My Thoughts on Modern Minecraft
So, I've shunned new minecraft versions for a while. Been playing on 1.12.2 for years and loved it. It's a really good version, and I still love it.
But then
I decided, "fine, I guess some of the new features are tempting me, I'll start a 1.21.8 world." So I did, and I found a lot of things to like about new versions, even though there are still a lot of changes I don't like or care for.
So
Now I'm going to go over each version since 1.12.2, and give my thoughts on the changes.
1.13, Update Aquatic
Big changes to water and items. I think these end up good, with non-buggy item elevators and stuff.
Swimming, hmmmmm. It's fine I guess, makes underwater exploration much better. Maybe it's even a good thing. Just changing longstanding mechanics does bother me a little. And complex player animations don't fit the best with the rest of minecraft.
Turtles are one of these kinda uninteresting passive mobs they keep adding. Like polar bears, I completely forgot those were in 1.12.2 for a long time. Like, sure you can get scutes and turtle shells, but those aren't actually that useful.
Dolphins do a thing occasionally. Idk, wish they made these mobs more interesting.
In terms of drowned, I guess a more common underwater mob is a good addition. They also drop tridents.
I don't know how to feel about tridents. I guess in terms of having more content they're a good addition. They have cool enchants I think.
I don't know though, they are kind of an random thing. That's one of my hangups with modern minecraft I guess, I don't just want more content, I want anything added to really fit with what's already there.
That'll lead me into the worst addition, phantoms. Let's punish the player for not sleeping I guess? Like why, they're just annoying.
Coral is fine. Makes the biomes look nice. Kelp is a decent addition I think, although maybe dried kelp is too good in a furnace? Sea grass and sea pickles are good.
Hmmm, blue ice. It's cool we can go really fast on it, but it is kind of a random unnecessary thing. Idk, maybe the sheer utility of its speed will make me like it.
They added different wood types for trap doors, pressure plates, and buttons. This is actually huge for building, and an excellent change, maybe the best part of the update. Prismarine stairs and slabs is also big. The wood blocks and stripped logs are also really good.
Shipwrecks, underwater ruins, buried treasures, all good.
Overall
The building options carry the patch in my opinion. Lots
1.14, Village & Pillage
They started putting rhymes in their update names.
Let's start with reworked villagers. They kinda overpowered. Just find a random villager, reroll him as a librarian until you get a good trade, and boom, you have mending.
Now for the new blocks that go with them. Blast furnace and smoker are garbage, just make a smelting array. Cartography table, fletching table, and smithing table seem... fine I guess? I don't know, they exist and most of them do a thing. Stonecutter function is kinda dumb, just buff the number of stairs normal crafting gives. The grindstone disenchanting function is pretty big actually. Didn't realize it until I started using it, but being able to get back gear with bad enchants saves a lot of diamonds. Lectern is good, reading books is nice. Loom is good, banners were difficult before.
Now the pillagers. I don't know, the raids seem fun and it's nice to have the outposts as a thing. The random pillagers that show up are annoying though, so it's hard to say.
Campfires, I don't really like, we had fire on nether rack, just be careful. Bamboo, seems good. Pandas though are pretty pointless. The only use I've ever seen out of pandas is baby pandas producing slime balls for a peaceful mode slime farm. Otherwise do nothing. Scaffolding, seems fine, useful even. Lantern looks nice, I like it.
The barrel. How do I feel about the barrel? I guess it's a good addition, has some redstone applications, gives some building options.
Really like that they made smooth stone obtainable.
The texture update was a big one. I didn't like it at first, but playing with it more, it has grown on me in some ways. I do think some textures needed it (new glass is SOOO much better). There are still some things I miss about old textures though, like it's harder to judge when carrots and potatoes are grown now.
Overall
It's alright, but I wish villagers weren't so easy. They had the chance to make it more challenging to get good librarians, perhaps tying it into other game progression. Instead it became easier.1.15, Buzzy Bees
Bees are awesome, honey is awesome.
Overall
This is like the best update.1.16, Nether Update
Ok, lots in here. Gonna discuss netherite first, then go through each biome and structure.
So netherite. I kinda feel like minecraft didn't need more gear progression? The not burning in lava feature is nice. Otherwise just number go up with durability and stuff. I guess the color is nicer to wear around than enchanted diamond gear. Collecting blocks of the stuff does feel like a real achievement.
So biomes then.
First is soul sand valley. It's fine. I like soul fire, and the lanterns especially. Gonna note that they aren't really valleys, since the nether doesn't have mountains.
Crimson forest is next. New plants and wood types are nice. Hoglins are op for food (like actually, they're kinda dumb).
Now the warped forest. Again, new plants and wood types are always appreciated. The enderman spawn rate is op again though. Like this just removes the challenge of getting ender pearls to reach the end. Just go to one of these for like 10 minutes and there you are. I just don't like that.
Lastly basalt deltas, and I'll say they're great. Lots of lava, lost of cool blocks. Love blackstone and basalt, they're just great blocks. The high magma cube spawn rate isn't op because magma cream isn't particularly strong.
Now I'm on to structures and first is the bastion remnant. I honestly do kinda like it. Dungeon type structures with loot are just a good thing to have in the game (although in this update looting them isn't important).
It does bring me to the piglins though. Why'd we have to rename pigmen? Like they're pigs that are men. It was a perfect name. Otherwise they're fine.
