The 2b2t Blog

The following Guest Post is a listing of many if not most of groups that have played on 2b2t over the years. Some groups are unknown or secretive and so have not been included.

The Brotherhood of Diamond

Year: 2011-2012
Base: Many small outposts, being the last one called Tugboat
Status: Disbanded
Numbers: Unknown

The brotherhood is without doubt one of the oldest groups of 2b2t. It was described in Judge Holden’s comic and it also had known activities around spawn, recruiting members there and providing them with diamonds. The Brotherhood however suffered several base sabotages, making the group disband over time. There is little information about them since all the members left years ago. Their last known stand is a place called Tugboat base which was recently repaired in 2014 by other players. The place has several underground rooms and farms. Also a lot of strip-mining deep underground.

The Judge’s Group

Year: 2011-2012
Base: Oldtown/Shitpit City/Ravenholm/1mil Town/Jungle Platform City/Oldcity and many more.
Status: Disbanded
Numbers: ~15

One of the most known groups of 2b2t. Also the pioneers of group bases. The Judge Group started when offtopia and THEJudgeHolden started to save newfags from spawn and leading them to their new base called Oldtown. Then Oldtown was attacked and a desperate race started to get as far as possible from spawn and escape the hackers and griefers back in chaos that was 2b2t in 2012. They were one of the very first large groups to make it to 1mil and build a foothold there. Their epic saga is told in the 2b2t comics made by Judge Holden.

Facepunch Republics

Year: 2011-2012 (with some ripples in 2013)
Base: Several bases, camps and outposts. Hitlerwood and Fort Avril were the last.
Status: Disbanded
Numbers: Unknown (Too many bases and also too spread to know)

They don’t need presentation. Facepunch came to 2b2t to play and create cities where their forum members could build and bring a bit of order among the tides of anarchy. Their initiate failed horribly as their actions were seen as an insult to the whole server, beginning a hunt for facepunchers on the server. Their forum was still essential to 2b2t to server as a media and a memory book of the server.

Imperator’s group

Year: 2012-????

Base: Viking Base (aka Imp Base)

Status: Unknown.

Numbers: ~10

Might not be the biggest group, but certainly the one with most impressive art work of 2b2t history. Imp Base group was composed partly of Imperator’s friends and Judge’s friends. With time, other people joined the group (also thanks to several dupe glitches that allowed them to have great resources to build). Their base commonly known as “Imps” is still the largest and most beautiful base of 2b2t. It was griefed on 25th December of 2015, but the group already only had a couple people still playing.

Valkyria Legacy

Year: 2013-2015

Base: Valkyria/Rhadamantis/Asgard I/Valhalla/Nova/Fenrir/Asgard II

Status: Disbanded

Numbers: ~70

They had many names. Valk group, Valkyrians, Asgardians, Incursion group. In the end, they are all the same thing. The Legacy of Valkyria stands out as the biggest and most powerful group that 2b2t had to this date. They are marked by having intimidating numbers and fully armed for pvp members as well as great builders/redstoners in their side. They dominated spawn for months in two occasions and built several of the biggest and most populated bases of the server. If you find an obsidian eagle somewhere, that means they were there. Valkyria group was basically a merging of small groups such as The Black Flag Group, Hitlerwood Basegroup, Legion of Shenandoah and Gape Basegroup.

Legion of Shenandoah

Year: 2013-????

Base: Mjolnir/Sleepy Hollow/Shenandoah/Asgard II

Status: Inactive

Numbers ~6

Formed after the chaos left by the second incursion, some of its core members served in the event. They would later meet with other players to form the Legion of Shenandoah. They built bases and acted inspired by the Valkyrians. Their admiration later led to a union between what was left of Fenrir/Nova and their group, making Asgard II happen. The two groups however didn’t totally merge. The Legion agreed to help the “eagle” and follow it to the Third Incursion but still keeping their independence. Their symbol is a Dragon with open wings, similar to the eagle and their banner is a single diagonal string of green separating red and blue sides.

