Editing History of Hardcore Factions (section)

== Peak and fragmentation (2016–2018) ==
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Minecraft 1.9 released in February 2016 with a rewritten combat system — attack cooldowns, off-hand items, a swing timer. The HCF community overwhelmingly rejected it and stayed on 1.7 and 1.8, which had lasting consequences: servers became pinned to old versions, and the genre's technical base gradually diverged from the game most players were running.

This period contains both the format's largest maps and the beginnings of its decline.

* The 1.9 combat update and the community's refusal to adopt it
* Version-locking to 1.7/1.8 and its long-term effects
* Peak map turnouts and the most contested seasons
* Network competition, splits and closures
* Emergence of the most recognised factions of the era

<span style="color:#a00;">''Needs: which networks stayed on 1.8 versus attempting 1.9, and how that decision affected them.''</span>
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