I don’t mind the controller so much, I’m much more of a console kid than pc. The only thing I noticed was the look speed, I’m so used to pc now being about turn 180 in an instant and it is soooo slow on console.
As for creepers, they are just horrible in any version. They are just not quite so bad since Bart turned off their block damage or whatever it is called on the server.
I don’t know if you can have an always on server on the console versions but you can open up your world for friends to join. Assuming things haven’t changed, the problem is then 1 person hosts it and for you to play on that world they need to be online too.