Prohibit Nether Portals Above Ground

[jonathan]

Nether portals should be prohibited above ground, this means it should not be possible to activate a nether portal if any of its blocks are above a certain Y-level, this means that the top-most block of the portal must be below this Y-level limit.

Proposed Maximum Allowed Y-Level: 24

An exception should make it possible to have portals above this Y-level, the conditions involved should result in exceptional portals being uncommon or even rare so that most portals are deep below ground.

Two Suggestions to Discuss

1. Special Flint and Steel Jonathan Suggested - If a very special flint and steel is crafted, this can activate portals anywhere. Such a flint and steel should be quite rare and difficult to craft.
2. Special Obsidian Block Kevin Suggested - If a very special kind of obsidian block is crafted, this can be used to build portals that can be activated anywhere by normal flint and steel. Such obsidian blocks should be difficult to craft.

[jonathan]

I am going to argue on-behalf of Kevin's suggestion (and Kevin said he will argue on-behalf of mine) to find the best possible solution.

The obsidian block method makes sense because flint and steel can be reused multiple times whereas obsidian blocks are used as they are placed and many of them are required. Therefore it is easier to make a rare sort of obsidian than it is to make a rare sort of flint and steel.

This also has the added benefit of showing-off visibly that it is an exceptional portal built by some tenacious player.

[kevin]

The case for upgraded flint and steel:

Using a difficult to craft tool can make this a late game option. This would make the barrier to entry high, but once achieved easy to repeat and share with others. After all the point is to prove that the player has earned the right to place a nether portal wherever they want and that the ability to craft the tool does that effectively.

One idea for crafting the item could be putting slag and flint in a refractory furnace to coat the flint in a hardened crystallized substance. Then requiring it to be crafted with dark steal ingot. If it followed the same naming convention it would be called something like energized flint and Dark steel.

The tool could have other uses distinct uses as well. For example: It could be used to make a everlasting nether fire that can burn forever on surfaces other than nether rack. Some exceptions could apply. Like if it were placed on wood that would burn up and then it would go out. This could be nice touch for decorative reasons.

By making this a tool and not a custom blocks it means there is justification for leaving the old style portals that were placed a higher levels in place. So players don't feel like they are being nerfed, just because we made a change.

[kevin]

Alternatively, we could require both methods to be used for the portals. This would make this an exceptionally hard to get item.

[jonathan]

The y-level limit will be 24. This calculation takes the average of all the y-level positions of each would-be portal block in the portal, if this value is less than 24 then the portal is activated. This restriction does not apply to the nether dimension (portals can be built anywhere there).

[jonathan]

Introduced in 9.4.2-Orange