There recently seems to be a lot of speculation about the impact Nut Crackers (the completely unbreakable efficiency 7 picks introduced by the christmas event) have/are apparently having on the economy. Personally, I find that the immense amount of time players put in to acquiring said picks cements their value and that removing them/removing their unbreakability in a drastic way would cause an uproar among players like myself who spent anywhere from 10-20 hours grinding or spent around a million meebles to acquire them. Bottom line is, they are very likely to be nerfed, so before it's too late I'd like to discuss some of the best ways for them to be modified.
Here are some ideas I have heard/come up with so far:
1. Change Efficiency 7 to Efficiency 5
Right now, having a Nut Cracker is like having infinite Haste II wherever you go. If Nut Crackers kept their unbreakable status and their fortune 3 but had less efficiency they would still be well worth the effort to get them.
2. Add a cap to the unbreakable status
This has to be my least favorite suggestion, but seems to be the one most likely to be implemented. Basically, the item would lose its unbreakable status after mining a certain amount of blocks. This idea is practically the same as removing the unbreakable status, but would be a way to keep people from being as angry about it. Kinda just a sneaky way of doing it, all around not the best option in my opinion.
3. Remove fortune 3
One of the other advantages of the pick is fortune 3, which practically allows you to strip mine for diamonds, emeralds, etc without ever having to stop to switch pickaxes. This is probably the softest nerf, but would still be a nerf that would dampen the effect of the pickaxe.
4. Remove unbreakable status altogether
Pretty straight forward, the pickaxes would pretty much go back to Unbreaking 5 or 10 or similar. This would be the least compromising option and would pretty much render them unsignificant (and make a lot of hard working players angry).
5. No nerf
This seems to be the least likely to be accepted, but it has some weight behind it. Players are already losing pickaxes to various deaths (usually involving lava). Picking this suggestion basically puts faith in the fact that Nut Crackers are a lose-able item and they will slowly eliminate themselves from the supply. I think this is definitely probable and reasonable.
Obviously I am in most favor of options 1, 3, and 5, but I would like to hear input on which one you guys favor (or if you have other options in mind). This is not because I own a Nutcracker, but because I recognize that not only did people work hard to obtain them, but it is not in good management for something to be introduced and almost immediately revoked. I am not sure if intensive balancing work was put in beforehand, but if the necessary amount had been done, I doubt staff would be considering this now.
In the end I hope staff recognizes what players went through to obtain these pickaxes and that changes to them should be well dwelled on and should take input from the community.