And then the ruined portals. Maybe a little too strong to be dropping gold blocks in the world. But overall having stuff to loot around is nice.
Lastly a few random things. Crying obsidian and respawn are good. Lodestone is great, make compasses much more functional. Target block is very nice, mostly for the being a solid block redstone dust redirects into. Striders are alright, never really used them, but conceptually sound. And I do think Pigstep is good.
Overall
It's alright, but I feel like it's mostly carried by the building blocks.
1.17 & 1.18, Caves & Cliffs: Parts I and II
Ok, so the biggest things that this update brings are new cave generation and negative y-levels.
The cave generation creates lots of large, open spaces. These are the most dangerous in a caving trip, as you can't easily secure the area. I used to be pretty into ultra hardcore, and caving effectively is the most important part of the whole thing. A bad run-in with a skeleton can absolutely ruin your game. So I'm a little torn. Making caving harder is kinda fun, and with how minecraft has gotten easier since the early days this is probably called for in normal play. But it may just be unreasonable in UHC.
Negative y-levels are cool I think. Having more space in the world is good (although it can impact performance). Deepslate variants are also really good blocks. Opens up the options for the cave biomes (which we'll get to in a second). It does annoy me that coal doesn't generate low in the world though. Makes it harder to get torches than it should be.
Now for the biomes. Lush caves are pretty cool, some nice looking plants, that are good for certain parkour stuff. Dripstone has cool functions.
What else, ummm, amethyst geode? Cool, interesting little thing to find.
Candles, lightning rods, copper in general. All good looking, overall good additions. It does feel weird having copper when it's only really good for decoration, but I do like how they look.
Axolotls seem really random, and glow squid even more so. I'd say I like axolotls more. Don't really like glow squids, you could find another way to do glow item frames.
They added goats but not goat horns in this update? That's really weird, but ok.
Overall
While there's a lot to like here, I do really miss the way the old caves generated. Also now I have to go on mining trips specifically for coal and that annoys me.
1.19, The Wild Update
I'm going to start with everything I like. Frogs and froglights are cool, as is the mangrove trees. Goat horns are a lot of fun. I like boats with chests.
Allays are weird. Not really that useful. If they were more useful I'd feel differently I think.
The deep dark, huh? And the Warden. I don't think you're really supposed to fight the warden? So the deep dark is just for some loot. Echo shards, the music disc, and swift sneak is what it has to offer I guess.
I don't know, the loot doesn't seem that good honestly. I guess it is something that you can mess with very early in the game. Well with that in mind, I guess it's okay. Wish there were another special item or two.
Overall
It's okay, could take it or leave it.1.20, Trails & Tales, Bats and Pots, and Armored Paws
One update and two small ones, all in one major version. Kinda weird.
Anyways, love the calibrated sculk sensor, it's cool. Love the cherry and bamboo wood types.
Sniffers are weird, as are the plants you can get from them. Camels seem, fine? Idk.
Archeology is a bit of a weird thing for minecraft, not going to lie. I'm brushing stuff out of this block? If I'm not careful though I can accidentally break the block and lose the loot in it forever. Also have to look at blocks carefully so I don't miss any loot. Kinda annoying if I'm being honest.
Ok, but the star of the update, smithing templates. I do like these. They make armor look cool, and they're a new kind of loot, not tied to progression. Pottery sherds are good too.
Armadillos are a fine addition, but wolf armor looks kinda bad? Just like, a weird color. Idk, maybe I'm crazy. I guess with a good dye it's not that bad looking.
Overall
I like it overall.1.21
Uhhh, the more regular drop system for updates makes the versioning weird honestly. Gonna rapid fire them each though.
Tricky Trials add trial chambers, which are kinda cool as a combat challenge. Tuff blocks and new copper stuff is welcome. Mace is weird, the smash attack is just gimmicky, and don't really care to have another melee weapon honestly. Breezes and breeze charges have a lot of interesting applications, but how could they rip off thermal expansion. And the star of the show, the crafter. Well implemented, and honestly just a really nice addition.
Bundles of Bravery add bundles. They're really good for solving early game inventory problems, and are still useful later in the game. But still not game breaking.
The Garden Awakens adds the Pale Garden. Love the white wood type. Love pale moss. Resin makes for an interesting color. Creaking seems good, I've never actually seen one though.
Spring to Life I'm torn on. I like most of the plants, but the firefly bush is poorly implemented. When a bunch are in one spot you see the animations all synced. Needs to be changed. I don't really like biome variants of animals, but whatever.
Chase the Skies adds the happy ghast. I kinda like it, has some interesting applications with leads attaching to it. Also you can stand on it. Locator bar is weird, don't like it replacing my xp bar.
The Copper Age adds some things I like, though I'm not sure how I feel about the golems. The golems kinda just trivialize storage tech. I don't know, the best suggestion I heard for a change improving the storage situation in minecraft was Etho suggesting that variant block types could be smelted back to their base block. The copper blocks look nice, and so does the shelf. Copper gear is dumb though, just unnecessary.
Then the upcoming Mounts of Mayhem. Riding Nautiluses will probably be fun. An aquatic mount isn't a bad idea. The spear though. I think attack reach just kinda breaks the game. They should not add this in my opinion. Flying at people with the charge attack seems fun though.
Overall
I overall like it a lot, but they could screw it up with the spears.