The Spawn Chunks 293: Rolling Out New Paintings

Jonny, and Joel anticipate the arrival of Minecraft 1.20.5 with details of the first pre-release, share their first impressions of new Minecraft paintings coming in the following update, and answer listener email about ominous difficulty, enchanting, and villager trading.

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FROM: Yann G.
SUBJECT: Mud And Quicksand

Hi Joel, and Pixlriffs, 

In a recent episode you talked about converting skeletons into the bogged. I wonder why there is no “wet mud” block that works like powdered snow? Maybe this wet block could convert skeletons to  the bogged?. Take it a step further, and maybe a new quicksand block in deserts could work in a similar fashion, and convert zombies into husks?

What do you think?

Yann accidentally fell into mud while building an automated poison arrow farm.

FROM: Shenko
SUBJECT: Ominous Difficulty

Good day Jonny, and Joel!

What do you think about Ominous Events being applied to all structures in Minecraft? Maybe that means more hostile mobs spawning in Nether Fortresses, or skulk shriekers summoning The Warden in Ancient Cities after only one strike instead of three?

Would love to hear your implementation ideas.

Shenko drank too many ominous potions, and was consumed by darkness.

FROM: Captain Kramar
SUBJECT: Enchanting Overhaul

Hello Joel and Jonny,

While listening to your discussion about enchantment table tweaks on Episode 287 I thought, “I wish the enchantment table had gatekeeping”. Now hear me out. Gamers hear the term gatekeeping, and immediately cringe, but when was the last time either of you enchanted something with 14 levels?  When was the last time you were psyched to get Efficiency 3, Looting 1, or Feather Falling 2?  I feel for new players. The enchanting setup is confusing beyond measure.

I feel like enchanting is worse for veteran players. We get to level 30, enchant one thing, hope we get lucky, and then start the process over. It always seems like more of a chore, than a reward for doing something fun or exciting.

In a game that can be speed run in 10 minutes, progression based gatekeeping wouldn’t make much sense. What if enchanting progression was skill based?  Chop 100 logs, and Efficiency 1 is unlocked. Kill 200 mobs, and Sharpness 3 is unlocked. Just something to give the enchanting mini game a sense of progression.

Then again, I have no idea how something like that could be communicated to new players? Do you two have any thoughts?

Captain Kramar died of boredom, endlessly grinding for the elusive Silk Touch enchant.

FROM: Data_Glitch
RE: Rune Stones & Arcanist Table

Pix and Joel,

In Episode 287: Wolf Pyjamas, you had a discussion about ways the enchanting system could be improved as an experience. Based on the points you brought up, I thought of Rune Stones.

There could be runic tablets that you create in a new workbench I am calling the Arcanist table by combining an enchanted book bearing the desired enchantment, a blank rune stone, lapis, and a material block tied to each enchantment (ie Emerald Block for fortune, magma block for fire resistance, etc). You could get the enchanted book back along with a runestone that I picture behaving much like armor trims. The material of the rune matches the material used to create it and it can be added to your gear in a Smithing table. I feel like this system would maintain a good progression and wouldn’t make the enchanting table feel obsolete, but I am curious to hear what you think?

Data_Glitch lived out his wizard dreams while eagerly awaiting the next Spawn Chunks episode.

FROM: DragonDan135
SUBJECT: Villager Trading Buff

Hey guys!

I was listening to your conversation with Mogswamp, and got an idea for the villager trading rebalance in the works. What if there was an advancement, “Around The World In 80 Chunks!” When you trade with, say three different villager types (Plains, snowy, and savanna for example.) every other villager recognizes that you are a friend, and gives a permanent discount. Trade with all villager types, and everything is 1-2 emeralds. 

I think this will help incentivize people to explore, and trade with all villagers, without locking trades to be biome-specific. It also gives another way to get discounts without converting villagers to, and from zombie villagers. 

Thoughts?

DragonDan135 traded with all of the villagers around him, and got everything he needed safely.

FROM: Tim S.
MEMBER: Landscape Artist
SUBJECT: A Compromise On Villager Trading

Hello Joel and Johnny,

With the proposed villager changes, I find that I really want to see them implemented.

I would like a way to get key trades like unbreaking and mending without the boring RNG of trapping a villager and rerolling it’s trades.

It would also give a gameplay reason to build up villages in different biomes, which I think would be a really fun project.

To make sure that these challenges don’t lock out players in superflat from experiencing the games content, what if the first librarian trade gave a random level 1 enchanment. This way, no content is biome locked, but there would still be a reason to go to villages in other biomes to unlock the higher level trades.

Tim S. got bored and logged out after an hour of rerolling villager trades.