Hey,
Well.. Seems quite a few people have found Zurgs post a little difficult to completely understand.. So, I've translated it to easy-to-understand terms, =P.
'Decoded' Sections will be in red
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On some day between December 9th, 2012 and December 17th, there will be a map expansion. A new continent to the south of the main continent will be created using a 1.4 seed. 3 new strongholds will also be added to the map as well, but they won't be findable with eyes of ender. (Unless I fix that.)
Sometime between December 9-17, Zerg will expand the map to include a 'New-Map', basically. It will not affect the current Map, and you'll be able to move freely between each after the 'Happy Hour' period is over. For those of you whom remember; This is basically what happened with the 1.7 | 1.8 Worlds
For 1-3 weeks after the continent is made, this will be known as "happy time.". This is to appease those long time players who really want a map reset, items and all.
After the Continent is finished, it will be considered 'Happy Hour', continuing on for 1-3Weeks after it is finished
During "Happy Time", the following will happen to players who use the "ferry":
A one-way "ferry" will allow you to move to the new continent.
You may take up to 3 diamonds worth of materials in your inventory.
You may not have ender pearls, blaze rods, or obsidian in your inventory.
You may not have diamond, iron, ender pearls, emeralds, tnt, or gold (tools included), in your ender chest
/recover will not work in the new continent.
I assume the 'Ferry' will most likely be a Warp / Warp-Sign. You're only allowed to carry 3Diamonds worth of items in your Inventory, ie: 1Diamond Pick or 1Diamond Sword and a Diamond Shovel and so on (I am not sure if you're allowed to take items up to the worth of 3Diamonds, such as 1 and a Half stacks of Iron) You're also not allowed to have Enderpearls, Blaze Rods or Obsidian in your Inventory, along with Diamond, Iron, Enderpearls, Emeralds, TNT, Gold (This includes Tools) in your Enderchest. /recover will be disabled in the new Continent
Nether portals will take you to the main map nether, but 50,000 blocks in some direction, and it won't be permanent (just like the mine world)
End portals will be disabled on the new continent.
/spawn, /rules, /home and will take you to your current continent.
Mods will use the honor system to not transport items between both continents.
/mine will take you to a different /mine than old continent people.
/mine's nether will be 50,000 blocks in some direction
/mine's end world will be disabled.
NetherPortals will transport you to the current Main Map Nether, but 50,000Blocks in a random direction (Don't be fooled, it's not a New Nether). It won't be permanent. EndPortals will also be disabled
When you use the "ferry":
You will be mailed the coordinates of your current /home
Your current /home will then be reset to a random spot.
Your /setjob will be reset.
You will be ferried over to the new continent.
You will be flagged. So you'll never be able to come back to the old continent. For 3 weeks.
You will be sent the current Coord's to the location where your current /sethome is - So I'd suggest moving your /sethome to your full-time House, or Storage location. After you're sent them, your /home will be reset to a Random spot, along with having your /setjob completely Reset. After these have been done (I assume it'll only take a second or so for these to be processed, may be wrong) you will be moved to the New Continent, and will never be able to return for 3Weeks - So, think twice before moving during Happy Hour
If you don't use the "ferry" during happy time:
You are not affected at all.
This means your items will continue to exist in the spot you put them.
Towns too.
You will not be able to interact with the settlers.
Self-explanatory, You're not affected but will not be able to talk to those already on the New Continent
After "Happy Time" is over:
You may switch between old and new continents freely
No restrictions on item transfers. You may take anything with you
You can transfer all of your old continent chests in one trip with a command, and dump them with /recover
Nether portals will take you to the main map nether at the normal location.
End portals will work
/wp spawn will take you to the old spawn
You will be able to freely travel between the New, and Old continent (By 'Old', I mean the current map). You're permitted to take any, and all items with you to the new Continent, or simply transfer all of your items in the current Continent with a command, and dump them with /recover. NetherPortals will take you to the normal location on the main-map Nether. EndPortals will also work. /wp spawn will take you to the current Spawn, with it being considered 'Old' due to the release of a New Continent
If I got anything wrong, =P Mods/Zurg are more then welcome to edit it.