You know, @Gideonseymour DID ask if this was ok before doing it... There was some dissent, but not as much as right now. If you were going to get THIS upset, you should have done so earlier.
Had I seen that message at the time and the question about Java 1.8 in it—which I didn't—I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it or responded in any way. I'd never run Minecraft with Java 1.8 and had no inkling about all the problems it causes. I'm sure most readers of this thread, and all the players that don't read it, were similarly in the dark on this topic. But now I and others know that there are significant problems with 1.8—that can't be denied. If we're speaking up a little late, that's the reason. (Seems legit to me.)
Another problem with the update is that hosts—such as mine—are only running Java 1.7 and can't upgrade individual accounts. So I, and many others, would be suddenly in search of a new host for their server if the pack continues with Java 1.8 at this time. I'm not personally complaining here—I've switched hosts many times in the past for less reason. But when the decision is made, this needs to be taken into account. Not everyone that runs a server is going to find moving it an easy task. Not to mention those that are locked into a pre-paid plan with no recourse for a pro-rated refund.
FTB is a leader in Minecraft pack distribution with a very large user base of widely varying degrees of technical skill—probably not the right size of audience to turn into alpha testers.
I've played with Matter Overdrive before. I LOVED the phasers. But—and it's a big but—fun as it is, the pain of Java 1.8 (at this time) is worse. It's always a rough transition when a large body of work needs to convert all at once. There are so many individual mod developers and none of them are likely set up with a quality assurance department to test their code on different platforms and Java versions. It takes time and the concerted efforts of the community to track and report such things. I don't think there has been nearly enough time to even start tracking down Java 1.8 bugs in all those mods.
Matter Overdrive and homeless servers, versus a less buggy experience for all and no phasers... I'll turn in my sidearm and comm badge, thank you. (OR better yet: get the Matter Overdrive devs to check the installed Java version and adapt gracefully at runtime. When more mods are tested with Java 1.8, such politeness might no longer be necessary. But for now...)
