This is something of a general, overarching idea- or, at the very least, my opinions regarding exploration. That is, I feel that exploration is something Minecraft very much lacks. To be fair, it is a game about 'mining' and 'crafting' things... but another one of its major appeals is the ability to 'explore an infinite world.' The problem I see right now is that there isn't much reason to do so.
TLDR (Summary) ~ There's currently no real reasons to explore, due to the lack of biome unique resources. Various simple adjustments could make exploration more plausible and worthwhile.
Mojang has recently announced that they intend to upgrade a lot of Minecraft's biomes. Most recently, the Taiga was upgraded... while I'm a fan of the newly upgraded Taiga, this update was also something of a let down to me. We got foxes- which are only useful for a few very specific types of item farms- and sweet berries, which are a new source of food... but are inefficient, and can't be used to craft anything.
The problem with exploration now is not aesthetics- Minecraft's biomes already look pretty good- though certain improvements, such as the upcoming changes to mountains will look nice. The problem right now is that there's no real need to explore. Simply put, it really isn't necessary to go anywhere when you can get all the resources you need in pretty much any biome. You don't necessarily have to leave your spawnpoint so long as there's enough trees and animals nearby. The solution I would suggest would be to make sure that the upcoming biome upgrades aren't just cosmetic changes- but rather add content that offers some sort of imperative to explore.
Currently exploration doesn't make much sense in the game- which isn't to say players won't do it anyways. Exploration is something that people seem just fundamentally inclined to do. However, if you think about it, exploration is kind of needlessly dangerous. It makes way more sense to continue developing your existing base than to try and travel somewhere else... when the resources are more or less the same, and dying might cause you to lose anything you've brought with.
That isn't to say that there isn't any reasons to explore- there are certainly exceptions. However, a lot of these don't make sense either. Woodland mansions are quite rare, and you can get the totem of Undying from them. ...However, the totem isn't nearly as useful as its name implies, and you can generally find better loot in the far more common desert pyramids. You only need to find a single decent sized village to get all the trades you could possibly need- and can even mess with villager professions if that isn't enough. The Mushroom Isle is an extremely rare, special biome... but aside from Mooshrooms and Mycelium, it really doesn't have much to offer. Finally, the Stronghold usually neccesitates a lengthy journey... but this doesn't have anything to do with the world itself, but rather simply getting to the
What really got me, though, was the Nether Update. I've only recently taken to exploring the Nether more in depth in survival... and it continues to impress me. The new content makes this dangerous dimension worth exploring- offering unique materials in each of its biomes, and balanced loot for the dangerous Piglin Bastions. This, at least, goes to show me that Mojang is more than capable of both listening to player feedback, and improving aspects of exploration in a way that both looks nice and works well with gameplay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we need, (or at least what I would appreciate) are small changes to make exploration more plausible, and more worthwhile. Most importantly, these don't have to be big, contentious, game-changing decisions- but rather smaller tweaks and additions that add unique reasons for traveling to each biome. These are just some of my ideas, and I'd be interested to see what others like, dislike, or violently oppose:
Changes in Mineral Frequency ~ One interesting way to change how players think about establishing mines and outposts would be to make some minerals more or less frequent depending on the biome. Mojang has already shown that this is possible by making Emeralds only generate beneath mountain biomes... but this is kind of silly, because emerald ore is almost completely useless due to its extreme rarity.
This could range from simply making some minerals slightly more frequent- (For example; Iron ore is more common beneath cold biomes, Gold ore is more common beneath hot biomes, coal is more common beneath swamps and lush biomes) -to making ores exclusive to certain areas; whereas 'ordinary' biomes could retain existing levels of ore generation. While I'm sure this would be hard to balance, I imagine it would be something that few people would mind, if only because this would really only change where you wanted to mine rather than how you did it.
Respawn Mechanics ~ Whether or not beds are overpowered is an entirely different debate that I went into elsewhere- however, exploration could be more plausible if there was a means of sleeping without resetting your respawn point. This could be as simple as making beds allow you to sleep, but having a seperate device to reset your respawn point. On the other hand, it could be argued that trekking through the dangerous night is a part of exploration to begin with. This is probably one of the biggest things that might be considered worth tweaking in the interest of exploration.
