Java Edition 15w31a

15w31a is the first snapshot released for 1.9, released on July 29th, 2015. Many announced features for 1.9 aren't on this snapshot. However, future snapshots may see the release of these announced features.

At 345 days since 14w34d, it is the longest time between snapshots for major updates.

Gameplay

 * Dominant hand option
 * An option for players to change their dominant hand on their player model
 * Dual wielding
 * Only the main hand can be used for attacking
 * Bows can be used even when something is in the other hand
 * The other hand is invisible in first person view when not holding something
 * Key to swap items between hands, which is by default
 * For example, if you have a pickaxe in your main hand and a torch in your other hand, right click places the torch
 * The off-hand slot is displayed next to the hotbar, on the off-hand side (left for right-hand players and vice versa)
 * Some attributes and enchantments will apply to the off-hand item, while others will not
 * Status effects
 * Levitation status effect
 * Received when player is hit by shulker projectiles
 * Makes player involuntarily float high into the air
 * Can be used to get to higher places
 * Listed as a negative effect due to the potential to kill from fall damage
 * Higher levels of levitation result in faster floating
 * For example, effect level 255 results in neither floating up nor down
 * Effect level 254 results in slow fall (similar to moon gravity)
 * Hitting the ground still results in the player receiving regular fall damage, if the player had fallen from a high enough elevation.
 * Glowing status effect
 * Received when players or mobs are hit by spectral arrows
 * Makes player's outline glow, seen even through non-transparent blocks
 * Listed as a negative effect because it prevents you from hiding from players once you are hit
 * Supports different colors for different teams to allow usage in competitive maps, team co-op maps, etc.

Blocks

 * Chorus Flowers
 * Spawn on the top of the chorus plant
 * Don't drop when the supporting block is destroyed, so you need to hand-pick them.
 * Can only be planted on end stone in any dimension.
 * Chorus Plants
 * Generate in the End
 * Can be planted using chorus flowers
 * Breaks if the supporting block is broken
 * Drops chorus fruit
 * Dragon Head
 * While a player wears the head and moves, the head's mouth opens and closes repeatedly.
 * When powered with redstone, the jaw starts to move up and down.
 * Will keep its state when unpowered (if it is unpowered while the jaw is closed, it remains closed; If you unpower it while it is open, it remains open).
 * End Rod
 * Generates in the End City dungeons
 * Placeable horizontally and vertically which produce white particles
 * Used as a lighting source with the same level of lighting as glowstone
 * Horizontal End Rods can be walked on like half slabs
 * End Stone Bricks
 * Generates in the End City dungeons
 * Can be crafted with End Stones
 * Grass Path
 * A 15/16 block tall grass-like “path”. It features a somewhat similar texture to the grass block.
 * Made by right clicking grass with any shovel.
 * Just drops dirt when broken with a silk touch tool.
 * Cannot be obtained in the creative inventory.
 * But, unlike farmland, can be obtained by using the key in creative.
 * Purpur Block
 * Generates in the End city dungeons
 * Can be crafted with popped chorus fruit
 * Purpur Pillar
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur slabs
 * Purpur Stairs
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur blocks
 * Purpur Slabs
 * Generates in the End city dungeons.
 * Can be crafted with purpur blocks
 * Structure block
 * Only placable via, but unusable

Items

 * Arrows
 * New spectral arrow (gold colored)
 * Shows mob and player outlines in their team color when hit – even when invisible
 * NBT tag for entities to disable outlines
 * The glowing is a status effect – you can find out whether you're glowing from a spectral arrow using the status effect HUD
 * Crafted by surrounding an arrow with 4 glowstone dust, yields 2 spectral arrow
 * Arrows can be tipped with potions
 * 14 arrow types
 * Each differently tipped arrow is available in the creative menu, just like enchanted books
 * Effect is applied on hit

so this can be used to escape out of caves
 * Beetroot
 * Restores.
 * Spawns naturally in villages
 * Can be used to craft beetroot soup.
 * Can also be used to craft rose red dye.
 * Beetroot Soup
 * Restores.
 * Crafted from 6 beetroots and a bowl
 * Beetroot Seeds
 * Used to grow beetroots.
 * Chorus Fruit
 * Obtained from chorus plants
 * Can be eaten even if the player is not hungry, similar to Golden Apples
 * Can be cooked in Furnaces to obtain Popped Chorus Fruits
 * Teleports the player when eaten
 * Like /spreadplayers you will get teleported to the highest block available,
 * Popped Chorus Fruit
 * Obtained from cooking chorus fruit
 * Used to craft purpur blocks
 * Splash Water Bottle
 * Splash water bottles can be used to extinguish fires.

World generation

 * End City
 * Dungeon-type structure: "Tree"houses made of endstone and new blocks, including stairs
 * Generates on separate end islands arranged around the main island in a donut fashion
 * Around the donut islands there's many more small islands
 * Includes floating ships
 * Includes speed beacons
 * Loot includes beetroot seeds, diamonds, gold and high enchanted diamond/iron gear of all sorts
 * Brewing stands with (health) potions in them
 * Chorus plants
 * Tree/cactus-like arrangements of new purple block.
 * Drop when supporting block is destroyed, like cacti.
 * Drop edible chorus fruit items.
 * Can be farmed by planting the chorus fruit flowers that come from the top of the plants.
 * Grow in stages.
 * End Gateway Portal
 * Appears after killing the Ender Dragon
 * New type of portal, due to its size it is only accessible using ender pearls, or by riding pigs, boats or minecarts.
 * Used to warp to other end islands depending on the direction of the ender pearl throw.
 * When it is generated, it has a purple beacon effect shooting up and down from it. It will then slowly go away.
 * When a player or entity warped to another gateway, it will output a yellow beam.

