to get multiple enchantments per item, even as low as level 8.

Woo yeah!

[Thorin]

I've enchanted four items in five hours (and only did XP grinding for one of them), and all have been two or three enchantments per item.  I make sure to go all the way to level 30 (max) just to be sure.  I have too many enchanted diamond pickaxes now (yeah, that's not really a problem).  The funny thing is I'm now smelting all my cobblestone, so coal has actually become a hot commodity for me!

[Mr. Analog]

So other cool things:

-Buckets aren't consumed when you use lava in a furnace
-You can shift click stuff in and out of furnaces
-Items that give you XP for mining: fuels (coal, redstone, lapis) & gems (diamond, emerald)
-Items that give you XP for smelting: ores (gold, iron)
-Infinite water sources still seem to work.

Things that suck:

-Boats are still a bit dodgy.
-It _seems_ like there are more mobs.

[Thorin]

Here's another two items I discovered give you XP for smelting/cooking: cobblestone and pork chops.  I assume steak will also give XP.  I was alerted to these by hearing the sound, and then watched my XP meter as I took them out of the furnace to confirm.

I did notice that when smelting cobblestone into smooth stone you need to take at least six smooth stone out together to hear the ding of gaining XP; could be that it's only a fraction of a point per single block of smooth stone.  Nevertheless, I gained 11 levels last night from smelting cobblestone (it was a lot!)

[Mr. Analog]

There's a random chance for each block so for more blocks the greater the likelihood of "dings"

Same thing will happen mining coal, sometimes you'll mine a block and no ding.

[Lazybones]

Wait does that mean that lava is now possibly the most efficient source fuel?

[Mr. Analog]

Wait does that mean that lava is now possibly the most efficient source fuel?

It is!

I was able to smelt smooth stone like a boss on the Fraga server. When the map is shared I'll show you guys what I was able to build in about 15 hours!

[Thorin]

According to http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Experience#Behavior, coal gives 0-2xp per block mined, smelting always gives 1xp per block smelted.  It doesn't mention anything about smelting cobblestone providing xp, though.

Yes, lava is the most efficient fuel source if you're willing to babysit your furnace, because (as far as I know) while the lava can smelt 100 items, when the furnace hits 64 items you have to take out enough to make room for the remaining 36.  That is, I'm pretty sure a furnace can only hold 64 smelted items at a time.

Man, I have something like four double chests of smooth stone from last night, between using a Silk Touch / Unbreaking III enchanted pickaxe and smelting cobblestone.  I'm low on charcoal, though...