Java Edition 1.9

, known as The Combat Update, is an upcoming update to Minecraft. Dinnerbone has stated that snapshots will begin sometime this year (2015). It is currently listed on the bug tracker as "Far Future Version - 1.9+" and has been mentioned by the Minecraft developers. Jeb and Dinnerbone have stated that 1.9 will mostly add new features within the game rather than doing internal code rewrites like in 1.8. This is to make it easier for modders to update from 1.8 to 1.9, as updating to 1.8 from 1.7 was difficult due to many code rewrites.

Planned additions

 * Animations / Entity Models
 * Could possibly include model changes within the NBT data.
 * Would be implemented via resource packs.
 * Will make better use of code so that map/mod makers can create better/new mobs.
 * Same as the block data changes in 1.8.
 * May not be 100% finished.
 * Blocks
 * New block type.
 * New dark colored block.
 * Cannot be obtained and does not naturally generate.
 * Has a visual effect on the world.
 * Grass Path
 * A 15/16 block tall grass-like "path". It features a similar texture to the grass block.
 * Captions / Subtitles
 * Subtitles which display for each sound for the hard of hearing/deaf.
 * An example would be "[creeper hissing]".

Planned changes

 * Bosses
 * Proper support for multiple bosses including health bars for each boss.
 * Ender dragon boss fight
 * A redo of the ender dragon's boss fight, making it similar to the fight in Console Edition.
 * Some obsidian pillars will have iron bars surrounding the ender crystal.
 * The ender dragon now breathes purple particles.
 * The dragon will respawn without resetting the End if it has already been killed.
 * Clouds
 * New cloud rendering system.
 * Command blocks
 * New GUI
 * Will contain tab to complete.
 * A way for mod/plugin makers to implement new commands and register them in a simple way.
 * Death messages
 * Death messages will now be displayed on the death screen instead of just in the chat.
 * Shaders
 * Switch away from using fixed-function OpenGL to using Shaders.

Trivia

 * 's title, The Combat Update, was discovered in Mojang's April Fool's prank snapshot, 15w14a, by how snowfall in certain areas was coded to form a QR code that could be scanned to find the text: Minecraft 1.9: The Combat Update. Dinnerbone later confirmed that this was not a joke.