Team Sun

Year: 2014

Base: Unknown

Status: Disbanded

Numbers: ~7

Fairly unknown by most, the Team Sun started in another server when ibiq and his coworkers started a server with the purpose to bully minecraft kids. From his server, he recruited some players to Team Sun such as balonypony, coconut4, Vishburn and Jazukai - who later betrayed ibiq and stole his team as theirs. After the server closed down, they became regulars on 2b2t who then built, killed and shitposted in chat.

Team Uberslugcake

Year: 2015-2016

Base: Spawn bases (Uber Bases)

Status: Active

Numbers: Unknown

Despite the annoying moto “DEDICATION MOTIVATION ACCELERATION”, Team Uberslugcake has been in action for over a year, claiming that it is putting spawn in good shape and inviting new players to join them. They offer food in exchange for helping them with “repairing spawn”. Some sources says they have several followers. But no numbers are confirmed.

Vortex Coalition

Year: 2015-2016

Base: Unknown

Status: Active

Numbers: Unknown (Coltsnid and AmericanOreo are the only known members. Yes, that’s right)

Commonly known as being a try-hard pseudo-group. Usually groups on 2b2t gain reputation by building things and achieving great acts and bases. VoCo, however, started by advertising themselves first before actually doing something useful. They annoyingly spammed messages on chat about their own group, messages composed of things they never done. It’s actually hard to know if they can be considered a group at all of just a band of two retards. Either way, their mention is necessary to clarify the public. They are widely hated by the oldfags of 2b2t and are trying to use the Rushers invasion to gain reputation and prestige by fighting the invaders… That until they declared themselves neutral.

Teamveteran

Year: 2016

Base: None

Status: Active

Numbers: Unknown

Teamvet doesn’t really match the description of a group, since it has no official member numbers, no base and barely any communication between them. Teamveteran, started by Fit, is a community initiative rather than a group. It’s a movement of players dedicated to end the Rusher invasion and sabotage their attempts to stay on 2b2t as a whole. Their members are taught to act on their own and expect no orders or help. It’s a groups of lone-wolf newcomers that form a network of information and assistance to the playerbase of 2b2t to make the Rushers life a living hell, therefore representing paramount importance to the war/hunt effort. As far as we know, their numbers can surpass the hundreds.

A powershift is when the control of something changes hand. 2b2t, like the real world, had events such as these. They were defining moments for the server. Moments that brought violence and order. Or chaos and more violence. These events come in many forms. It can be the arrival of an outsider group, a dupe, or even a exploit of other kind.

So far, we had two of these events that I can identify:

The Republic Arrives

The joining of Facepunch on 2b2t was one of the most important moments on the server. Among the reasons for that, were their attempt to establish order on the server. Maybe not order to all, but order among them. They tried to organize their bases in jobs. Each person would receive a duty and they were provided a set of rules to obey.

Here are Chezhead's words:

There is no one base, but a separate group of republics. The Peoples' Republic of Facepunch is led by each of these bases' leaders They all have their different rules and regulations associated with them. Ask each leader for the coords to their respective base.

And these were the rules:

Rules for all people in the Federation of Facepunch:

No non-facepunch personal shall be in any Facepunch approved hideouts, unless approved by Chezhead.
Never kill or harm a Facepunch user. Facepunch users are designated by being on the list.
Any room or chest with a clear identification of a Facepunch username's name above it should not be taken from unless given permission by that person. Looking inside the chest is fine, however.
Each fort is owned by a certain person under Chezhead. If you have an issue or need specific coordinates, ask the current leader. Forts and leaders are in the op. If you have an issue inside the base, contact the fort leader before Chezhead. These leaders of the forts have the right to refuse entry to specific people, but Chezhead will make the final decision on most issues in fortresses.
Betrayal is not permitted whatsoever, and includes giving coordinates to anyone non-facepunch, breaking any of these rules, or generally making the life in this server a worse player for Facepunch players.

These will be enforced by death and or exile.

Sounds simple, right? Many group bases actually used these principles in the future. Most of these are the basic rules for a good partnership between players. Don’t kill. Don’t steal, don’t fuck up. “The three don’ts”.

But even this simple concept of group was enough to anger the player base of 2b2t back in 2011. Thus began the hunt for Facepunchers and the fall of their failed republic.