Biome Specific Resources & Creatures ~ Sweet berries certainly give at least some reason for going to a Taiga... but they're really only noteworthy for adding some variety to their diet. New things could be added to biomes to give more reason for hunting down every biome than a simple achievement or advancement. More food sources could be one thing- (more types of berries, or other produce) -but these would, (like sweet berries) need to have unique new mechanics to be worth adding to the game. Another idea is more variations of existing creatures that would offer new resources or new means of obtaining resources that would make them worth hunting down. Consider, for example, a rare livestock that would offer the ability to farm dyes. (Ahem, Mooblooms. Why, Glowsquid?) This has already been implemented to some extent- Husks are unique to deserts, Strays unique to cold biomes, drowned to oceans... these are all variations of existing mobs, but aside from the trident, they don't really offer anything new. Adding mobs that provide an additional imperative for exploring both increases the quality of biomes... and makes them look nicer.
Better Means of Travel ~ This idea is pretty simple, and doubtlessly pretty debateable. I almost always end up playing with the 'Waystones' modification- which adds an expensive new object that allows players to teleport instantly between other waystones they've built or discovered. ...However, I would be the first to admit that this modification is more than a bit overpowered. Of course, the existing modes of transportation aren't the greatest either- Nether highways are dangerous and expensive to build, Horses are useless if you want to get through a forest or mountains, and minecart rails are too expensive for traveling long distances. If something like waystones was implemented in the game, they ought to be even more expensive- requiring eyes of ender and diamonds at the very least. They shouldn't drop themselves when mined, and they should only occur naturally in ruins or towers of some sort very rarely, making them more of an end game item. This would make, (And I can assure you, it does make) establishing outposts far, far more plausible.
More Biome Variation ~ While this would be a lot harder to implement, I think it might go a ways to decrease the feeling of 'same old same old' when exploring. Adding slight variations to existing biomes- such as woodland cliffs, or jungle mountains, or mixed woodlands with multiple types of trees; would help make the world feel a bit more diverse and varied.
There are quite a lot of biome-specific structures, such as mansions and desert-temples. And some biome-specific mobs, such as turtles and polar bears. Most of the organic resources, such as trees and plants can, once they are located, be grown at "home", except small flowers which are in abundance in sunflower plains and flower forests. Ores is a different matter, they are more or less scattered evenly, except gold which is most abundant in badlands.
I believe Mojang has done a good job for encouraging exploration with their updates, but as eiche_brutal notes in his reply; For those who can't get enough - add mods!
One of the biggest problems I have with exploration is that it takes a (metaphorical) act of God to change from temperate biomes to hot or cold biomes when a world generates. Oftentimes if you start in any specific temperature range of biomes it can be thousands and thousands of blocks until you reach a biome of a different temperature group. And that's if you happen to get lucky and wandered in the right direction. I normally use AMIDST when playing because the chance of you ever finding specific rare biomes is next to zero without some kind of map telling you where they are.
I don't want to go back to the old generation where you could find a snow biome directly next to a desert, but it would be nice if rare biomes were made more common and the general biome temperature changed more often. Because temperate biomes always exist between hot and cold biomes, they should only appear 50% as much because they will (in theory) be more common than biomes at the extreme ends of the temperature spectrum.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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In mountain biomes you can find up to 8 emerald ores per chunk, while diamond ores are rare in this biome.
Diamond ore generates the exact same way in every biome (source: the game's code) - the only ores which vary with biome are emerald and gold, the latter only above layer 32 in mesas (the normal gold generation below layer 32 is unaffected).
That said, it is s terrible idea to make important resources like iron and diamond ore dependent on biome because of the 1.7+ climate system; even in TMCW, which only has a very loose concept of climate zones (most of the world allows any biome to generate like before 1.7, while "hot" and "cold" climate zones simply make those biomes more common at the expense of the opposite extreme), you may have to travel quite far before finding a particular biome, where "far" in my case means on the order of 1000 blocks (it takes me about half a year of daily playing for several hours a day to explore a level 4 map, which is 2048x2048 blocks):
There is only one instance of several biomes here, and many biomes aren't present at all, even though statistically you'd expect to find one within such an area based on their chance (for example, there is only one Rocky Mountains and 7 Jungle biomes, which have about the same probability of generating; likewise TMCW Mega Taiga and Mesa have about the same probability but only the latter is present, with 4 biomes).
