It looks like the restriction was put in place in Nov 2013 in PR 353. As for why it was put in place their is no mention, but we probably want to bump it to a 32 bit value to match minecraft.
I think I've found the reason. Prior to snapshot 14w04a the experience was sent to the client as a 16 bit value. So their was no need to be able to store larger values. However since the protocols prior to that snapshot have been removed we might as well increase the value to an int.
I think I've found the reason. Prior to snapshot 14w04a the experience was sent to the client as a 16 bit value. So their was no need to be able to store larger values. However since the protocols prior to that snapshot have been removed we might as well increase the value to an int.