“We created a jobs system. We made a society. We created an entire bustling community within that castle. There was a treasure room, a meeting hall, a tower, a guard post, and a set of rules and jobs. Justin14253 helped out and was a knight in shining armor, with his diamond tools and such. Disaster struck. After we had amassed over 20 members or so, someone named "Mweorz" flew around with flyhacks and TNT and blew the entire thing to shreds. What happened then was "Greyskull's Stand", which was not a war. I myself only got a few hits on his diamond armor with my iron sword, and he flew too fast to help anything. My dog which I had from when I started the server was killed in a blast.” – Chezhead.

The Battle of Greyskull's Stand was only the beginning. What came after was a long struggle of 10 months until they officially gave up on the idea of the Republic.

Fort Facepunch, the first base

But was this a powershift event? Yes. Not for the facepunchers, but for the 2011 playerbase. They never had a challenge before beside killing and destroying each other. The facepunch players were the perfect punching bag (which is funny because of their name).

This was the first time (but not the last) that the 2b2t playerbase crushed an outsider group to the point of putting them on their knees, therefore establishing control over the server (in their own wicked and chaotic way). This wasn’t a conflict between players, but a confrontation of ideals. Anarchy vs Order.

But even defeated, their set of rules and their dedication to build something greater than just with blocks, would survive.

1.4.7 Dupe – The Rise of Valkyria

Unlike the Facepunch Stalemate, this event was between the playerbase. The dupe of 1.4.7 made something possible, something that the facepunchers dreamed of: The birth of a lasting community.

The temp map was the one that actually made possible the alliance between hitlerwood (home of the last facepunchers) and Anatolia (home of 3 unknown players of 2b2t). But only the temp map was not enough. What was stopping Valkyria end up like facepunch? Being crushed like insects by the playerbase?

The early dupe machine, using minecart with hoppers. It would later user cart with chests

Location: Valkyria

That was the dupe. The duplication exploit allowed the members of Valkyria to arms themselves. Suddenly, in a matter of a week, the Valkyrians were a force to be acknowledged in the server. If the temp map gave birth to Valkyria, the dupe enforced its will on the server. This new group, with enough resources to do ten spawn incursions and build great cities, gained respect through the only language the 2b2ters knew at the time: brute, shameless acts of violence, but tempered by building and teamwork. During the second spawn incursion, Valkyria proved to be an organized (regarding team effort) and powerful war machine. And the more people joined, the stronger they got. This made the old playerbase of 2011/2012 to be both scared, angered and awed. They saw their rule and prestige threatened by these bunch of newfags in this new big base, but they couldn’t just hunt and attack, because they had more numbers and equipment as good as theirs. The old playerbase was also weakened by the the fact that many of the old players left.

Valkyria created a powershift that then created a legacy of bases and players that last to this very day (A bit less active than before, but still here). The Incursion (at least two of them) proved the dominion exercised by this new playerbase. A playerbase that believed in group effort and community. A playerbase dedicated to build and achieve great deeds. This playerbase still inspires new players that arrive every day. The Facepunchers would only see their dream come true 2 years after their fall, by merging the facepunch ideals with the 2b2t tradition of hacked-clients, glitch-seeking and spawn-killing.

Conclusion

This doesn’t mean Anarchy in gone. The secret for the success of the Valkyria legacy is that it never tried to change anarchy. It never forced the players inside to do jobs or obey orders. Instead of bending anarchy, the new playerbase use it in their favor, by representing a light in a sea of darkness. A safe haven during violent storm. Order cannot exist without Chaos and the same happens backwards. Chaos will give birth to Order always to fill the void left by fear and decay. We understood that. In 2013, the server was saturated by two years of violent and non-stopping chaos.

