Okay so I host a small server for friends and myself to play on. We enjoy survival so thats where we build. Now over the past few months we have built giant structures from Pyrmids to ships to the eiffel tower and vast underground compounds (think Resident evil). We have a mod that wont let creepers break stuff they can still kill you but wont destroy our amazing structures.
Simple question we have decided we want to restart the server so we can experience strongholds villages and all the new fun stuff. Should we wait for 1.9? or is there a way to patch a server up to current patch (keep out buildings) and get all the new spawned stuff (non items)? If not we are okay with that just need to know opinion of wait till 1.9 or start now. We all are jonesin for it. So let me know please
If you want to keep stuff you've built, you've a few options, MCEdit is one for example. I'm not sure how that will work with regards to 1.9; copying stuff you've got already 1.7.3 (assuming you use that) to 1.9 - but I've heard of no reason so far that it won't work.
It's easy to use as well which is a bonus. Personally, I prefere starting fresh. But that's just me.
You could use MCEdit or Worldedit to save your progress but it's more practical to just wait till 1.9. Though the new features and biomes will still still generate in areas that you havent discovered yet.