Also, it is much harder to find things that are underground, as opposed to on the surface; many players consider dungeons to be rare when in fact they are dozens of times more common than structures like villages; fossils are actually quite common in the biomes they generate in (in fact, in the world shown above bone blocks nearly as common as emerald ore); likewise, many players rely on iron farms despite there being over 2.6 million iron ore in a world the size of this one (30353 chunks, with most of the caves explored and stripped of resources, so there used to be far more spawners, moss stone, and rails in particular. Ores are also more common in newer versions, and rarer ores are less common here than in vanilla because I lowered their ranges):
// Variants are not craftable in TMCW / before 1.8
(98:0),Stone Bricks,49065
(98:1),Mossy Stone Bricks,21182
(98:2),Cracked Stone Bricks,14276
(98:3),Circle Stone Bricks,630
(129:0),Emerald Ore,4895
// Bone Block (fossils)
(180:0),Future Block!,1860
(180:4),Future Block!,1339
(180:8),Future Block!,1576
// Ruby Ore (only in Rocky Mountains)
(181:0),Future Block!,2549
This is something of a general, overarching idea- or, at the very least, my opinions regarding exploration. That is, I feel that exploration is something Minecraft very much lacks. To be fair, it is a game about 'mining' and 'crafting' things... but another one of its major appeals is the ability to 'explore an infinite world.' The problem I see right now is that there isn't much reason to do so.
TLDR (Summary) ~ There's currently no real reasons to explore, due to the lack of biome unique resources. Various simple adjustments could make exploration more plausible and worthwhile.
Mojang has recently announced that they intend to upgrade a lot of Minecraft's biomes. Most recently, the Taiga was upgraded... while I'm a fan of the newly upgraded Taiga, this update was also something of a let down to me. We got foxes- which are only useful for a few very specific types of item farms- and sweet berries, which are a new source of food... but are inefficient, and can't be used to craft anything.
The problem with exploration now is not aesthetics- Minecraft's biomes already look pretty good- though certain improvements, such as the upcoming changes to mountains will look nice. The problem right now is that there's no real need to explore. Simply put, it really isn't necessary to go anywhere when you can get all the resources you need in pretty much any biome. You don't necessarily have to leave your spawnpoint so long as there's enough trees and animals nearby. The solution I would suggest would be to make sure that the upcoming biome upgrades aren't just cosmetic changes- but rather add content that offers some sort of imperative to explore.
Currently exploration doesn't make much sense in the game- which isn't to say players won't do it anyways. Exploration is something that people seem just fundamentally inclined to do. However, if you think about it, exploration is kind of needlessly dangerous. It makes way more sense to continue developing your existing base than to try and travel somewhere else... when the resources are more or less the same, and dying might cause you to lose anything you've brought with.
That isn't to say that there isn't any reasons to explore- there are certainly exceptions. However, a lot of these don't make sense either. Woodland mansions are quite rare, and you can get the totem of Undying from them. ...However, the totem isn't nearly as useful as its name implies, and you can generally find better loot in the far more common desert pyramids. You only need to find a single decent sized village to get all the trades you could possibly need- and can even mess with villager professions if that isn't enough. The Mushroom Isle is an extremely rare, special biome... but aside from Mooshrooms and Mycelium, it really doesn't have much to offer. Finally, the Stronghold usually neccesitates a lengthy journey... but this doesn't have anything to do with the world itself, but rather simply getting to the
What really got me, though, was the Nether Update. I've only recently taken to exploring the Nether more in depth in survival... and it continues to impress me. The new content makes this dangerous dimension worth exploring- offering unique materials in each of its biomes, and balanced loot for the dangerous Piglin Bastions. This, at least, goes to show me that Mojang is more than capable of both listening to player feedback, and improving aspects of exploration in a way that both looks nice and works well with gameplay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we need, (or at least what I would appreciate) are small changes to make exploration more plausible, and more worthwhile. Most importantly, these don't have to be big, contentious, game-changing decisions- but rather smaller tweaks and additions that add unique reasons for traveling to each biome. These are just some of my ideas, and I'd be interested to see what others like, dislike, or violently oppose:
Changes in Mineral Frequency ~ One interesting way to change how players think about establishing mines and outposts would be to make some minerals more or less frequent depending on the biome. Mojang has already shown that this is possible by making Emeralds only generate beneath mountain biomes... but this is kind of silly, because emerald ore is almost completely useless due to its extreme rarity.
This could range from simply making some minerals slightly more frequent- (For example; Iron ore is more common beneath cold biomes, Gold ore is more common beneath hot biomes, coal is more common beneath swamps and lush biomes) -to making ores exclusive to certain areas; whereas 'ordinary' biomes could retain existing levels of ore generation. While I'm sure this would be hard to balance, I imagine it would be something that few people would mind, if only because this would really only change where you wanted to mine rather than how you did it.
Respawn Mechanics ~ Whether or not beds are overpowered is an entirely different debate that I went into elsewhere- however, exploration could be more plausible if there was a means of sleeping without resetting your respawn point. This could be as simple as making beds allow you to sleep, but having a seperate device to reset your respawn point. On the other hand, it could be argued that trekking through the dangerous night is a part of exploration to begin with. This is probably one of the biggest things that might be considered worth tweaking in the interest of exploration.
