So what was everyone’s thoughts?
In case anyone didn’t see the features announced:
!Combat Trials, New hostile mob (mini wither boss looking thing), More Copper and Tuff varients, New Mob Spawner Type, An automatic crafter !<
Personally I didn’t watch it, though I’ve looked through all that was announced. Honestly not sure how I feel about it. Part of me was really hoping for some work on inventory (like desperately) and they said nothing.
The trials thing seems interesting, though not really my play style so I don’t have much to comment on. The copper and Tuff variants are cool but it feels like a feature we should have got a few updates ago. The crafter, I’m not sure how I feel about and am curious what the community thinks. Part of me thinks it’s not super “vanilla” as you can automate so much now, and Mojang had expressed how they didn’t want that to be an aspect of the game so I’m a bit confused. The way they implemented it and the ways players will have to engineer it to do what they want fit the vanilla feel though imo. That being said some of these features have already existed through modding for years.
I used to be much more of a “vanilla” survival player (some qol mods, similar to something like Hermitcraft) though I have recently started playing a Create focused pack I made. After playing the modded version I have a hard time seeing myself going back to “vanilla”. With this latest live, I noticed I already had some features that they announced in my pack. Sort of kills the hype imo, when you have to wait so long for the update.
Part of me thinks it’s not super “vanilla”
Everything inevitably feels that way until it’s been in the game for a few years. I remember people complaining that Elytra felt “too modded,” and now it feels like an integral part of the game.
Honestly this feels like one of the best and most comprehensive updates to Minecraft in a decade. Sure, it would’ve been nice if they had done something about inventory, but the constraints involved (any solution has to work with mouse+keyboard, touchscreen, and game controller) means that I’d much rather them spend a ton of time getting it right than overcorrecting and getting it wrong.
In some ways it feels like maybe you’re looking for reasons to be upset. That has been the general reaction to Mojang’s recent releases, so I get it, but frankly what was announced at Minecraft Live is an unqualified win. Now, it remains to be seen if they execute to that level; but they’ve shown that they’re very interested in taking community feedback during development, so I think this is going to go great.
Incidentally, Mojang dev SlicedLime is on the Fediverse: @slicedlime@mastodon.gamedev.place
Everything inevitably feels that way until it’s been in the game for a few years. I remember people complaining that Elytra felt “too modded,” and now it feels like an integral part of the game.
I definitely agree with you. This is the first time for me where I’ve questioned that though, and for the reason I stated directly after the quote. I even mention how I think its implementation is done in a “vanilla” way. I think the elytra is a different situation as they never stated that they don’t want to add an item like that. I’m not saying the crafter shouldn’t be in the game, just wondering the reasoning for them changing their stance on automation to that extent.
In some ways it feels like maybe you’re looking for reasons to be upset
Personally I am not upset and quite happy with where Mojang are taking the game with this update. Im asking for a discussion and giving my opinion not trying to complain… The fact that I have mods that already have those features is a good thing, and now they are becoming part of vanilla.
The point at the bottom I was sort of getting at, is that people can look to the community mods to add the content they want to the game and not rely on Mojang to add everything they may want. Part of the beauty of Minecraft is you can truly play however you want. I’m at the point where I’ve played so much MC and the aspects I want to see improvement on haven’t been so I look to mods to improve how I wanna play the game.
Edit: I can see how it may have come off as me being upset, especially given the context of how some of the community reacts to everything. Just wanting some discussion, I have no steak, I’m not really upset or hyped. Perhaps next time I’ll add my opinion as a comment to the discussion instead of in body text, to help separate the focus of the post.
Also,
Mojang had expressed how they didn’t want [autocrafting] to be an aspect of the game
I thought I remembered that too. Something about never wanting to automate anything in the name (so, Mining and Crafting)? But I guess they’ve changed their minds. Honestly, that’s exciting. More companies (and people) need to be willing to do that when they have a good reason.
And, in my opinion, Mojang’s vanilla features tend to be more polished than modded features when they’re finally implemented.
Sorta an unfair comparison as there are hundreds/thousands of mod authors leading to a wide variety of polish. There are a good bit of mods that are very well thought out and polished. If you take for example the Create team and compare it to the polish of Mojang I would say they’re comparable (they both have different intentions, more commenting on the polish and thought put into features.)
But I guess they’ve changed their minds. Honestly, that’s exciting. More companies (and people) need to be willing to do that when they have a good reason.
I’m decently excited for them stepping out of their comfort zones to try something different, it’s what leads to interesting changes and features that can change the game forever. The big issue I see is how they fail to communicate the decision well. I think in the recent past, it seems as though Mojang have had issues communicating their decisions to remove content previously announced. I think these decisions need to be more openly communicated with the community. Crafter is a very huge addition that will likely change the game forever, I think it would be a net beneficial thing for Mojang to communicate why their design decisions have changed to add such a large feature. Changing your mind is always a good idea, but when you are a large figure in a community it’s beneficial to communicate why your mind has changed.
Well, in fairness, I believe it was only ever Jens who said that he never wanted to automate mining or crafting. While he’s obviously a big voice on the team, I don’t think it was ever the official Mojang position.
