Waychest Flight
Waychest Flight is a custom minigame used to discover Waychests in the world. In a Waychest Flight, players are equipped with a temporary Elytra and a regenerating set of firework rockets. Each player must pass through floating rings which reward XP and ultimately lead towards an undiscovered Waychest.
A pair of Waychest Wings can be consumed anywhere above ground to start one Waychest Flight towards the nearest discoverable Waychest. Any number of players may join the flight started by a single pair of wings.
Pre-Flight
While standing with clear line-of-sight to the sky, a player holding Waychest Wings in their hand can right-click to open a “pre-flight” menu. This player will become the “host” of the flight.
While the pre-flight menu is open, a set of gray rings will appear around the host. Any other players who enter these rings will be included in the flight. All included players will fly to the same Waychest destination when the flight starts.
The host’s Waychest Wings are not consumed until the host clicks “Start” from the pre-flight menu.
Difficulty
Each player may choose a difficulty for their flight by clicking one of the circles at the top of the pre-flight menu. Each player picks their own difficulty, but everyone will fly to the same destination.
Difficulty affects the number of firework rockets given, size of the rings, and other traits of the flight. Hover over a difficulty option in the pre-flight menu for a complete list of modifiers. Difficulty also affects the amount of XP earned on the flight — the harder the flight, the more XP each ring will give.
Distance and Shortcuts
The pre-flight menu shows the approximate distance between the host and the destination that a flight would lead to.
Sometimes a shortcut is available, displayed under the distance in the pre-flight menu. When this appears, it indicates that a warp you previously unlocked is significantly closer to the destination than your current position. For a shorter flight, cancel the flight by clicking “Done” below the book, then warp to the shortcut and start the flight there. However, a shorter flight earns less XP than a longer one.
Starting a Flight
When the host clicks “Start” (not the “Done” button below the book), the gray rings surrounding the host will start a visual and audible countdown from 3. At the end of the countdown, everyone in the flight will be launched into the air. Each player is equipped with a temporary Elytra in their chestplate slot and a number of firework rockets based on the difficulty they selected.
Borrowed Elytra and firework rockets cannot be dropped, and will be revoked at the end of the flight. If you were wearing a chestplate, the chestplate will also be returned at the end of the flight.
If no members of the flight complete any rings, the Waychest Wings are returned.
Rings
After the flight begins, a series of procedurally-generated orange rings will appear in the sky, one at a time. The goal is to pass through each ring before time runs out. When passed through, each ring provides a small speed boost, resets the timer, replenishes firework rockets, and generates a new ring. It also rewards XP on a “Perfect Pass”.
When flying with friends, each player has their own set of rings to pass through. “Your” rings are indicated by vertical beams above and below the ring; rings belonging to other players do not have beams and appear faded. Flying through other players’ rings has no effect.
The first ring has a time limit of 30 seconds. Each ring after the first has a time limit of 20 seconds, indicated by a bar at the top of the screen. If time runs out for a ring, the flight ends in a failure.
Perfect Pass
Passing through a ring on the first attempt results in a Perfect Pass through the ring, signaled by a “ding” sound. Moving behind the ring without passing through it counts as a miss. After missing a ring, it is no longer possible to achieve a perfect pass through that ring, but the ring must still be cleared to continue on the flight.
Only a Perfect Pass through a ring rewards XP. On some higher difficulties, only a Perfect Pass replenishes firework rockets.
Failed Flight
A flight is failed by either dying or running out of time for the current ring.
When a flight is failed, the player is warped back to where they started the flight. This does not affect any other players on the same flight; as long as one player completes the flight, they can unlock the Waychest at the end of the flight as a warp point for everyone else on the same Journey.
Failing a flight also revokes half of the XP earned from rings on that flight.
It is impossible to die during a flight. Anyone who runs out of health is immediately warped back to the start and healed, and no items are lost. Totems of Undying do still prevent “death” and allow the flight to continue, but they do not prevent failure due to running out of time.
Ending a Flight Early
Sometimes, interesting structures or terrain happen to lie in a flight path, but disregarding the next ring would result in being warped back to the start when time runs out. When this happens, it is possible to cancel a flight and stay put, but only when the player opts in to doing so.
To end a flight immediately and remain in place, simply click the Elytra in the inventory’s chestplate slot. This immediately removes the Elytra, destroys the active ring, and applies a slow falling effect that wears off after touching the ground. Unlike failing a flight, XP is not revoked for ending a flight early.
Ending a flight early does not return the Waychest Wings used to start the flight.
Flight Completion
An undiscovered Waychest sits at the end of every flight. A flight is successful after passing through the last ring in the sequence. This is indicated by the timer bar turning green with an accompanying message.
After passing through the last ring, a “finish line” beam appears on top of the Waychest to indicate its location. Moving close to this beam or allowing the green timer to run out dismisses the beam and fully ends the flight.
All temporary items from the flight (Elytra and firework rockets) are revoked at the end of the flight. If the flight ends while still in midair, a temporary slow falling effect is applied to reduce the incidence of death. This effect wears off upon touching the ground.
Free Flight
While wearing a “real” Elytra obtained from an End city (i.e. not a pair of Waychest Wings), the option to start a “free flight” is available in all standard warp menus.
Free flights provide replenishing firework rockets, but they do not give a temporary Elytra. This means that the “real” Elytra can become damaged and run out of durability mid-flight if it is not enchanted with Mending.
Rings in free flights give reduced XP, as they can be played indefinitely with no resource requirement other than Elytra durability. Free flights also always lead to a known location, so Waychest Wings are still useful even after obtaining an Elytra.
Like standard flights, free flights can be ended early by clicking the Elytra in the chestplate slot. This is especially useful for free flights since no Waychest Wings are lost to end the flight early.