Biome Specific Resources & Creatures ~ Sweet berries certainly give at least some reason for going to a Taiga... but they're really only noteworthy for adding some variety to their diet. New things could be added to biomes to give more reason for hunting down every biome than a simple achievement or advancement. More food sources could be one thing- (more types of berries, or other produce) -but these would, (like sweet berries) need to have unique new mechanics to be worth adding to the game. Another idea is more variations of existing creatures that would offer new resources or new means of obtaining resources that would make them worth hunting down. Consider, for example, a rare livestock that would offer the ability to farm dyes. (Ahem, Mooblooms. Why, Glowsquid?) This has already been implemented to some extent- Husks are unique to deserts, Strays unique to cold biomes, drowned to oceans... these are all variations of existing mobs, but aside from the trident, they don't really offer anything new. Adding mobs that provide an additional imperative for exploring both increases the quality of biomes... and makes them look nicer.
Better Means of Travel ~ This idea is pretty simple, and doubtlessly pretty debateable. I almost always end up playing with the 'Waystones' modification- which adds an expensive new object that allows players to teleport instantly between other waystones they've built or discovered. ...However, I would be the first to admit that this modification is more than a bit overpowered. Of course, the existing modes of transportation aren't the greatest either- Nether highways are dangerous and expensive to build, Horses are useless if you want to get through a forest or mountains, and minecart rails are too expensive for traveling long distances. If something like waystones was implemented in the game, they ought to be even more expensive- requiring eyes of ender and diamonds at the very least. They shouldn't drop themselves when mined, and they should only occur naturally in ruins or towers of some sort very rarely, making them more of an end game item. This would make, (And I can assure you, it does make) establishing outposts far, far more plausible.
More Biome Variation ~ While this would be a lot harder to implement, I think it might go a ways to decrease the feeling of 'same old same old' when exploring. Adding slight variations to existing biomes- such as woodland cliffs, or jungle mountains, or mixed woodlands with multiple types of trees; would help make the world feel a bit more diverse and varied.
1. Changes in mineral frequency - I approve all the way!
2. Respawn mechanics - I object. I prefer current means through cheap beds, they enable more mobility for the player.
3. Biome specific mobs - I approve all the way!
4. Better means of travel - I object! What do we have minecarts, horses, Nether, boats on ice and water, striders for?! At most I would rather see minecarts moving faster and boats being more versatile, but that's completely different thing!
5. More biome variation - For the most part I object. Most of our current biomes need additional diversification, we should postpone those.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
Diamond ore generates the exact same way in every biome (source: the game's code) - the only ores which vary with biome are emerald and gold, the latter only above layer 32 in mesas (the normal gold generation below layer 32 is unaffected).
That said, it is s terrible idea to make important resources like iron and diamond ore dependent on biome because of the 1.7+ climate system; even in TMCW, which only has a very loose concept of climate zones (most of the world allows any biome to generate like before 1.7, while "hot" and "cold" climate zones simply make those biomes more common at the expense of the opposite extreme), you may have to travel quite far before finding a particular biome, where "far" in my case means on the order of 1000 blocks (it takes me about half a year of daily playing for several hours a day to explore a level 4 map, which is 2048x2048 blocks):
There is only one instance of several biomes here, and many biomes aren't present at all, even though statistically you'd expect to find one within such an area based on their chance (for example, there is only one Rocky Mountains and 7 Jungle biomes, which have about the same probability of generating; likewise TMCW Mega Taiga and Mesa have about the same probability but only the latter is present, with 4 biomes).
Also, it is much harder to find things that are underground, as opposed to on the surface; many players consider dungeons to be rare when in fact they are dozens of times more common than structures like villages; fossils are actually quite common in the biomes they generate in (in fact, in the world shown above bone blocks nearly as common as emerald ore); likewise, many players rely on iron farms despite there being over 2.6 million iron ore in a world the size of this one (30353 chunks, with most of the caves explored and stripped of resources, so there used to be far more spawners, moss stone, and rails in particular. Ores are also more common in newer versions, and rarer ores are less common here than in vanilla because I lowered their ranges):
// Variants are not craftable in TMCW / before 1.8
(98:0),Stone Bricks,49065
(98:1),Mossy Stone Bricks,21182
(98:2),Cracked Stone Bricks,14276
(98:3),Circle Stone Bricks,630
(129:0),Emerald Ore,4895
// Bone Block (fossils)
(180:0),Future Block!,1860
(180:4),Future Block!,1339
(180:8),Future Block!,1576
// Ruby Ore (only in Rocky Mountains)
(181:0),Future Block!,2549
I think the concept is not to make coal, iron, gold, redstone, LL or diamonds unavailable in most biomes, but rather to double or so the presence of various ores in various biomes.