Even if it was only jeb making passing comments, or other developers, it still put the community in a place where they didn’t think something like an autocrafter would be added. (Especially since jeb was/is the lead developer of the game). In my opinion if the lead dev comments on something, it represents the game too, that’s why they have the platform to begin with. There are plenty of posts throughout the community saying they never expect an autocrafter to be added. Whether intentional or not the community was led to these expectations by the developers of the game. I think that either way it’s beneficial for them to communicate the thinking behind such a game changing feature.
My apologies for the misunderstanding.
Modded truly is fantastic; Skyfactory is my favorite, and a lot of the QOL stuff is really top-notch. But I am also aware that most people play on Bedrock, which means that they are waiting for Mojang (or, to a lesser extent, datapack authors) to develop features.
And, in my opinion, Mojang’s vanilla features tend to be more polished than modded features when they’re finally implemented.
Not sure if anyone else is a big Etho fan but as soon as I saw the crafter, I immediately pictured him starting yet another storage room project that crafts the requested items on demand.
He’s going to have a field day.
More Redstone stuff is a huge win in my book. Mojang have been really hesitant to add automation in Minecraft despite the biggest mods adding them, it’s great to finally see automatic crafting officially added into the game.
more copper and tuff variants
How about more copper and tuff uses? There seems to have been a content explosion in the past 5 or so updates (maybe more), but it’s just feels superficial somehow. The worldgen changes are fine, but the block/item additions are sorely lacking integration with the rest of the game.
Copper especially feels like it should have WAY more uses than it currently does. Here’s some free ideas: combine it with Redstone to increase its conductivity, throw it in fire to turn the flames green, or maybe allow us to actually make tools with it?
I am really surprised. I subscribed to the belief that two things they would never automate are mining, and crafting.
the autocrafter is based af, but the rest of the update is meh
at least coppe got more usage
They still have yet to bring palm trees to deserts.
the crafter is really cool, but i’m mostly just glad i finally have something to do with my seemingly infinite supply of tuff. i’m also wondering if the trial spawner means infinitely renewable diamonds.
Idk about many of the people here, but I’m glad to see copper finally getting some much-overdue love, right now it just fills our chests since we can’t even make beacons with it. I’m most excited about the autocrafters, I can’t believe they actually made an old childhood dream of mine a real thing. Can’t wait to finally make 100%-automated dried kelp factories that can continuously refuel themselves at an ever-increasing rate, paper mills, iron block farms, sawmills, slime and (if I can figure out how to grab the 4 empty bottles to be taken back to the dispensers) honey farms that automatically produce the blocks needed for airships, and gold farms that make the ingots and blocks for you.
I also find the new wind-blaze thing interesting, curious to see what more they’ll do with that one.
That being said I do really hope that they surprise us with more content in this update than just all of that, like they did with the sakura biomes. This is all a great start, but I really hope they aren’t lazy again like with 1.20; maybe finally add palm trees? And they better at least make wolf armor enchantable; don’t make me regret having the armadillo as my second-favorite after the crab
I like the features overall but I’m disappointed by the mob vote.
Armadillo is cool but I’m not so sure if the dog armor will be…
1st dogs don’t have natural regeneration so you need to feed / heal them after they’ve taken damage.
2nd I think dogs could become incredibly annoying.
Imagine punching an entity / player by mistake having a horde of dogs. Without a way to call them back this feature could not go very well.
And then there will be those that’ll make an army of dogs with armor and fuck up everyone else on a server.
And in case that dog armor is too weak, nobody will use it and it’ll become a useless item.
Imo dogs as a whole would need an overhaul before giving them armor. Maybe a whistle to make them back off or something and different dog races. That would be the best opportunity to add dog armor / cosmetics.
The crab claw would have been a very useful item that is meant to help you with building but could theoretically even be used in pvp (further range of lava / water placement for example)
Soo the community has voted (or at least those that didn’t boycott the vote) and once again there’ll probably be players that’ll regret what they voted for just like every year. And Mojang will continue to throw 2 out of 3 mobs into the bin for “democracy” and “community interaction” instead of adding them all (with the community voting for their release priority)
I think any of the voted mobs winning would have upset some portion of the community, sorta seems inevitable. Kinda hope they change the way things are done in the future, only if the reason is to make the community less hostile. It also doesn’t help they attached features players really want to a vote and that just feels bad.
As for the wolves, I think you’re putting too much stock into the features these mobs add, as in the past most mob vote winners have smaller feature additions. For that reason I think the wolf armor is more of an aesthetic addition than a game changing combat focused feature. I think the biggest critique to the wolf armor is that, while not necessarily a huge combat addition it is still a combat centered feature, and Mojang have given the impression they are working to change aspects of combat (combat snapshots). Adding more combat features, will likely make revaluating combat in the future more complicated as there is more to rebalance.
The point I was trying to make was that dog armor can make dogs much more annoying for other players. I know that Mojang doesn’t add anything they were not announcing about the dog armor. That’s why a bigger building range would have been the better choice imo and could potentially even be used for combat by having a greater placement range for buckets (which could theoretically even improve bucket, cobweb, scaffolding MLGs (if they are still called that way) even tho they are not particularly hard if you know what to do.
And that leaves me wondering if we will ever see the crab again as until now, the Swamp / frogs were the only feature to make it regardless of losing out on the vote.
That being said half a million people signed a partition to make changes to the mob vote or to abolish it completely.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-mob-vote-put-an-end-to-the-scrapping-of-great-ideas
The penguin should have been added along with the other two animals…
Definitely agree. Of all the mobs in the vote, the penguin felt like it should have already been in the game.