Mobs

 * Shulker
 * Short for "Shell Lurker"
 * The shell looks like a purple block
 * It can appear on the ground or walls
 * Appears in the End city
 * Using commands, they can be made to be part of a team to attack other teams and can be used as defense mobs
 * When attacking, opens up and shoots projectiles which only move along the x/y/z axis
 * Projectiles can be knocked away by attacking them.
 * Getting hit by a projectile causes 2 hearts of damage and provides the levitation status effect
 * It can teleport like an Enderman while attacked or pushed by Piston.

General

 * Options
 * Removed Super Secret Settings and Broadcast Settings
 * Removed Alternate Blocks from video settings
 * Attributes
 * CustomNameVisible:true will make the name tag on mobs show in the same way as on players
 * Block models
 * Different models/textures for different damage values, stack sizes and item states
 * Works on compass, clock and everything that can have a durability bar, bows have different property states for pulling, how far it's been pulled & fishing rods differentiate between cast and not cast
 * Models can be put together based on BlockState attributes - Example: fences - As a result, the vanilla set of block models was reduced by almost 300 models
 * Better rotation & translation handling and consistent left hand support
 * You can set different models for use in the off-hand and head slot
 * Blockmodel JSON is now strict, comments and quoteless identifiers are not allowed.
 * "display" tag defaults have changed, see assets/minecraft/models/block/block.json for offsets
 * Parent and elements tags can coexist now
 * Removed the option to disable alternate block models
 * Block states
 * Fire block states flip and alt were removed, and the integer state upper was reimplemented as the byte state up, cutting the number of states representing fire from 3072 to 512.
 * Structure data
 * Now comes from /assets/structures

Gameplay

 * Bosses
 * Proper support for multiple bosses’ health bars, so they show at the same time without obstructing each other.
 * Death messages
 * Death messages will now be displayed on the player's death screen as well as in the chat.
 * Inventory
 * Rearranged the survival inventory and the creative "survival tab" to accommodate the new off hand slot.
 * Unified the orientation of many items in the inventory
 * Status effects
 * Status effects are now displayed on the HUD, instead of just in the inventory, similarly to Pocket Edition
 * Displays status effect icons ordered by time left
 * Positive effects are on the top row, negative effects on the bottom row
 * Effects that are about to run out blink, faster when closer to running out and also fade away
 * Damage tooltips
 * Now reads "When in main hand:"

Blocks

 * Armor stands
 * Can now be summoned to dual wield with commands in creative.
 * Dead bushes
 * Will now drop anywhere between 0–2 sticks
 * Trapdoors
 * No longer require supporting blocks
 * Can be moved with pistons
 * Stairs
 * Are now rotated 90° in the inventory

Items

 * Bows
 * The bow in your hotbar now shows an animation for drawing back an arrow.
 * Arrows in the off hand are prioritized over arrows in the rest of the inventory slots.
 * Ender pearls
 * Can now be thrown in creative mode
 * Maps
 * Now display as a mini map when held in the off hand, or if the off-hand slot is occupied; the (old) large version is visible only when held in the dominant hand with both hands free.
 * Fishing rods
 * Casting fishing rods now has an animation in the hotbar/inventory
 * Potions
 * Mixed potions' colors now blend
 * Numeric IDs are no longer used. Instead an NBT "Potion" tag is used, e.g.
 * Splash potions now have a separate data value and ID name
 * Added Mundane, Thick and, Awkward potions to the creative inventory
 * Removed some recipes.
 * Glass panes & Iron bars
 * Glass panes/iron bars without any connecting blocks are now 2x2 pixels in footprint

World generation

 * End islands
 * A set amount of differently-sized pillars are arranged in a circular fashion
 * The tallest pillars have iron bars around their ender crystal
 * This makes it so that you have to climb some of the pillars, making the fight harder
 * The exit portal is pre-generated, but without the dragon egg and portal blocks
 * Infinite number of islands in the end
 * Mini islands generate between major islands
 * End islands and mini end islands have chorus plants spread throughout the island
 * End ship
 * When a player or entity warped to another gateway, it will output a yellow beam.
 * Spawns across from End city dungeon
 * Composed of the same materials as End city dungeon
 * Has shulkers in it
 * Has a purple Beacon and a brewing stand with potions of healing and other loot
 * The Nether
 * Removed the Nether fog
 * Villages
 * Farms now include beetroot crops

Mobs

 * Ender dragon
 * Similar to the one on console edition, but a step further
 * The dragon can be respawned as often as you want by placing player-made craftable ender crystals, but subsequent dragons don't drop as much XP
 * The dragon breathes fire/purple particles on players and mobs
 * The dragon will shoot fireballs
 * The dragon will defend the obsidian pillars more the further the fight progresses
 * For now, you can respawn the dragon by drawing a creeper face with clay, but it won’t respawn everything yet
 * The dragon flies and stops over the portal sometimes, only then can it be killed
 * Villagers
 * Farmer villagers now harvest beetroot.
 * Hostile mobs
 * Will now have animations to show that they are attacking.
 * Skeletons
 * Skeletons now have an animation for drawing back their bow.
 * Have a small chance to spawn with their bow in their left hand
 * Mapmakers can make skeletons shoot potion-tipped arrows
 * Endermen
 * Endermen will now remain aggravated towards the player despite being in contact with water.
 * Enderman will now drop the block they are holding when killed