Minecraft’s Biggest Update Ever Hits Today

Minecraft’s 1.8 update, which is available today, is so big that Mojang is calling it “The Bountiful Update”. It contains a ton of tweaks and changes, but also throws in a whole bunch of new stuff to make your Minecraft experience better. Entire worlds will change thanks to new stone blocks and mobs, but mainly it is the new craftable items that will bring back fans who might have tired of the game recently.

While the added stone blocks of andesite, diorite, and granite are interesting they are largely decoration at this stage. Craftable items like the slime block, iron trapdoor, armor stands really mix things up along with a ton of multiplayer changes. Being able to fully delineate world borders and have them show up on other player’s screens as a visible wall will help with popular multiplayer modes like “The Hunger Games”. This is on top of the improved player list and added Spectator Mode which should make Minecraft tournaments and Twitch streams a lot more enjoyable.

The Ocean also saw a lot of changes with its own random occurrence being added in Minecraft 1.8. The Ocean Monument gets added in this update, giving players a reason to build boats and sail the sea. Along with the Ocean Monument comes new mobs and blocks, such as the Guardians and a fully-working sponge block.

Minecraft 1.8 “The Bountiful Update” is available today so get ready to start your new world and explore. Check out the full list of changes below or head over to the Minecraft wiki page to see if anything catches your eye:

+ Added Granite, Andesite, and Diorite stone blocks, with smooth versions
+ Added Slime Block
+ Added Iron Trapdoor
+ Added Prismarine and Sea Lantern blocks
+ Added the Ocean Monument
+ Added Red Sandstone
+ Added Banners
+ Added Armor Stands
+ Added Coarse Dirt (dirt where grass won’t grow)
+ Added Guardian mobs, with item drops
+ Added Endermite mob
+ Added Rabbits, with item drops
+ Added Mutton and Cooked Mutton
+ Villagers will harvest crops and plant new ones
+ Mossy Cobblestone and Mossy Stone Bricks are now craftable
+ Chiseled Stone Bricks are now craftable
+ Doors and fences now come in all wood type variants
+ Sponge block has regained its water-absorbing ability and becomes wet
+ Added a spectator game mode (game mode 3)
+ Added one new achievement
+ Added “Customized” world type
+ Added hidden “Debug Mode” world type
+ Worlds can now have a world barrier
+ Added @e target selector for Command Blocks
+ Added /blockdata command
+ Added /clone command
+ Added /execute command
+ Added /fill command
+ Added /particle command
+ Added /testforblocks command
+ Added /title command
+ Added /trigger command
+ Added /worldborder command
+ Added /stats command
+ Containers can be locked in custom maps by using the “Lock” data tag
+ Added logAdminCommands, showDeathMessages, reducedDebugInfo, sendCommandFeedback, and randomTickSpeed game rules
+ Added three new statistics
+ Player skins can now have double layers across the whole model, and left/right arms/legs can be edited independently
+ Added a new player model with smaller arms, and a new player skin called Alex?
+ Added options for configuring what pieces of the skin that are visible
+ Blocks can now have custom visual variations in the resource packs
+ Minecraft Realms now has an activity chart, so you can see who has been online
+ Minecraft Realms now lets you upload your maps
* Difficulty setting is saved per world, and can be locked if wanted
* Enchanting has been redone, now costs lapis lazuli in addition to enchantment levels
* Villager trading has been rebalanced
* Anvil repairing has been rebalanced
* Considerable faster client-side performance
* Max render distance has been increased to 32 chunks (512 blocks)
* Adventure mode now prevents you from destroying blocks, unless your items have the CanDestroy data tag
* Resource packs can now also define the shape of blocks and items, and not just their textures
* Scoreboards have been given a lot of new features
* Tweaked the F3 debug screen
* Block ID numbers (such as 1 for stone), are being replaced by ID names (such as minecraft:stone)
* Server list has been improved
* A few minor changes to village and temple generation
* Mob heads for players now show both skin layers
* Buttons can now be placed on the ceiling
* Lots and lots of other changes
* LOTS AND LOTS of other changes
– Removed Herobrine