Minecraft‘s revamp of villagers helped revitalize the game in 2019, but it has since become the subject of criticism. However, Mojang’s proposed nerfs to the system have been even more controversial—though these experimental changes aren’t without fans in the Minecraft community.
Minecraft‘s Village and Pillage update was one of the game’s best, adding a smorgasbord of new and redone features. Most importantly, it took villager trading from a minor gimmick to a complex system, totally changing how the game is played. However, some players believe that the trading system has made certain aspects of the game too easy, with Armorer, Toolsmith, and Weaponsmith villagers able to sell players diamond gear. That’s without mentioning Librarian villagers, who can sell the player almost any enchantment—in particular, their Mending trade is by far the easiest way for fans to grab the game’s best enchantment.
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Minecraft’s Proposed Villager Changes Explained
In response to criticism of Minecraft‘s current villager model, Mojang has released some experimental villager changes. These changes are available to test in Java and Bedrock but haven’t yet been implemented into the game. At their core, these changes do nerf some aspects of the current trading model, but they aim to add extra challenge rather than entirely remove certain trades. The proposals made in this experimental package are a mixed bag, but they have great potential to improve exploration and villager mechanics.
Librarian Enchanted Book Changes And Mending Nerf
Balancing in this snapshot is mainly done through biome differentiation, locking certain trades behind certain biomes. The Librarian is changed the most through this switch, with every biome having a certain trade table of enchanted books, rather than every Librarian being able to sell almost any enchanted book. Minecraft‘s Mending prized enchantment, which most players go for first when employing a Librarian, is locked behind swamp villagers (along with Respiration, Depth Strider, and Curse of Vanishing).
What makes this method notably more involved than the one in the current game, other than a specific biome being required in the first place, is the fact that there are no naturally generated village structures in swamps. This means that players will have to cure zombified swamp villagers, get two villagers to breed in a swamp, or find a village that extends into a swamp from a different biome. While this does make the process lengthier, it does cut down on the time required to place and break Lecterns to try and RNG towards Mending and could encourage players to explore and build wholly new villager towns in their Minecraft world.
It’s also worth noting that the monopoly on Unbreaking, Feather Falling, Projectile Protection, and Power belongs to jungle villagers, who are in the same boat as swamp villagers. Librarians in this snapshot also won’t sell maxed-out books for their special enchantments (so a savanna Librarian will only sell Sharpness III, not Sharpness IV or V).
Cartographer, Armorer, and Wandering Trader Changes
Both the Cartographer and the Armorer have their own biome-dependent trades in this version of Minecraft‘s trading system. The Cartographer will sell maps to different biome villages (or a swamp/jungle region) depending on their biome of residence, leading players across the world. Armorers also have biome-dependent trades in the form of what armor they sell, though players can trade certain pieces of diamond armor to acquire certain other pieces. Armorers will also require the player to have a few diamonds on hand when purchasing new pieces of diamond armor in this snapshot.
The Wandering Trader, an outcast in the world of villagers, also got some new trades. Most of their changes come in the form of balancing trades out, but they can now also sell different types of logs, an enchanted pickaxe, and an invisibility potion. More pressingly, the Wandering Trader is made a more dynamic Minecraft entity via new buying trades, purchasing items like baked potatoes and fermented spider eyes for emeralds.
- Released
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November 18, 2011
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence