Java Edition upcoming features

This page is about upcoming features that have been announced by Mojang employees.

Near future
{| class="collapsible wikitable" style="width: 100%" ! style="width:10em; height:3em" | Version ! Planned changes ! style="width:10em" | Planned release date World Generator Update
 * style="text-align: center;" | 1.7:
 * style="text-align: center;" | 1.7:

World Generation
Additions


 * Biomes
 * Mesa (also known as Clay Canyon or "Disco Mountains")
 * Composed of multiple colored hardened clay
 * Dead bushes spawn in this biome
 * Savannah
 * Curved Acacia-like Trees
 * Along with plains, the savannah is one of the two biomes where horses now spawn naturally
 * NPC Villages may generate in savannah biomes
 * Sunflower Plains
 * Exactly the same as Plains, but can spawn Sunflowers
 * Roofed/Black Forest
 * Has dark grass and giant mushrooms with 2 by 2 spruce trees
 * Has extremely dense trees and leaves; dark and dangerous under the canopy even during the day
 * Monsters will most likely be able to spawn during the day and the night
 * This is the first biome aside from the Mushroom Island that naturally spawns with giant mushrooms
 * It appears to have yellow illuminating mushrooms
 * Birch Forest
 * A forest made of birch trees.
 * Flower Forest
 * Forest variant with several of the new flowers, including peonies, orange tulips, white tulips, oxeye daisies, rose bush and allium
 * Taiga
 * Non-snowy taiga variation. The previous taiga biomes are now cold taiga biomes
 * Mega Taiga
 * Contains 2x2 Spruce trees
 * Has a grass block variant known as Podzol.
 * Currently obtained only by the silk touch enchantment.
 * Contains dirt blocks that do not allow grass to grow.
 * They have a data value of 1.
 * Only obtainable with because there is no visual difference.
 * Moss Stone "boulders" are scattered around in this biome.
 * Dead Bushes, Mushrooms, and Ferns spawn in this biome.
 * Extreme Hills+
 * Contains spruce trees
 * Ice Plains Spikes
 * Contains giant ice spires similar to upside down icicles made of Packed Ice
 * Deep Ocean
 * Is about ten blocks deeper than normal oceans, the maximum depth is in the low 30s
 * Biome Variants/Technical Biomes
 * M - Biomes with an M variant are much rarer than any other variant.
 * Extreme Hills M, Taiga M, Roofed Forest M, Extreme Hills+ M, Savanna M, Savanna Plateau M, Swampland M, Jungle M, Mesa Plateau M and Mesa Plateau F M are more mountainous versions of their normal biome counterpart.
 * Desert M has patches of water unlike normal deserts
 * Birch Forest M has taller birch trees than usual
 * JungleEdge M, Birch Forest Hills M, Cold Taiga M are other rare technical biome variants
 * Plateau - Biomes with a Plateau variant are like the hills technical biome, but flattened at the top
 * Savanna Plateau and Mesa Plateau are both plateaus
 * Hills - More technical hills biomes have been added to fit with the new biomes.
 * Birch Forest Hills, Cold Taiga Hills, and Mega Taiga Hills can now be generated.
 * Beach - New beaches separate certain biomes from oceans and rivers.
 * Stone Beach is composed mainly of Stone and often generates between an Extreme Hills biome and a body of water.
 * Cold Beach is composed of Sand with a layer of Snow on top.
 * Usually generates between a cold biome, such as Ice Plains, and a body of water.
 * World type
 * AMPLIFIED
 * Mountains in this world type can reach up to Y: 256
 * Extremely resource intensive and requires powerful computer to run
 * Ravines here can reach down to bedrock.

 Improvements & Changes 


 * Categorisation of Biomes
 * Four main categories based on temperature
 * Snow-covered, cold, medium, dry/warm
 * Placement of Biomes
 * Biomes will attempt to avoid getting placed next to a biome that is too different to itself
 * Biomes
 * Jungle
 * Melons can now be found in Jungle Biomes in patches similar to Pumpkins
 * Swampland
 * Grass is greener and fluctuates more in color, depending on biome temperature
 * In shallower parts, the coast is covered in staggered dirt block with lilypads between them
 * Plains
 * Now spawns with two of the new flowers - azure bursts and dandelions
 * Extreme Hills
 * Snow at high elevations of over y=95
 * Contain Stone and large dirt patches
 * Gravel can replace ground cover
 * Flat plains near sea level
 * Ocean
 * Oceans are smaller and take up much less of the map
 * Contain only gravel on the floor instead of sand, dirt, and gravel
 * Gravel Beaches
 * Appear more often
 * Snow
 * Snow may now generate depending on Y level, with noise variation
 * Biome dependent

Gameplay
 Additions 


 * Commands
 * Can be used to summon any entity in the game to the player, including Giants, Ender Crystals, Ender Dragons, and primed TNT.
 * Usage:.
 * Can be used to give a player achievements or statistics.
 * Usage:.
 * Particle effects
 * Fishing now has particle effects.
 * Bubbles will show up moving towards your bobber just before you have something on your hook. This has the appearance of a fish swimming towards the hook.
 * Falling now has particle effects.
 * Particle size depends on distance fell.
 * Falling now has particle effects.
 * Particle size depends on distance fell.

 Improvements & Changes 
 * Fishing
 * Changes to fishing mechanics
 * Items other than Fish can be obtained by fishing.
 * There are three different categories.
 * Fish: 4 items total, including Raw Fish, Raw Salmon, Clownfish, and Pufferfish.
 * Treasure: 7 items total, including enchanted fishing rods, enchanted bow, enchanted books, name tags, tripwire hook, lilypads, and saddles.
 * Junk: 11 items total, including damaged fishing rods, Water Bottles, rotten flesh, string, leather, bowl, sticks, boots or damaged boots.
 * New enchantments for Fishing Rods that can change your luck when fishing.
 * Lure - reduces wait time to catch an item.
 * Luck of the Sea - increases chance of getting treasure and decreases chance of getting junk.
 * Achievements and statistics
 * Now ties in with the scoreboard system - added 744 new objective criteria that were previously tracked with statistics and achievements
 * Are now per world/server
 * Achievements screen can now be zoomed in and out using the mouse wheel.
 * Achievements don't appear on the achievements screen if more than five achievements need to be achieved first (i.e. "DIAMONDS!" doesn't appear until "Getting Wood" is achieved).
 * Data for an block, item, or mob doesn't appear in their respective tab in the Statistics screen unless the player has crafted/placed/mined that block, crafted/used/depleted that item, or killed/was killed by that mob.
 * New achievements: Repopulation, Adventuring Time, The Beginning?, The Beginning., and Beaconator
 * New statistics: Distance by Horse, Junk Fished, and Treasure Fished
 * Scoreboard
 * Can now use statistics to create objectives; anything that statistics can track can be used as an objective (can also track achievements)
 * This is the reason why statistics/achievements were changed to be stored per world/server
 * Commands
 * Can now give items to players with custom names, lore and enchantments
 * Usage:
 * It can also give items with other custom NBT tags, such as SkullOwner to obtain the Head of a specific player, or even custom mob spawner traits, which removes the necessity to use an NBT editing program to obtain these items.
 * Now sets the time to 1000 instead of 0
 * Custom NBT data can now be added via commands
 * Works with /give and /summon
 * Syntax examples:
 * NBT format
 * List tags no longer need to be named
 * No longer crashes when given the wrong type (integer/short)
 * Fog
 * Increased fog distance
 * Death Screen
 * If you die and you select the 'Title screen' button, a prompt will ask if you are sure you want to quit and give you the options to go to the title screen or respawn and continue playing
 * Fog
 * Increased fog distance
 * Death Screen
 * If you die and you select the 'Title screen' button, a prompt will ask if you are sure you want to quit and give you the options to go to the title screen or respawn and continue playing

Blocks & Items
 Additions 


 * Fish
 * Pufferfish
 * Restores
 * If eaten, you will be given Poison IV for 1 minute, Hunger III and Nausea II for 15 seconds.
 * Used to brew a water breathing potion
 * Salmon
 * Can be cooked and eaten
 * Uncooked: Restores
 * Cooked: Restores
 * Clownfish
 * Usage still unknown besides being eaten
 * Restores
 * Packed Ice
 * When broken, does not turn to water like normal ice blocks do
 * Does not melt
 * Opaque, rather than translucent like normal ice
 * Podzol
 * New grass variation
 * Only found in Redwood Forest Biomes
 * Grassless Dirt
 * Grass can not grow on it
 * Only obtainable through /give
 * Trees
 * Curved jungle trees with oak leaves. Found in savannas.
 * Thick Spruce Trees (2x2)
 * Flowers
 * Red, Orange, White and Pink Tulips.
 * Can be crafted to Red, Orange, Light Gray, and Pink Dyes, respectively
 * Blue Orchid
 * Can be crafted to Light Blue Dye
 * Allium
 * Can be crafted to Magenta Dye
 * Azure Bluet
 * Can be crafted to Light Gray Dye
 * Oxeye Daisy
 * Can be crafted to Light Gray Dye
 * Poppy
 * Replacement for the rose - roses no longer exist
 * Replaces rose on the "Decoration Blocks" tab in the creative mode inventory.
 * All flowers can burn
 * Two blocks tall Flowers
 * Applying bonemeal to them causes them to dispense a flower item that can be collected. Therefore, all two blocks tall flowers are renewable.
 * Sunflowers
 * Typically face East
 * Can be grown, unlike Roses and Dandelions.
 * Can be crafted into 2 Yellow Dye
 * Pink Peonies, called Peony.
 * Can be crafted into 2 Pink Dye
 * Rose bush
 * Can be crafted into 2 Red Dye
 * Lilac
 * Can be crafted into 2 Magenta Dye
 * Two block tall grass
 * Double Tallgrass
 * Can be made by applying Bonemeal to Tallgrass.
 * Large Fern
 * Can be made by applying Bonemeal to Fern.
 * New variants of Monster Egg
 * Includes Mossy Stone Brick Monster Egg, Cracked Stone Brick Monster Egg and Chiseled Stone Brick Monster Egg.

