MINECRAFT WILD UPDATE

THE BIGGEST NEW FEATURES

By Michael Ahr

The annual Minecraft Live event shared plenty of new features coming to the popular sandbox adventure game in version 1.19, also known as the Wild Update.

Even though Minecraft players are still waiting on features promised in the previous Caves & Cliffs Update, Mojang is moving forward with even more changes in 2022.

In fact, Caves & Cliffs part 2 is coming around the holidays, but the Warden and the Deep Dark will have to wait until the next update before appearing in the game.

Mojang is hoping to make the wait worth it by adding underground cities with mysterious portals when the Deep Dark finally arrives in Minecraft 1.19.

Sculk blocks will also be getting new functionality, storing XP and using mob deaths to spread to adjacent terrain.

The Wild Update focuses mostly on the swamp, adding both new building material and passive mobs like frogs and fireflies.

Tadpoles can be scooped up in buckets and transported to other biomes to produce frog variants that will eventually have their own unique purposes.

The new mangrove tree can be planted on root systems in water and will provide a new color of wood for builders to work with.

The Wild Update also introduces mud bricks as a design choice. Mud can also be used with dripstone to create renewable clay.

The winner of this year’s mob vote was the Allay, a creature who can pick up any item like one given to it, making it easier for players to gather harvested materials.

Carrying materials also got easier with the implementation of the boat chest, a container that can be added to any boat to increase inventory space when traveling across the seas.

Last but not least, Minecraft players will be able to share world seeds across Java and Bedrock editions, something previously not possible. The Wild Update will arrive in 2022.