It would encourage setting up multiple smaller mining outposts as one-man empire accordingly to the needs rather than strip mining the closest available areas.
I like a perspective of one-man empire with multiple smaller mining outposts connected by ice roads or railways, and I think of adding an incentive to actually do it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
1. Changes in mineral frequency - I approve all the way!
2. Respawn mechanics - I object. I prefer current means through cheap beds, they enable more mobility for the player.
3. Biome specific mobs - I approve all the way!
4. Better means of travel - I object! What do we have minecarts, horses, Nether, boats on ice and water, striders for?! At most I would rather see minecarts moving faster and boats being more versatile, but that's completely different thing!
5. More biome variation - For the most part I object. Most of our current biomes need additional diversification, we should postpone those.
I agree on your opinion about traveling.
I just recently found out that a pig is an awesome mount!
I completly forget that you can auto walk with it, wich makes traveling on highways like in the nether a thing you can do afk.
The strider is even faster but a highway for that would be a challange to build.
The boat is of corse the faster way, but imo its too fast.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
I really would like to see some sort of feature come to Mushroom Biomes. Lots of other biomes have some sort of structure, mob, or unique resources; making them worth hunting for. While I love Mushrooms Biomes, they lack an overall reason to seek them out. Plus, they’re already rare as it is
I really would like to see some sort of feature come to Mushroom Biomes. Lots of other biomes have some sort of structure, mob, or unique resources; making them worth hunting for. While I love Mushrooms Biomes, they lack an overall reason to seek them out. Plus, they’re already rare as it is
I think the mushroom biome should stay peaceful as it is right now.
Its the only biome where monsters can not spawn, wich is great for building stuff.
Yes it lacks other animals but i don't want hostile mobs there.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
I really would like to see some sort of feature come to Mushroom Biomes. Lots of other biomes have some sort of structure, mob, or unique resources; making them worth hunting for. While I love Mushrooms Biomes, they lack an overall reason to seek them out. Plus, they’re already rare as it is
I agree, but I also agree with Eiche--no hostile mobs in the Mushroom biomes. A new passive mob would be pretty nice though. Honestly, one of the few ideas I'd accept for a new dimension would be some kind of fungus-infested world, so perhaps the portal to this realm can spawn in the Mushroom biomes or only be made with some new material found there
I agree, but I also agree with Eiche--no hostile mobs in the Mushroom biomes. A new passive mob would be pretty nice though. Honestly, one of the few ideas I'd accept for a new dimension would be some kind of fungus-infested world, so perhaps the portal to this realm can spawn in the Mushroom biomes or only be made with some new material found there
I disagree with a fungus infested dimension. We already have a hole fungus biome and the nether trees somewhat look like fungi too.
Instead add more fungus types to the biome, ect. There could be fungi which only generate underground or on the overworld but only in shadows.
Under water fungus, fungus that glows in the dark. Fungus that grows on the side of tree stems.
Maybe a passive mob that is a walking fungus instead of fungus infested. So much possibilitys to add fungi!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
I disagree with a fungus infested dimension. We already have a hole fungus biome and the nether trees somewhat look like fungi too.
Instead add more fungus types to the biome, ect. There could be fungi which only generate underground or on the overworld but only in shadows.
Under water fungus, fungus that glows in the dark. Fungus that grows on the side of tree stems.
Maybe a passive mob that is a walking fungus instead of fungus infested. So much possibilitys to add fungi!
We have enough fungus...
Entire Overworld biome built around it, Mooshroom being infested passive mob, plus Nether fungi in two varieties with various utilities.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
This is something of a general, overarching idea- or, at the very least, my opinions regarding exploration. That is, I feel that exploration is something Minecraft very much lacks. To be fair, it is a game about 'mining' and 'crafting' things... but another one of its major appeals is the ability to 'explore an infinite world.' The problem I see right now is that there isn't much reason to do so.
TLDR (Summary) ~ There's currently no real reasons to explore, due to the lack of biome unique resources. Various simple adjustments could make exploration more plausible and worthwhile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mojang has recently announced that they intend to upgrade a lot of Minecraft's biomes. Most recently, the Taiga was upgraded... while I'm a fan of the newly upgraded Taiga, this update was also something of a let down to me. We got foxes- which are only useful for a few very specific types of item farms- and sweet berries, which are a new source of food... but are inefficient, and can't be used to craft anything.
