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Minecraft 1.8

Minecraft 1.8 will be released early some time in 2014. Previews started to be released early in January, and this is some of what we know so far. Note that everything is likely to change at any moment as the Mojang guys work on the game!

How to play with the snapshots.

This page is changing constantly, and is just some of what we know about Minecraft 1.8.

See also these blog posts on the subject for more preview news.

Ocean Monuments

The major adventure-related addition to Minecraft 1.8 is Ocean Monuments.

These large underwater structures are guarded by new hostile mobs: the Guardians.

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And to get to the treasure at hidden in each Monument, you’ll have to defeat the Elder Guardians.

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These are tough enemies to beat and you will need good armour and ideally some good potions and enchantments to survive the challenge.

New Blocks

###Prismarine

Prismarine is a new type of stone found in Ocean Monuments. Prismarine has been designed with a constantly changing colour, so it will look like it’s underwater even when it’s not.

There are also some new blocks that can be crafted from Prismarine: Prismarine Bricks and Dark Prismarine are more new building blocks, and Sea Lanterns which are lamps that work under water.

###More new types of stone

There are three new types of stone that can be found in the world: Diorite, Granite and Andesite. Quick geology lesson: in the real world, these types of rocks are all igneous, meaning that they are formed when lava cools. However, in Minecraft you will just find them mixed in with normal stone throughout your world.

You will be able to find the new types of stone easily in a new world, or in your old worlds if you go to areas you haven’t explored before.

The new stones can also be crafted:

Diorite can be crafted from Cobblestone and Quartz.

Andesite can be crafted from Diorite and Cobblestone.

Granite can be crafted from Diorite and Quartz.

There are polished versions of each of the new stones, made by crafting 4 blocks together.

Old types of stone

Mossy Stone Bricks and Chiselled Stone Bricks can now be crafted.

###Slime Blocks

These are crafted from 9 Slimeballs.

They are bouncy! Landing on one even from a great height does no fall damage. Holding down the jump key as you land stops you bouncing.

A few more things about Slime Blocks:

• although they look transparent, the game regards them as solid blocks, so they can receive a Redstone signal, you can place torches on them, etc.
• when a Slime Block is pushed or pulled by a Sticky Piston, it will also try to push other blocks that are next to it.

Villager Trading

There are big changes to the way you can trade with villagers.

• Villagers’ professions now appear on their trade screens (Cleric, Leathersmith, Armorer, Toolsmith, Fisherman, Fletcher etc).
• They now buy and sell a wider variety of things, more of which are useful.
• Some will buy rotten meat — this must be your reward for protecting them from zombies!

Enchanting and Anvils

Huge changes to Enchanting! This is very much a trial, and I expect a lot will change before 1.8 is released!

• You now need Lapis Lazuli as well as enchanting levels to perform an enchantment.
• Enchanting only costs 3 levels, however you have to have a certain number of levels to do high-level enchantments. The amount of experience it takes to level up is also being adjusted - currently levels are harder to get.
• There are clues about what some of the enchantments might be.
• Renaming items will only cost 1 level.
• Repairing will be cheaper.

In this example, you can see that you will need 5 levels to be able to do the top enchantment, 11 levels for the second one, or 30 for the bottom one. However, when you do the enchantment it will cost you only 1,2 or 3 levels (along with 1,2 or 3 Lapis Lazuli).

If you mouseover the enchantment it will give you a clue about what you might get.

Other stuff

• Doors can be stacked in your inventory.
• Carrots and baked potatoes are less filling.
• Furnaces that run out of fuel will leave the item in them half baked - useful if you’re short on fuel and are feeding in in one stick at a time!