Java Edition 1.8

General

 * Splash
 * "That's Numberwang!"
 * Difficulty
 * Difficulty is per world
 * No more global difficulty option
 * Prevents accidentally changing the difficulty when joining the world
 * Can be locked for each world
 * Prevents the temptation to change to an easier difficulty in difficult situations
 * Locking can not be undone
 * However, using the /difficulty command will still work

Gameplay

 * Target selectors
 * Targets entitities
 * Can specify type of entity by entity ID to either include or exclude with  or
 * Example: - kills all chicken within a radius of 50 blocks
 * Example: - any entity within a radius of 5 blocks will be teleported five blocks in the air
 * Target selector addition
 * The  can be used to target the oldest entity (1) or youngest (-1)
 * Example: - the most recent entity will be teleported ten blocks in the air
 * Commands
 * Modifies NBT data at a specific coordinate. The
 * Mostly for use in adventure mode
 * Items with this tag display the names of the blocks that they can destroy in the item tooltip
 * Example: to give a Diamond Shovel that can break grass and sand)
 * A way to lock containers from being opened using NBT tags
 * Mostly useful for adventure maps in adventure mode
 * Containers can be unlocked by clearing their String for Lock
 * Locked containers can only be opened while holding a name tag renamed to the given string, item is not removed on use
 * The lock can be completely removed utilizing the command
 * Mostly useful for adventure maps in adventure mode
 * Containers can be unlocked by clearing their String for Lock
 * Locked containers can only be opened while holding a name tag renamed to the given string, item is not removed on use
 * The lock can be completely removed utilizing the command

Blocks and Items

 * Diorite
 * Generates within Stone terrain, in veins similar in size and abundance to Coal
 * Crafting recipe: 2 Cobblestone and 2 Nether Quartz in a checker board pattern
 * Can be crafted into Polished Diorite
 * Andesite
 * Generates within Stone terrain, in veins similar in size and abundance to Coal
 * Crafting recipe: 1 Cobblestone and 1 Diorite
 * Can be crafted into Polished Andesite
 * Granite
 * Generates within Stone terrain, in veins similar in size and abundance to Coal
 * Crafting recipe: 1 Nether Quartz and 1 Diorite
 * Can be crafted into Polished Granite
 * Polished Diorite
 * Crafting recipe: 4 Diorite in a 2x2 configuration
 * Polished Andesite
 * Crafting recipe: 4 Andesite in a 2x2 configuration
 * Polished Granite
 * Crafting recipe: 4 Granite in a 2x2 configuration
 * Slime Block
 * Players and entities that land on their top side will bounce, like on a trampoline
 * Bounce rebound velocity is scaled by impact velocity, can reach up to 60%
 * Currently does not affect item entities
 * Prevents fall damage
 * Walking on it is slower than walking on Soulsand, close to one's speed whilst sneaking
 * Crafting recipe: 9 Slime Balls
 * Can be crafted back into 9 Slime Balls

General

 * F3 debug screen
 * Now shows which axis you are facing after the cardinal direction - "Towards positive/negative X/Z"
 * Chat
 * Improved chat communication
 * Messages are now either chat, system or action bar messages
 * Action bar messages are always shown, chat and system messages are only shown if chat settings are configured that way
 * Some instances of usernames in the chat will now show the player's UUID when hovered on when debug tooltips are enabled
 * Performance
 * Overworld, Nether and End are stored differently, increasing performance

