I know how 'ya feel. I've lost quite a few things while exploring in the Nether...

Yeah, that's a common side-effect. =P It's just hilarious how annoying of a death that was; because I would've been fine, if I had've backstepped, instead of sprinting off the cliff. xD And then I was just massively confused when it showed land surrounding me as I swam in lava. 0_o

/EDIT: Though, in retrospect, I should've used that water. Doubt it would've helped, though, since I had no way to use it on more than one block of lava, due to, you know, empty air. =P

I don't think water in the Nether lasts long enough for you to even extinguish yourself, actually. If you can, get to a fortress and obtain two blaze rods and a netherwart, then make Fire Resistance potions.

~Unit#phntk#1

Yeah, the water wouldn't have helped, it just evaporates so fast that you can't even use it.

Ah. Did not know that. xD Haven't really had too much exposure to the Nether before this. >_>''

I was trying to find a fortress, but, well, I didn't seem to find it. I'll have to look again eventually. I might worry more about trying to get enchantment stuff going, since I do have 19 diamonds.

Yeah, get an enchanting table before you head into the nether. It really helps.

Now that you mention that, though, since I'll need books; I have yet to see a single village; even though I see tons of Zombie Villagers. 0_o The only village I've even seen naturally, is one I spawned in during a test of a superflat world.(And speaking of super flat worlds, I've got an infestation of slimes on my ground layer, apparently. =P)

Yeah, z-villagers spawn naturally... As for books, cow farms and sugarcane farms are great.

Slimes? In superflat? I wonder how that happened...

Ah, I see. And okay, though I'm guessing because of that, that books take leather? I haven't had a need or chance to make books in my last few worlds or online, so yeah. Though... How do you make a sugarcane farm? Just place sand down in a normal farm pattern, and place the sugarcane on top?

No, no, not superflat; my normal world. xD Hence why I was rather surprised. Since they're even on the surface, which I've never had happen on a non-superflat world. =P

Yes, books take one leather and three paper placed anywhere on the crafting menu. Sugarcane farms usually look something like this:

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

With the S standing for Sugarcane(placed on either sand or dirt, there is no difference in current versions I believe) and W standing for water. There are more complex ways that do not require you to break the plant, but the above mentioned method works until you feel like building a more complex farm.(See the Tutorials/Sugar cane Farming page on the Minecraft Wiki for more complex farms.)

Ahh... That would probably be due to the fact that Slimes can now spawn in swamps, which is a pretty change.

So, basically a row of sugarcane, and a row of water, then? Sounds like it'd work. I'll give it a shot when I overhaul my base. =P Can it work underground like normal farms?

Yeah. If you want to say it the boring way, then I guess that works.

I would assume so, as long as there is enough light.

Haha. =P I've seen some other interesting ideas, since the water block has to be directly beside the sugarcane. It could work well, but I'll more or less need to totally revamp my base soon; I'm having trouble as it is trying to find room for my enchantment room, though luckily I found an unused section of my base. That it's all underground doesn't help much. =P

I really need to try and find a spot with Extreme Hills, so I can make my base into the side of a cliff. I'm willing to fight off a Silverfish infestation to do so. =P

Ahh, such is the constraints of having an underground base.

I wouldn't worry about a silverfish infestation if I were you, as I've had an underground base or two in an extreme hills biome, and I've yet to see a silverfish spawning block.

Yep. =P I have a couple overground buildings, but they aren't that big. I blame lack of Cobble. =P

Ah, I see. I guess I'd need to FIND an extreme hills biome first, too. =P

Speaking of biomes, apparently the neighbouring biome to me is actually a swamp, which explains the slimes appearing en masse. =P

Yeah, if you make a mineshaft that goes straight to bedrock it usually provides quite a bit of cobble. I have a floating helicarrier-esque base floating above the ocean.

Yeah, that would be a priority...

Yep, that would explain your slime problem. I suggest building a huge wall to quarantine the swamp biome.