The problem with exploration now is not aesthetics- Minecraft's biomes already look pretty good- though certain improvements, such as the upcoming changes to mountains will look nice. The problem right now is that there's no real need to explore. Simply put, it really isn't necessary to go anywhere when you can get all the resources you need in pretty much any biome. You don't necessarily have to leave your spawnpoint so long as there's enough trees and animals nearby. The solution I would suggest would be to make sure that the upcoming biome upgrades aren't just cosmetic changes- but rather add content that offers some sort of imperative to explore.
Currently exploration doesn't make much sense in the game- which isn't to say players won't do it anyways. Exploration is something that people seem just fundamentally inclined to do. However, if you think about it, exploration is kind of needlessly dangerous. It makes way more sense to continue developing your existing base than to try and travel somewhere else... when the resources are more or less the same, and dying might cause you to lose anything you've brought with.
That isn't to say that there isn't any reasons to explore- there are certainly exceptions. However, a lot of these don't make sense either. Woodland mansions are quite rare, and you can get the totem of Undying from them. ...However, the totem isn't nearly as useful as its name implies, and you can generally find better loot in the far more common desert pyramids. You only need to find a single decent sized village to get all the trades you could possibly need- and can even mess with villager professions if that isn't enough. The Mushroom Isle is an extremely rare, special biome... but aside from Mooshrooms and Mycelium, it really doesn't have much to offer. Finally, the Stronghold usually neccesitates a lengthy journey... but this doesn't have anything to do with the world itself, but rather simply getting to the
What really got me, though, was the Nether Update. I've only recently taken to exploring the Nether more in depth in survival... and it continues to impress me. The new content makes this dangerous dimension worth exploring- offering unique materials in each of its biomes, and balanced loot for the dangerous Piglin Bastions. This, at least, goes to show me that Mojang is more than capable of both listening to player feedback, and improving aspects of exploration in a way that both looks nice and works well with gameplay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we need, (or at least what I would appreciate) are small changes to make exploration more plausible, and more worthwhile. Most importantly, these don't have to be big, contentious, game-changing decisions- but rather smaller tweaks and additions that add unique reasons for traveling to each biome. These are just some of my ideas, and I'd be interested to see what others like, dislike, or violently oppose:
Changes in Mineral Frequency ~ One interesting way to change how players think about establishing mines and outposts would be to make some minerals more or less frequent depending on the biome. Mojang has already shown that this is possible by making Emeralds only generate beneath mountain biomes... but this is kind of silly, because emerald ore is almost completely useless due to its extreme rarity.
This could range from simply making some minerals slightly more frequent- (For example; Iron ore is more common beneath cold biomes, Gold ore is more common beneath hot biomes, coal is more common beneath swamps and lush biomes) -to making ores exclusive to certain areas; whereas 'ordinary' biomes could retain existing levels of ore generation. While I'm sure this would be hard to balance, I imagine it would be something that few people would mind, if only because this would really only change where you wanted to mine rather than how you did it.
Respawn Mechanics ~ Whether or not beds are overpowered is an entirely different debate that I went into elsewhere- however, exploration could be more plausible if there was a means of sleeping without resetting your respawn point. This could be as simple as making beds allow you to sleep, but having a seperate device to reset your respawn point. On the other hand, it could be argued that trekking through the dangerous night is a part of exploration to begin with. This is probably one of the biggest things that might be considered worth tweaking in the interest of exploration.
Biome Specific Resources & Creatures ~ Sweet berries certainly give at least some reason for going to a Taiga... but they're really only noteworthy for adding some variety to their diet. New things could be added to biomes to give more reason for hunting down every biome than a simple achievement or advancement. More food sources could be one thing- (more types of berries, or other produce) -but these would, (like sweet berries) need to have unique new mechanics to be worth adding to the game. Another idea is more variations of existing creatures that would offer new resources or new means of obtaining resources that would make them worth hunting down. Consider, for example, a rare livestock that would offer the ability to farm dyes. (Ahem, Mooblooms. Why, Glowsquid?) This has already been implemented to some extent- Husks are unique to deserts, Strays unique to cold biomes, drowned to oceans... these are all variations of existing mobs, but aside from the trident, they don't really offer anything new. Adding mobs that provide an additional imperative for exploring both increases the quality of biomes... and makes them look nicer.
Better Means of Travel ~ This idea is pretty simple, and doubtlessly pretty debateable. I almost always end up playing with the 'Waystones' modification- which adds an expensive new object that allows players to teleport instantly between other waystones they've built or discovered. ...However, I would be the first to admit that this modification is more than a bit overpowered. Of course, the existing modes of transportation aren't the greatest either- Nether highways are dangerous and expensive to build, Horses are useless if you want to get through a forest or mountains, and minecart rails are too expensive for traveling long distances. If something like waystones was implemented in the game, they ought to be even more expensive- requiring eyes of ender and diamonds at the very least. They shouldn't drop themselves when mined, and they should only occur naturally in ruins or towers of some sort very rarely, making them more of an end game item. This would make, (And I can assure you, it does make) establishing outposts far, far more plausible.
