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 without external editors
 * However, using the /difficulty command will still work

Gameplay

 * Target selectors
 * Targets entities
 * 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\
 * 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 anything renamed to the given string, item is not removed on use
 * The lock can be completely removed utilizing the command
 * Gamerule
 * Prevents command block output from being stored in chat logs. In multiplayer, also prevents player-initiated commands from being stored. Unrelated to commandBlockOutput, which is output into the visible chat.
 * The lock can be completely removed utilizing the command
 * Gamerule
 * Prevents command block output from being stored in chat logs. In multiplayer, also prevents player-initiated commands from being stored. Unrelated to commandBlockOutput, which is output into the visible chat.
 * Prevents command block output from being stored in chat logs. In multiplayer, also prevents player-initiated commands from being stored. Unrelated to commandBlockOutput, which is output into the visible chat.

World Generation

 * Underground
 * Granite, Andesite and Diorite generate in pockets within Stone terrain
 * Similar size and abundance to Dirt and Gravel

Blocks and Items

 * Diorite
 * Crafting recipe: 2 Cobblestone and 2 Nether Quartz in a checker board pattern
 * Can be crafted into Polished Diorite
 * Andesite
 * Crafting recipe: 1 Cobblestone and 1 Diorite
 * Can be crafted into Polished Andesite
 * Granite
 * 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 mobs 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

 * Skin
 * Right and left arms and legs are now editable independently
 * Uses a char.png file with new layout and new dimensions
 * Dimensions for the file are now 64x64
 * Overlay now includes the whole body
 * Overlays are called hat, jacket, sleeves and pants legs
 * New "Skin Customization" button in the options menu
 * Cape visibility is now toggled from here
 * You can toggle the visibility of overlays, independent for each limb/body part
 * Skins are now more "stable"
 * Skins are less likely to reset to default in-game
 * Changing skins is more instant in servers
 * Backward-compatible
 * Player Heads
 * Player heads are no longer only one layer
 * F3 debug screen
 * Now shows which axis you are facing after the cardinal direction - "Towards positive/negative X/Z"
 * Block IDs
 * NBT data in commands can now use block/item names in place of numerical ids
 * Old ids still work, but are being phased out slowly
 * Other occurences of blocks/items now need to be named ids
 * 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 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
 * Villager Breeding
 * 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
 * Now supports rotation arguments
 * Example: teleports the player so that he faces 20 degrees to the right and 40 degrees downwards
 * Target Selectors
 * Now supports cubic areas
 * Example:  gets all entities between 0,0,0 and 10,10,10
 * New radius value usable in target selectors, based on the block centre
 * A radius of 0 works for exact block positions
 * Teleporting
 * Relative teleporting is smoother and no longer brings players to a stop; it preserves their velocity from before the teleport
 * Item tooltips
 * Now show the internal name for use in commands (F3+H mode)
 * Teleporting
 * Relative teleporting is smoother and no longer brings players to a stop; it preserves their velocity from before the teleport
 * Item tooltips
 * Now show the internal name for use in commands (F3+H mode)

World Generation

 * Underground
 * Lapis Lazuli spawn in larger veins
 * Villages
 * Gravel roads in villages have cobblestone underneath, to prevent them from collapsing into caves
 * Desert Temples
 * Now spawn with Stained Clay rather than Wool

Blocks and Items

 * Chiseled Stone Bricks
 * Now craftable
 * Crafting recipe: Two stone brick slabs on top of each other
 * Moss Stone
 * Now craftable
 * Crafting recipe: One cobblestone and one vine
 * 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
 * Mob heads
 * Player heads now show the skin's hat layer
 * Can now be placed by Dispensers
 * Buttons
 * Can now be placed on Ceiling and on the ground
 * Comparators
 * Can now detect what way an item frame is rotated

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
 * Villagers
 * When struck by lightning, villagers turn into witches
 * Can 'Bully' the player by breaking the crops they plant
 * Iron Golems
 * Are more reliable
 * Have much greater natural spawn rates in villages
 * Now attack the player as soon as he is attacking the golem in survival
 * Now only drop iron when killed by the player, either through combat, potions, or player-activated mechanisms such as manually lit TNT
 * If killed without player intervention, only drops poppies
 * Zombie Pigmen
 * Now only drop gold nuggets/gold swords when killed by the player, either through combat, potions, or player-activated mechanisms such as manually lit TNT
 * If killed without player intervention, only drops rotten flesh