I actually already did that; I have like 8 stacks, but that's still not enough, seemingly. xD That sounds pretty cool, though. =D I'm thinking of making an expansion to add another floor to my main base, though; and then pull off a sky bridge eventually. Though, I'd need to find another place to set up a base first... There aren't many awesome spots around, aside from the cave beside the witchless hut I found. =P

For sure. And finding a plains segment, to find a village. xD

Yeah. The only problem? I might have located my base in the swamp biome itself. xD

Really? Only 8 stacks? How big was the mineshaft? Sky bridges are overrated if you ask me. I mean, how on earth will they help you, other than provide a place for skeletons and Zombies to hide during the day? And yeah, finding really cool places is a common problem. Unless you're extremely lucky with world generations(and by this I mean that I keep restarting until I find a world with tons of cool stuff. )

Why exactly are you so dead set on finding a village?

Oh... Well never mind then. Make a small room, and fill it with slimes so no more aggressive mobs spawn.

It just went right down to bedrock today(Though lava being in the way didn't help much). It's about halfway through the second row or so of the double chest. I used a ton on different projects for my base; such as two different entry buildings(Which I'll probably redo whenever I give my base a makeover, if I don't just move to a place that's higher off the ground; found a plains biome that had no village. =P), a ground-level tunnel, a spawn house that missed spawn, and some other stuff, like stairs and such to get out of caves I wandered into. =P

As for sky bridges, they could give zombies and skeletons a place to hide, but that's why you use glass. =P

Supplies for my farm, possibility of getting emeralds easier, easy access to their supplies, and so on. =P It's not a priority(Aside from getting carrots), but it'd sure be handy; hence why I took my trip today, checking on a spot I thought may have been plains, which turned out to be plains. With no village. =P

I've been considering that. But currently, I've just been killing them; they're more an annoyance than anything, and give tons of EXP. =P Though, you may have a point; nothing's spawned directly around me recently, on the main side of my base. Stuff's spawned on the other side, but it's not totally lit up, so that might be another problem. =P

Yeah, Lava usually doesn't help when building quarries... Especially if you make a spiral staircase to go from bedrock back to the surface, and then you find out that there's obsidian in the way. >

Well that's true...

Carrots and Potatoes are easy enough to get if you have enough levels to enchant a looting III sword... Darn plains biome pretending to be a village-plains biome...

Yeah, they are quite annoying, and I'd probably just slaughter them too...

Yeah; I just used the ladder method, but there is indeed Obsidian in the way; though I've been trying to clear that away recently. =P

That's probably the method I'm going to use(though I kinda want a rail system going on eventually), though I'd make the template with dirt. I need more glass. =/

True; I already got tons of potatoes for my farm. =P

Yeah. xD One seemed to follow me, though. ._.;

I don't have the patience to cut down enough trees, so I just use the left over cobblestone.

Well I guess above-ground rail systems are a lot easier to build then underground ones...

Yep. I think I have an entire stack of poisoned potatoes.

Aww... Did you kill him?

I just cut down tons of trees, because I'm located right next to a forest, they were in my way, and I needed sticks for tools anyway. =P

Yeah; though the whole Skeleton sanctuary is definitely an issue I'll have to look into; can you place rails on glass? And does it let light through?

Haha, I think I've luckily not found one of those yet; nothing's shown up in my inventory at least. =P

It fell off a cliff near my new house. =( I saw the slime ball and EXP before I realized what happened. =P

I never spawn in forests, or anywhere near them. >

Skeleton Sanctuary? And no, I'm pretty sure you can't place them on glass...

I'm keeping them on a hunch that in a future update that you can use them to craft/brew special stuff.

;( Did you at least build him a grave where he died?

I must've gotten lucky in that way; I always spawn around there. 0_o That said, the only time I spawned near mountains, is in the demo world. =P Which I should really look into restoring, now that I have full Minecraft.

The shaded places hiding the sun during the day, which is what my railway or skybridge would quickly turn into. =P Unless I connected it to the ground somehow, or made it a multi-level tunnel system...

That would be interesting, and more useful than poisoning yourself. And since Spider's Eyes once did the same thing...

Unfortunately no; I was busy fending off (IIRC) a creeper at the time. I forget exactly, but I also forget where. =( We shall remember the nameless slime, however. =D