Now its only a matter of time for a new powershift to happen. It may come in forms we don’t know. And it may improve or destroy everything that the playerbase of 2b2t built.

pYrO1v1aniac here, James requested I write something up as one of the oldest active players on the server. I'm not sure exactly the date I first joined (most of this is from memory, and so details could well be wrong), but the server was only about 2 weeks old. So young, so full of hope, so full of shitposts. Back then it seemed like every week, there were amazing stories of people building incredible structures in Minecraft. Pretty sure we didn't have redstone at the time, so not as many of the complex mechanisms we'd be more familiar with nowadays, but there was still a lot of hype about the game. YouTube "let's play" videos and stuff caught the attention of a much younger audience than the game had initially attracted. The resulting explosion of player growth was being matched by the emergence of tons of survival multiplayer servers, most of which were absolute shit. They were run by kids, who moderated like fascist dictators on crack, or by adults who simply installed every single plugin, and sucked all the chaotic fun out of the game. When SMP first came out, I was pretty excited about it. I set up maps with buddies for a few hours at a time, at LAN parties and whatever, but despite my disappointment with most Minecraft servers, I didn't have the patience or time to set up anything more permanent. So now and then, I'd dip into a server that'd claim to be different, and even chaos anarchy servers seemed to have plugins that altered gameplay, or mods who'd gift unbelievable items to their pals, and the maps were all size limited. All I wanted was to play minecraft as it was meant to be, a world shaped freely by all the players in it, a manifestation of will and commitment, be that for good or evil.

One day, while browsing /b/, I came across a thread advertising a Minecraft server that claimed to be vanilla, survival, chaos, anarchy. "I've heard that before", I thought. But given I still wanted to find that experience, I gave it a shot. The first impression of 2b2t is a well told tale by now, and it's funny how even in those early days, 2b2t's spawn was already impressive. I knew I'd found my new home. The landscape in the immediate spawn area was already largely treeless, likely having been consumed for resources, or burned in the incredible forest fires that could happen (on purpose or by accident) in early minecraft versions. There were already huge craters and pits, as well as a large number of 1x1 stacks to the sky limit (lower back then I think). There was also still quite a lot of grass, dirt, original terrain around the spawn area (heavily pockmarked by TNT). Many of the features we're familiar with today were there too (but much less elaborate), the lavacasts didn't yet enclose the entire spawn area, but they were around. Also, there were various crude swastika's made from netherrack. It was also already well established what the community culture was, the chat was full of the most offensive things people could come up with, aimlessly spamming NIGGER, or DESU. It was very much a product of where it was advertised, looking like any typical chat room when /b/ was raiding. I think some of the well known players were already around, x0XP, popbob and the original chrisleighton (or they joined soon afterward). Spawn was a busier place back then too, lots of hunters with enchanted gear, and tons of newfags trying helplessly to escape.

After a couple of hours I escaped, and in the immediate periphery of spawn, cobbled together basic survival resources (no hunger back then luckily) from the ruins of the bases within 1K. It was already the most interesting minecraft experience I'd had, with interesting ruins around in every direction. Eventually, I traveled out to around 2.5K and decided to settle, knowing (hoping) to see my efforts destroyed, and curious what would happen. I built a small, but aesthetically quite nice house out of smoothstone and wood, with a garden, fenced up, and built up a nice cache of resources and gear (the best of which I kept on me at all times of course). I called this place Farpoint, a pun on it's nearness to spawn, intending to provide a safe haven for a few newfags, maybe make some friends, etc. A few passed through, and were grateful for the help. I enjoyed operating my little waystation, and the little thrill before logging in to see whether it had been griefed yet. Surprisingly, it went more than a week before anybody touched it at all. 9 days in, somebody emptied out the chests and took the wheat, but the place was still intact and quickly recovered. Finally after 2 weeks, the place was TNT'd and fully razed. I shrugged, accepting the inevitable had finally happened, and messaged some folks who I'd helped out at the start, passie05 had a little group going, and we decided to base together. Just outside of 1K, there was a decent body of water (no actual biomes back then I think), and we excavated a huge cavern underground, with several side-caverns, and a large mob grinder. The only way in or out was a 1x1 shaft connected to the ocean floor. This ant's-nest base lasted more than 2 months before it was xrayed and destroyed. Several stacks of duped diamond blocks were lost, but I managed to carry 3 I had on me, and went back to wandering.