Gameplay

 * Villager Trading
 * Rebalanced villager trading
 * Offers will be less random and probably more useful
 * Existing villagers will not be affected
 * Trading now gives experience
 * Villager profession is now displayed in trade GUI
 * Villagers start out with 2-4 trades unlocked
 * Trading any offer will unlock up to 3 new trades or reactivate old ones
 * There are now more villager professions (only notable trade changes and additions listed)
 * White robe: Librarian (now buys stacked written books, can now offer different enchanted books)
 * Purple robe: Cleric (now only sells a single piece of redstone, sells lapis, buys ender pearls and rotten flesh)
 * Brown robe: Fisherman (buys string, coal, cooks normal fish, sells enchanted fishing rods), Farmer (no longer sells melons, buys melon blocks, pumpkins, potatoes, carrots, sells cake and pumpkin pie), Fletcher (buys string, sells bows, converts 10 gravel into 10 flint), Shepherd (sells colored wool)
 * White apron: Butcher, Leatherworker (buys leather, sells leather armor, enchanted leather armor, and saddles)
 * Black apron: Armorer (Sells enchanted diamond armor, iron armor, chain armor), Tool Smith (sells enchanted iron shovel/pick and enchanted diamond pick), Weapon Smith (sells enchanted iron sword, enchanted diamond sword, enchanted diamond axe, iron axe)
 * The disabled trade arrow now has a descriptive tooltip
 * Trades are now unlocked more freely
 * Villagers will now only breed when willing
 * The first time a specific trade is done, the villager will become willing, any other time there's a 1 in 5 chance the villager will become willing
 * When a baby villager is born, both parents lose their willingness
 * Finding out a villager's willingness in survival is difficult: The only tell is the amount of xp they give when trading; Normal trading yields 3-6 experience points, trading and making a villager willing yields 8-11 experience points
 * Enchanting
 * Enchanting will now cost 1 to 3 levels, but you still need the same minimum total levels
 * For example, an enchantment may only become available for enchanting after reaching 13 levels of experience, but will only cost 2 XP levels and 2 of a resource.
 * Additionally, there is now a material cost - Enchanting also costs 1 to 3 pieces of lapis lazuli now
 * The actual enchantment calculation is the same
 * One of the enchantments will be displayed in the tooltip
 * The enchantments you would get on a tool will not change until you enchant something - This enchantment seed is stored per player
 * Leveling up now takes longer
 * Level V enchants can now appear on an item without the use of an Anvil
 * Anvil repairing
 * Costs reduced to balance out with the new enchanting system
 * Renaming items will now only cost 1 level
 * Repairing will costs from 2 to 5 levels and tools can be repaired longer and with better enchantments
 * Repairing costs can no longer be kept down by renaming items
 * Adventure mode
 * Block hitboxes no longer appear in Adventure mode if interaction with the block is impossible
 * Block interaction is now impossible by default
 * The CanDestroy NBT tag can be used to determine which blocks can be allowed to be broken (see above for usage)
 * Commands
 * Can now be used to clear only a specific number of items and can be restricted to certain NBT data
 * Example: will remove up to 34 villager spawn eggs named Michael from yourself
 * Can now be followed by an @e entity parameter
 * Example:
 * Can now also check for dataTags
 * Example:
 * No longer is exclusively usable in command blocks
 * Teleporting
 * Relative teleporting is smoother and no longer brings players to a stop; it preserves their velocity from before the teleport
 * No longer is exclusively usable in command blocks
 * Teleporting
 * Relative teleporting is smoother and no longer brings players to a stop; it preserves their velocity from before the teleport

World Generation

 * Underground
 * Granite, Andesite and Diorite sometimes spawn instead of stone
 * Spawn as commonly as dirt and gravel underground
 * Lapis Lazuli spawn in larger veins

Blocks and Items

 * Chiseled Stone Bricks
 * Now craftable
 * Crafting recipe: Two stone brick slabs on top of each other
 * Mossy Stone Bricks
 * Now craftable
 * Crafting recipe: One stone brick and one vine
 * Doors
 * Stackable up to 64
 * The crafting recipe for doors now gives 3 doors instead of one.
 * Furnaces
 * When a furnace runs out of fuel, the smelting progress will pause instead of resetting.
 * Carrots
 * Restore 3 hunger points instead of 4.
 * Baked Potatoes
 * Restore 5 hunger points instead of 6.

Mobs

 * Baby animals (sheep, pig, cow, chicken, cat, dog, horse)
 * Baby animal growth can now slowly be accelerated using the animal's breeding item
 * It appears holding the right mouse button speeds up this process