Most games have a set difficulty when you start a new game. I have always felt that Minecraft could benefit if this were the same. If this were to be implemented then the game would be taken much more seriously. Also a Hardcore difficulty.
HARDCORE DIFFICULTY: We have seen Hunger in the new 1.8 and the armor bar has now been moved above the heart bar when wearing armor. A Hardcore mode could add an energy bar. A Bar that goes above Hunger. This would mean in Hardcore mode you would need to sleep and at times stop working on something. An example how this would function is if the longer you are up and about and the more you left click while holding tools the lower your energy goes. Certain levels of energy would be great as well. Lets say the bar is represented by orbs like how health is represented by hearts. 10 orbs all green. Every time you lose an orb the whole line of orbs goes into a darker shade until they turn blue at the last two orbs. The more orbs you lose the slower you move making jobs tougher and getting home harder. The only way to refill the bar is by sleeping so getting a bed becomes a much more required task. Along with everything taken longer to kill, higher spawn rates of aggressive mobs, and lower spawn rates of passive mobs this new setting would change how you play the game altogether. Remember that a humans natural clock works for an entire 24 hours before actually feeling they should sleep and since Minecraft time can fly while underground it's probably best to take 24 hours for that energy bar to go down.
NPC Villages are currently ghost towns. To be honest this is a big disappointment. Procedurally generated villages with no purpose only adds scenery to the world. If it were me I would work on adding NPC Mobs my first priority for 1.9.
NPC's: New NPC's should not have names above their heads. It's not multiplayer, they aren't as important as an actual user. Though NPC's should talk. At least with a bubble over their heads or something. My #1 want from NPC's is the ability to interact with them. Lets say you walk in an NPC village. They don't know you so they might not talk to you or anything, in fact they might not even welcome you. Being able to right click on them and possibly ask some questions like a true RPG would certainly change the game. This would mean you could get to know an NPC or NPC village. If you destroy the town or try to build in the town they could attack you. You attack them they attack you. It would be like Pigmen in the sense that you will always have a bad reputation with them until they are all dead. Though I do not want them to respawn after the world is generated and they die. Like once the world is generated and all the villages are setup all the NPC's you see will be the only ones around. Mobs in Minecraft aren't very smart, so this would be a big jump when it comes to mob coding and programing.
I can only dream of what Minecraft 1.9 will be like when 1.8 has dramatically changed the Minecraft we have gotten to know. Minecraft 1.8 has added many new features but I hope 1.9 will add many many more.
I think more mobs should be added.. After playing with mo creatures on for a few weeks. Regular old Minecraft feels lifeless! Why is there not more already? Also a true survival would be nice.. Where when it hits night time you should be scared and you should be Bunker'd down to try to survive the night. Just my thoughts..
HARDCORE DIFFICULTY: We have seen Hunger in the new 1.8 and the armor bar has now been moved above the heart bar when wearing armor. A Hardcore mode could add an energy bar. A Bar that goes above Hunger. This would mean in Hardcore mode you would need to sleep and at times stop working on something. An example how this would function is if the longer you are up and about and the more you left click while holding tools the lower your energy goes. Certain levels of energy would be great as well. Lets say the bar is represented by orbs like how health is represented by hearts. 10 orbs all green. Every time you lose an orb the whole line of orbs goes into a darker shade until they turn blue at the last two orbs. The more orbs you lose the slower you move making jobs tougher and getting home harder. The only way to refill the bar is by sleeping so getting a bed becomes a much more required task. Along with everything taken longer to kill, higher spawn rates of aggressive mobs, and lower spawn rates of passive mobs this new setting would change how you play the game altogether. Remember that a humans natural clock works for an entire 24 hours before actually feeling they should sleep and since Minecraft time can fly while underground it's probably best to take 24 hours for that energy bar to go down.
NPC Villages are currently ghost towns. To be honest this is a big disappointment. Procedurally generated villages with no purpose only adds scenery to the world. If it were me I would work on adding NPC Mobs my first priority for 1.9.
NPC's: New NPC's should not have names above their heads. It's not multiplayer, they aren't as important as an actual user. Though NPC's should talk. At least with a bubble over their heads or something. My #1 want from NPC's is the ability to interact with them. Lets say you walk in an NPC village. They don't know you so they might not talk to you or anything, in fact they might not even welcome you. Being able to right click on them and possibly ask some questions like a true RPG would certainly change the game. This would mean you could get to know an NPC or NPC village. If you destroy the town or try to build in the town they could attack you. You attack them they attack you. It would be like Pigmen in the sense that you will always have a bad reputation with them until they are all dead. Though I do not want them to respawn after the world is generated and they die. Like once the world is generated and all the villages are setup all the NPC's you see will be the only ones around. Mobs in Minecraft aren't very smart, so this would be a big jump when it comes to mob coding and programing.
I can only dream of what Minecraft 1.9 will be like when 1.8 has dramatically changed the Minecraft we have gotten to know. Minecraft 1.8 has added many new features but I hope 1.9 will add many many more.