 Improvements & Changes 


 * Written Books
 * Can now be cloned the same way maps can, but by using Book and Quills instead of Empty Maps.
 * Can clone multiple copies of the same Written Book by putting more Book and Quills in the crafting grid.
 * Can now be stacked (up to 16 per stack)
 * Item Frames
 * Now drop the item inside them when punched, then drop themselves if they are punched when empty.
 * Will display the name of the item they hold (if it is custom named) when looked at up close.
 * Weighted Pressure Plates
 * Now output a signal relative to the amount of entities on them, always starting at 1 signal strength if any entities are present
 * For Light Weighted Pressure Plates, every entity adds 1 strength to the signal
 * For Heavy Weighted Pressure Plates, starting at 1, every 10 entities adds 1 strength to the signal (Example: 11 entities increases signal strength to 2)
 * Sugar Cane
 * Color/shade is now affected by the biome color (similar to leaves, grass, vines, etc.)
 * Flint and Steel
 * Is now a shapeless recipe.
 * A Creeper will explode after igniting it with a flint and steel.
 * Dead Bushes
 * Can now be placed on Hardened Clay and Stained Clay.
 * Command Blocks
 * Now show what command it ran recently.
 * Armor, Bows & Swords
 * Can now get the Unbreaking enchant from enchantment tables

Mobs
 Improvements & Changes 


 * Iron Golems
 * Now drop poppies instead of roses
 * Creepers
 * Now explode after igniting it with flint and steel
 * Silverfish
 * Improved model and design

General
 Improvements & Changes 


 * Resource packs
 * Complete menu overhaul
 * The ability to select multiple resource packs at once.
 * Resource packs at the top take precedence over those below if files appear more than once
 * Allows for non-manual merging of textures from multiple packs, a sound pack and a different texture pack, etc.
 * Servers can now offer resource packs again
 * Max size increased to 50 MB
 * Lighting
 * Several lighting issues fixed.
 * A lot fewer "black spots" in the terrain generator.
 * Torch bugs in strongholds and mineshafts have been fixed.
 * Options
 * A completely new main options menu.
 * Rewrote some of them
 * New "Super Secret Settings" ingame.
 * Rewrote scroll list GUI component
 * Rewrote Key Configuration menu.
 * Added separate keybinds for every hotbar slot
 * Moved 'Invert Mouse', 'Sensitivity' & 'Touchscreen Mode' there
 * Function keys can be changed.
 * Cinematic camera is no longer assigned a key by default, and can be rebinded along with screenshot and camera keys
 * Added 'Sprint' key which can be changed
 * By default, sprinting can be activated by pressing the left control key
 * The original sprinting controls still function.
 * Doesn't allow sprinting while sneaking
 * Can be held down continuously to always sprint when moving
 * The volume of in game music, Jukebox and Note Block music, hostile mobs, passive mobs, players, weather, blocks/environment, and the master volume can now all be modified separately.
 * Creative mode inventory
 * Changed the display item for the Decoration Blocks tab from the Rose to the new Paeonia flower.
 * Server list
 * Can now be refreshed using F5
 * Nether Portal
 * Possibly an alternative shape to the standard 4x5 block configuration.

Bug Fixes
Bug fixes:
 * - Attempting to tp to an invalid coordinate returns "commands.generic.double.invalid"
 * - Incorrect usage string for `/scoreboard teams empty`
 * - when a pig gets struck by lightning it spawns without a sword
 * - Sometimes Water flows out of newly generated Village Farms
 * - RCON and Scoreboard Command Output Formatting
 * - Missing usage string commands.scoreboard.players.list.usage
 * - Scoreboard team join command fails on invalid team name
 * - Scoreboard option seeFriendlyInvisibles not listed in usage
 * - the letters for the 'off' setting on smooth lighting aren't capitalized
 * - "Reached end of stream" messages in Minecraft server terminal when client pings the server
 * - Invalid teamcolors throw an NPE in the console rather than an error message "invalid color"
 * - /spreadplayers confirmation text is wrong


 * style="text-align: center;" | Unknown
 * style="text-align: center;" | Launcher Updates
 * Multiple Minecraft copies per Mojang account.
 * "Make it prettier".
 * Add the possibility to play Indev and versions of Cave Game.
 * style="text-align: center;" | Unknown
 * }
 * style="text-align: center;" | Unknown
 * }