More Biome Variation ~ While this would be a lot harder to implement, I think it might go a ways to decrease the feeling of 'same old same old' when exploring. Adding slight variations to existing biomes- such as woodland cliffs, or jungle mountains, or mixed woodlands with multiple types of trees; would help make the world feel a bit more diverse and varied.
Cooking with Mindthemoods ~ Biomes ~ Archeology
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~ My Portfolio ~ Skindex ~ Test ~ Discs ~
I am a minecraft nomad. I love exploring the overworld!
Vanilla however is something you get bored to anyway unless you do challanges with certain goals.
That is why i startet playing on anarchy servers. Every server has it's own history, it's own ruins.
The downside on these servers is the tps (bc mostly no rules apart from "don't do lagmachine stuff")
and the barfing players that travel hundrets of thousend blocks away from spawn just to basecamp and insult.
The best thing you can do if you want to explore something new is adding mods to minecraft.
Minecraft is a sandbox. Design your sandbox the way you like it.
Edit:
The reason i suggest adding mods is because mojang can not keep up with hungry explorers.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
There are quite a lot of biome-specific structures, such as mansions and desert-temples. And some biome-specific mobs, such as turtles and polar bears. Most of the organic resources, such as trees and plants can, once they are located, be grown at "home", except small flowers which are in abundance in sunflower plains and flower forests. Ores is a different matter, they are more or less scattered evenly, except gold which is most abundant in badlands.
I believe Mojang has done a good job for encouraging exploration with their updates, but as eiche_brutal notes in his reply; For those who can't get enough - add mods!
In mountain biomes you can find up to 8 emerald ores per chunk, while diamond ores are rare in this biome.
I failed on a quiz a while back while i was playing on citibuild. The question was "what block is the rarest generated?"
(exept from spawners)
I choose emerald ore, but i was suprised. Naturally generated pumpkins are more rare. I couldn't believe that!
I think it was about the 1.15.2 version, the quiz i mean.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
One of the biggest problems I have with exploration is that it takes a (metaphorical) act of God to change from temperate biomes to hot or cold biomes when a world generates. Oftentimes if you start in any specific temperature range of biomes it can be thousands and thousands of blocks until you reach a biome of a different temperature group. And that's if you happen to get lucky and wandered in the right direction. I normally use AMIDST when playing because the chance of you ever finding specific rare biomes is next to zero without some kind of map telling you where they are.
I don't want to go back to the old generation where you could find a snow biome directly next to a desert, but it would be nice if rare biomes were made more common and the general biome temperature changed more often. Because temperate biomes always exist between hot and cold biomes, they should only appear 50% as much because they will (in theory) be more common than biomes at the extreme ends of the temperature spectrum.
Want some advice on how to thrive in the Suggestions section? Check this handy list of guidelines and tips for posting your ideas and responding to the ideas of others!
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/suggestions/2775557-guidelines-for-the-suggestions-forum
Diamond ore generates the exact same way in every biome (source: the game's code) - the only ores which vary with biome are emerald and gold, the latter only above layer 32 in mesas (the normal gold generation below layer 32 is unaffected).
That said, it is s terrible idea to make important resources like iron and diamond ore dependent on biome because of the 1.7+ climate system; even in TMCW, which only has a very loose concept of climate zones (most of the world allows any biome to generate like before 1.7, while "hot" and "cold" climate zones simply make those biomes more common at the expense of the opposite extreme), you may have to travel quite far before finding a particular biome, where "far" in my case means on the order of 1000 blocks (it takes me about half a year of daily playing for several hours a day to explore a level 4 map, which is 2048x2048 blocks):
There is only one instance of several biomes here, and many biomes aren't present at all, even though statistically you'd expect to find one within such an area based on their chance (for example, there is only one Rocky Mountains and 7 Jungle biomes, which have about the same probability of generating; likewise TMCW Mega Taiga and Mesa have about the same probability but only the latter is present, with 4 biomes).
