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 The Biome 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
 * Variants: Mesa Plateau and Mesa Plateau F, that adds a plateau of dirt and some trees on top of the clay layer.
 * 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
 * Variant: Mega Spruce Taiga and Mega Taiga Hills
 * Stone Beach
 * Cold Beach
 * Ice Plains
 * Flat, snow covered land with sparse spruce trees
 * Variant: Ice Mountain, similar to Ice Plains however with small mountains, Ice Plains Spikes, which contain giant ice spires similar to upside down icicles made of Packed Ice
 * Cliff (technical biome)
 * Main block is stone
 * Like Steep hills, not completely vertical
 * 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
 * Variants: 'Savanna M, where giant mountains with Savanna grass and trees spawn, Savanna Plateau and Savanna Plateau M'' which is raised higher, but still flat on top
 * 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
 * Variant: Roofed Forest M
 * Birch Forest
 * A forest made of birch trees.
 * Variants: Birch Forest M, Birch Forest Hills and Birch Forest Hills M
 * Sunflower Plains
 * Exactly the same as Plains, but can spawn Sunflowers
 * Flower Forest
 * Forest variant with several of the new flowers, including peonies, orange tulips, white tulips, oxeye daisies, rose bush and allium
 * Deep Ocean
 * Is about ten blocks deeper than normal oceans, the maximum depth is in the low 30s
 * Extreme Hills+
 * Contains spruce trees
 * Variant: Extreme Hills+ M, featuring insanely high mountain peaks which can reach into the clouds and sometimes slightly above
 * Extreme Hills
 * Snow at high elevations of over y=95
 * Contain rock and large dirt patches
 * Gravel can replace ground cover
 * Flat plains near sea level
 * Variant: Extreme Hills M, featuring insanely high mountain peaks which can reach into the clouds and sometimes slightly above
 * Taiga
 * Non-snowy taiga variation. The previous taiga biomes are now cold taiga biomes
 * World types
 * AMPLIFIED
 * Mountains in this world type can reach up to Y: 256
 * Extremely resource intensive and requires powerful computer to run

 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
 * Plains
 * Now spawns with two of the new flowers - azure bursts and dandelions
 * Ocean
 * Oceans are smaller and take up much less of the map
 * Contain only gravel on the floor instead of sand, dirt, and gravel
 * 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
 * Jungle
 * Melons can now be found in Jungle Biomes in patches similar to Pumpkins
 * Variants: Jungle M and JungleEdge
 * Extreme Hills
 * Generate spruce trees
 * Contains more stone in the biome or a variant of them
 * Snow
 * Snow may now generate depending on Y level, with noise variation
 * Biome dependent
 * Most biomes have uncommon/rare variations
 * Gravel beaches appear more often

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
 * can contain NBT data using the dataTag
 * Usage:
 * Particle effects
 * Fishing now has many different 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
 * Particle size depends on distance fell

 Improvements & Changes 
 * Fishing
 * Changes to fishing mechanics
 * More rewards: some good, some bad
 * Treasure: 7 items total, including enchanted fishing rods, enchanted bow, enchanted books, name tags, tripwire hook, lilypads, 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 - increases chance of catching fish
 * Luck of the Sea - increases chance of getting treasure
 * New fish types
 * Pufferfish, salmon, clownfish
 * 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
 * Fog
 * Increased fog distance
 * Fog
 * Increased fog distance

Blocks & Items
 Additions 


 * Fish
 * Pufferfish
 * Restores 1 food (equivalent to 1 potato)
 * 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 2 food (equivalent to 1 melon slice)
 * Cooked: Restores 6 food (equivalent to 1 cooked potato)
 * Clownfish
 * Usage still unknown besides being eaten
 * Restores 1 food (equivalent to 1 raw potato)
 * 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 Acacia-like Trees.
 * 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 replaced Rose
 * 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.

 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.
 * 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.
 * Water & Ice
 * No longer translucent on Fast graphics

General
 Additions 


 * Resource packs
 * The ability to select multiple resource packs at once.
 * Resource packs at the top take precedence over those below.
 * Allows for non-manual merging of textures from multiple packs, a sound pack and a different texture pack, etc.

 Improvements & Changes 


 * 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.
 * A new "Select Resource Pack" menu.
 * Rewrote Key Config.
 * Function and sprint keys can be changed.
 * By default, sprinting can be activated by holding down the left control key
 * The original sprinting controls (double-tap forward or double-tap backward while holding down forward) still function.
 * Smooth mouse, formerly available by pressing F8, will now use F4 by default.
 * 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.

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

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
 * }