The big wins are supposed to be server-side inventory and leaf decay.
Might want to wait for a day or two, though, as currently the beta update has some problems. Huge slowdown and slightly dysfunctional leaf decay (surprise!).
That and I noticed the server you guys have uses hMod, which isn't updated yet (at least as far as a release goes--haven't checked their git, svn, or whatever the hell hMod uses).
Speaking of hey0, have you folks looked at
this plugin? A dynamic map plugin for hMod with a Google Maps powered frontend. I use it myself, and if the whole assemblage wasn't running off of my DSL, I'd probably write a forward to my webserver and post a link to show you all.
Fortunately, the author posted a link to his installation in the thread. (Ignore the 'unable to get update data', he probably updated his server, so it's not running hey0 or the plugin--normally you could see player positions, warps, homes, etc.)
Neat, but has issues.
Also, am I missing something? I know he said
he was going to make updates optional and all, but did he actually put that in and I failed to notice? Or, when you suggest holding off a bit, do you just mean 'make Minecraft not able to talk to Notch's servers' as the method of holding off?