Hey there! Villagers are frustraiting, we all know this. But they're worth the frustraition because they are components in Iron farms and trading halls. This season however I've had more than the usual amount of frustraition around villagers because of the plugin that reduces their AI. My purpose in writing this is to argue that the plugin, as it currently exists, causes more problems than it fixes.

How the plugin looks to new players

I spent season 8 focusing on school, and was unaware of the changes to villagers upon my return at the beginning of season 9. I built a massive villager breeder, an iron farm, and two 40-villager trading halls, all of which were broken by the plugin. I couldn't figure out why nothing I was building was working. The builds worked in single player but not on wildercraft. Between building the farms, and actually figuring out that none of them would work, I probably lost about 50 hours. 

To someone that doesn't understand the villager plugin, it looks like minecraft doesnt work as intended on wildercraft.

The glitch that keeps on giving

So I had figured out the mechanics of the plugin. 1X1 cells limit villager AI. Movement is limited but not trading. Breeding is limited. Restocking is not limited. Each step along the way required research, that I 're-learn' some function of the game. Each step along the way, I would have to destroy and remake some part of my build to preserve villager AI. Just before writing this, I found out that one of the things limited is the ability for villagers to lower prices based on economy, which will require another full destroy and rebuild cycle. 

I don't even want to touch villagers any more. They’re too buggy and I can't predict how they’re going to work.

Avoiding the plugin

My solution to all of the villager plugin problems was to change any 1X1 cells to a 2X1 cells. I figured out where the plugin would kick in, and changed my builds to avoid it.

If I'm just trying to avoid the plugin entirely, then the plugin is not accomplishing its purpose

What even is the purpose?

I've heard colloquially that the purpose of the villager plugin is to reduce lag. But I think there must be more to it than that. Can you drop some knowledge on me? It might make me feel better about all this. Why limit the AI of villagers in 1X1 cells? why only villagers? why only in 1X1 cells?

Closing remarks

You gotta do what you gotta do to make the server work. Maybe villagers cause more lag than other entities, I don't really understand the in's and out's of it. But I do know that I've been very frustrated by villager functionality that didn't match expected behavior. I hope that by sharing my perspective I have communicated that the villager plugin makes villagers confusing or unpredictable, and that confusion causes frustration. I hope you consider making some changes to villagers so that they work more like they do in vanilla. 

Thanks for your time and attention

-- WanderingTrader ☺

P.S. I consider limiting villager cures to 1 a separate issue related to economics. That makes perfect sense, and is justifiable to me

One hundred percent. I spent a couple weeks on and off building an iron farm similar to the one used by Mumbo Jumbo in his Hermitcraft villager district. After I finished, the zombie was named, and the collection system put in place, I stand in the center for a few minutes only to realize the golems were spawning very sporadically and in very few numbers. I asked around in gchat and found out about this bug, or feature, or whatever. I find it disturbing that I only found out about the plugin after I finished the farm. I feel like either this plugin should be removed or a timed message, sort of like the end or season update messages, should be sent in chat warning players of the 1x1 bug.

This is laid out very well.  I think the hardest part of server plugins that modify vanilla limits is the lack of information around them.  I think most players who will encounter these issues are using mobs for more advanced builds, like farms, trading halls, etc, and are therefore putting time in researching and calculating specific needs to make their builds most efficient.  Some documentation around these behaviours would be very helpful.

I think the problem with removing the plugin is that villagers are the biggest cause of lag. Over half of lag is caused by villagers. The server would suffer a lot more if every villager had full AI. By sacrificing the AI in trading halls, where villagers can still be used for restocking, we reduce lag massively. And if you need a few villagers with their minds intact, then have them in a 1x2 where the plugin won't affect them. I agree that a different cue for "this villager can be brainless" would be easier on builds, but then no one would use it and lag wouldn't be reduced. Which is why players aren't warned about the 1x1, I'm sure.

The lobotomiser plugin has now been removed. Please let us know if you continue to encounter any issues.