The spawn environs were a lot more desolate by now, pretty much no trees within 1K, and many more ruins scattered around. I decided to strike out for terra nova, as a few map generation updates had occurred in the meantime (redstone I think). I went out + - and decided at around 20K that I was reasonably far enough out to justify settling, and still had the fun of other players passing by occasionally, and the giddy risk of being discovered. Farpoint Mk2 was born, larger, more elaborate, more developed than before. This time, a castle design (the other was more like a villa). I settled happily here for some months, never troubled by other players, occasionally hopping away to join parties, but always returning. Eventually, in my wanderings, I discovered a settlement within 700 blocks of my home, a fairly elaborate, but obviously new construction. 3 unfamiliar players were working on it, clearly alarmed by my appearance (fully geared as I was). I offered peace, but they didn't respond, instead giving chase. They were only on the periphery of my vision when I spotted them, so after some frantic running, I managed to lose them. I had the foresight to not run towards my home base, instead heading for a Nether portal I'd found within 1k, and using that to return home. I figured my base would be found soon, as these guys would hunt it out. I secured up my valuable items, transplanted some to safer storage 2K away, and played on. Within 3 days, I logged in and found my place had been surrounded by a full lavacast wall, with the contents and construction left perfectly intact. I decided to abandon it as it was, dug my way out, and cast out for someone friendly to base with.

Branillon responded, excited that he'd found an amazing spot to base up with loads of spawners, around 133K. I hopped up to the nether roof, and traveled out to join him. By now, the biomes update had landed, and committed 2b2ters made use of a glitch in one of the point versions that generated only ocean outside of 30K. They created a huge ocean, more or less turning spawn into an island, a hole in a great donut of water. This divide marks the gap between the "old" non-biome generated terrain, and the "new" biome terrain. My trek out to Bran's spot was my first foray into the new terrain, and I was looking forward to checking out some jungles, mooshroom islands, deserts, etc. Bran, myself and one or two others (can't recall names), began to develop a base there, beside a jungle biome and near a desert. After a few months, the problems with this particular spot became apparent. Maybe it was the sheer number of spawners, but I observed a pattern, that whenever one of us was at the base, the server TPS would plummet, even when all the mobs had been cleared. Obviously, something was just plain wrong here. With heavy hearts, and for the good of the server, we abandoned (though I still have the coords somewhere I think).

At this point, I went through a period of being less active, logging on every few months or so. The server had settled into a period there being less people around, just a few regulars, the chat became more civilised, and people began forming closer bonds and groupings. I was happy enough to be apart from all this, and just observe and occasionally venture out. I found a nice spot in -- around 150K, and based up, this time, deciding to go all out, and use more advanced building techniques, fully wired redstone lighting, larger size, connecting to a spawner cluster via powered railroad link. Farpoint MK3 was built over a period of a year or more, and fully fortified against the deluges of mobs we used to get back then (I miss that, there are hardly any mobs around these days!). Easily the base I've spent the most time in, this one is still intact and untouched. I'd built up enough stock of decent items that I'd occasionally take trips out, even as far as 2M once (when nether roof travel was viable and before hunger) and /kill ing back home again after depositing in a nether chest.

Eventually, I decided I'd done all I could do in that base, and abandoned it, to go out and build something grander elsewhere. I traveled about 40K away, still in the same quadrant, and established my current base (still a work in progress). Farpoint MK4 is a huge project, vast in scale, with elegant curves in the design, and stained glass, lava, and water features decorating it. For now, it remains under construction. I still live in hope someone will show up and destroy it in a creative way, but I feel like our most committed griefing days are behind us. Most of the original folks who gave the place it's reputation are long gone, and those still around have settled into little enclaves and communities. Seems like none of the newfags have the talent or vigor for the job either, which is disappointing, but at the same time, shows the development of the server from an entity of pure chaos, into something resembling a real, evolved community, with it's own organically emergent personality, softened a little by age. Over the years, I've met, based with, chatted with, and spawnfagged with many players, seen many go from being edgy teenagers or drug addicted wasters to functional adults with careers and families. 2b2t has been there for nearly 5 years now, and for me, it's still one of the most interesting places on the internet, filled with secrets, and a long history of triumphs and betrayals. The sheer scale of the map means it would take a lifetime to fully explore, and yet, almost no matter how far out you travel, if you explore, you'll find signs of life, long abandoned bases, holes people have sought refuge in for a dangerous night, all out there waiting to be discovered.

Farpoint 3 base - http://imgur.com/a/iQFEw

Farpoint 4 base (WIP) - http://imgur.com/a/9s63I