Also, it is much harder to find things that are underground, as opposed to on the surface; many players consider dungeons to be rare when in fact they are dozens of times more common than structures like villages; fossils are actually quite common in the biomes they generate in (in fact, in the world shown above bone blocks nearly as common as emerald ore); likewise, many players rely on iron farms despite there being over 2.6 million iron ore in a world the size of this one (30353 chunks, with most of the caves explored and stripped of resources, so there used to be far more spawners, moss stone, and rails in particular. Ores are also more common in newer versions, and rarer ores are less common here than in vanilla because I lowered their ranges):
(1:0),Stone,344824362
(1:1),Stone,18202197
(1:3),Stone,18150141
(1:5),Stone,18167617
(2:0),Grass,5039283
(3:0),Dirt,39744179
(9:0),Water,7750412
(11:0),Lava,1525881
(12:0),Sand,5769538
(13:0),Gravel,11477240
(24:0),Sandstone,19927820
(24:1),Sandstone,155
(24:2),Sandstone,1874
// Was mostly lava prior to exploring
(49:0),Obsidian,337225
(82:0),Clay,368370
// Stained/Hardened Clay (Mesa + Desert Temple)
(159:0),Future Block!,645368
(159:1),Future Block!,536602
(159:4),Future Block!,449233
(159:8),Future Block!,367735
(159:11),Future Block!,4
(159:12),Future Block!,412607
(159:14),Future Block!,373209
(172:0),Future Block!,4358815
// Mineral resources / rare/special blocks
(14:0),Gold Ore,244114
(15:0),Iron Ore,2609467
(16:0),Coal Ore,4753949
(21:0),Lapis Lazuli Ore,110260
(30:0),Web,33741
// Not craftable in TMCW / before 1.8
(48:0),Moss Stone,16151
// Amethyst ore (more common below y=3 / cave lava level)
(49:1),Obsidian,11476
(52:0),Monster Spawner,461
(56:0),Diamond Ore,61297
(66:0),Rail,8840
(66:1),Rail,9189
(73:0),Redstone Ore,490834
// Variants are not craftable in TMCW / before 1.8
(98:0),Stone Bricks,49065
(98:1),Mossy Stone Bricks,21182
(98:2),Cracked Stone Bricks,14276
(98:3),Circle Stone Bricks,630
(129:0),Emerald Ore,4895
// Bone Block (fossils)
(180:0),Future Block!,1860
(180:4),Future Block!,1339
(180:8),Future Block!,1576
// Ruby Ore (only in Rocky Mountains)
(181:0),Future Block!,2549
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
1. Changes in mineral frequency - I approve all the way!
2. Respawn mechanics - I object. I prefer current means through cheap beds, they enable more mobility for the player.
3. Biome specific mobs - I approve all the way!
4. Better means of travel - I object! What do we have minecarts, horses, Nether, boats on ice and water, striders for?! At most I would rather see minecarts moving faster and boats being more versatile, but that's completely different thing!
5. More biome variation - For the most part I object. Most of our current biomes need additional diversification, we should postpone those.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
I think the concept is not to make coal, iron, gold, redstone, LL or diamonds unavailable in most biomes, but rather to double or so the presence of various ores in various biomes.
It would encourage setting up multiple smaller mining outposts as one-man empire accordingly to the needs rather than strip mining the closest available areas.
I like a perspective of one-man empire with multiple smaller mining outposts connected by ice roads or railways, and I think of adding an incentive to actually do it.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
I agree on your opinion about traveling.
I just recently found out that a pig is an awesome mount!
I completly forget that you can auto walk with it, wich makes traveling on highways like in the nether a thing you can do afk.
The strider is even faster but a highway for that would be a challange to build.
The boat is of corse the faster way, but imo its too fast.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
I really would like to see some sort of feature come to Mushroom Biomes. Lots of other biomes have some sort of structure, mob, or unique resources; making them worth hunting for. While I love Mushrooms Biomes, they lack an overall reason to seek them out. Plus, they’re already rare as it is
I think the mushroom biome should stay peaceful as it is right now.
Its the only biome where monsters can not spawn, wich is great for building stuff.
Yes it lacks other animals but i don't want hostile mobs there.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
I agree, but I also agree with Eiche--no hostile mobs in the Mushroom biomes. A new passive mob would be pretty nice though. Honestly, one of the few ideas I'd accept for a new dimension would be some kind of fungus-infested world, so perhaps the portal to this realm can spawn in the Mushroom biomes or only be made with some new material found there
I disagree with a fungus infested dimension. We already have a hole fungus biome and the nether trees somewhat look like fungi too.
Instead add more fungus types to the biome, ect. There could be fungi which only generate underground or on the overworld but only in shadows.
Under water fungus, fungus that glows in the dark. Fungus that grows on the side of tree stems.
Maybe a passive mob that is a walking fungus instead of fungus infested. So much possibilitys to add fungi!
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
We have enough fungus...
Entire Overworld biome built around it, Mooshroom being infested passive mob, plus Nether fungi in two varieties with various utilities.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out