My Thoughts on the 1.19 Update Reveal

As of me writing this, it is October 23rd 2021, a whole week has passed since the reveal of 1.19. I wanted to hold off for a week before writing my thoughts on the reveal of 1.19, and 1.19 itself, until the dust had settled, and the "hype" had worn off. I wanted to give my calculated thoughts, and not my knee-jerk reactions. And I wanted to come up with how to explain why I was initially very disappointed with this year's reveal.

So what I will do is go through each section and explain my thoughts, then I will talk about my overall thoughts on 1.19: The Wild Update. But before then, let me just say that this theme of a more "general" environmental update for the Overworld was actually something I posted on the Minecraft Suggestions Reddit, and it gained quite a lot of traction. That was until the mods removed it for being a wishlist. An Environmental Update was actually something I'd been wanting to see for a LONG time. And although there are themes I REALLY wanted to see in 1.19 (Enchanting Overhaul 1.20, PLEASE!) I really cannot complain about the theme of the update.

Also, the mob vote will NOT be discussed here. That's another rant.

The Deep Dark

...Is Delayed Again...

The very first thing they announced, as MineCon 2021 kicked off and before the 1.19 update was even revealed, was that the Deep Dark and Warden, one of the most anticipated 1.18 features, had been delayed to 1.19. I and everyone watching over on the Discord were obviously very disappointed by this news, especially as the Deep Dark already got delayed before, and we'd now been waiting for it for over a year. But to be honest... I really was not surprised. I... kinda thought this might happen. We were mid-October now, and there was still absolutely no word or sign of the Deep Dark. The release of 1.18 is set to be December, and given how much still needed to be done with 1.18, I didn't think they'd have time to add and polish and perfect an entirely new biome, especially one as involved as the Deep Dark, in that time. In the days leading up to MineCon, I came to the conclusion that the Warden was either releasing very soon, like, in the next week, or it was delayed again and they would announce its delayal (I just invented a new word) at MineCon.

So while everyone was blindsided by this news, I kinda saw it coming. But I was obviously still very disappointed at first, as I was hoping it would be my former conclusion and not my latter.

The disappointment didn't last long, though.

...For Good Reasons, Though!

The first thing they ACTUALLY showed off after revealing the 1.19 theme was the new and improved Deep Dark. And oh my god, the reason for its "delayal" became clear in an instant. The mood on Discord changed very rapidly when they saw this, from disappointment to "....oh I see... that totally explains why it's delayed!" In the context of what we saw in 2020 - a cave with some sculk and a big scary monster - it being delayed again would seem very disappointing. But what if the idea of the Deep Dark had evolved somewhat... ballooned if you will... into something much, MUCH bigger??

....and scarier??

Oh yeah, the Deep Dark is scary. Like... actually SCARY. Not Minecraft soft play centre scary. I mean... something that would make kids run behind the sofa scary. Something that would make ADULTS think twice before going in.... We now have some actually legit HORROR tucked somewhere deep within our Minecraft worlds..... and I love this idea!! While most of the blocks and items here are stuff we'd seen before last year, it had evolved a LOT. Last year they didn't show us these enormous cities with literal human shriek emitters and the Warden... RISING OUT OF THE GROUND!! RISING OUT OF THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!! 

Let's just say that throughout this whole section, I was absolutely squealing on the edge of my seat. I think I will have to make a whole other rant really analysing this part of the reveal and going very in-depth as to what I think of all the individual blocks and items. There will be a rant on the new Deep Dark. But let's just say if having to wait a few more months for the Deep Dark has allowed it to balloon into this... it was definitely worth it!

Also is it just me, or is the Deep Dark City VERY Aether-esque in feel? It's got kingbdogz written ALL over it, and absolutely seems like his passion project.

The Land of Shrek

The next thing they showed was the Swamp biome. And although they showed it off as cool exciting new concepts, people like me and those on the Discord knew that these features were essentially all conceptualized in the 2019 mob vote. Frogs, chestboats, and mangrove trees were the features of the Swamp biome update in the 2019 vote.

Guys... this tells us something very important about these votes. It shows us that, with the exception of the 2017 mob vote, the losing entries CAN be added!!!!!!!!!! This is the very first time a losing contender in a vote has come into fruition!!!! GUYS, THIS GIVES US HOPE FOR THE ICEOLOGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and the urine bovine). This proved ME wrong, I always thought the losers in 2018 onwards really were gone forever like 2017.. but no, they ARE able to be added!!!

Naturally, they had expanded a bit from what was conceptualized in 2019. They said there were three different types of Frogs, and their offspring are indeed Tadpoles! NOT JUST LITTLE FROGS, YES!!!! Mangrove trees have an interesting and unique way of being re-planted, and they seem to have evolved into almost a biome of their own. They even have their own wood type, giving us our first new Overworld wood type since 2013! Although I hope to god they change the colour of the Mangrove wood planks and items, as currently it's basically Jungle Wood. Redder would be better, here!

Some entirely new concepts were shown to us, too. The first of these was actual Mud. Can you believe it took Minecraft 12 and a half years to get Mud?? Again, I really hope the texture of the Mud Block is changed, the current colour is rather fugly (does anyone say fugly anymore?) I do wonder if you can get stuck in the mud, and will need some sort of boots to cross it safely.

Another new concept entirely they showed off was Fireflies. YES!!!!!!!!! I have wanted Fireflies in Minecraft for YEARS!!!! And now they are coming to Minecraft as...... TWO PIXEL PARTICLES?!?!?! Are they even mobs???? That has been an ongoing debate on the Discord for a week now. But whether they're mobs, particles, or mobicles, they're certainly meme fuel. It makes sense they are not super-detailed mobs or anything though, as they likely are purely for ambience. And frog food.

By now, I was really liking what I saw. I was so hyped that the Deep Dark had developed into something awesome, and that the Swamp (which is actually was I voted for in 2019!) was actually getting some love. They also showed off a concept art image of a Birch Forest update which included a fallen birch tree and shelf mushrooms! The Swamp section came to an end, and then.............

Is That It???

Barely 25 minutes after they had revealed the theme of the update, the whole event just.... ended.

WHAT?! That's it???

I knew this year's update was going to be nothing on C&C, I even made a rant about how they should reel it in but... the Wild environmental update is... only updating one new biome and adding the Deep Dark?? 90% of what was revealed was recycled contents and concepts from last year and the year before that!!! Not only that, there was NO word or update on Archaeology, and there was NO follow-up to that Birch Forest concept art!!! Was all that stuff coming into the game?? What gives, they said they wanted to give most or all the biomes something distinct!!

I was very shocked that the stream just ended like that. I thought they were just getting started with the reveals!! And ultimately, THIS is why I held off on making a rant about the reveal for a week. I wanted to wait for more news and for things to settle a bit. To really gather my thoughts and not make an off-the-cuff rant I'd regret later.

As of now, some tweets HAVE emerged which hint there is probably more coming than what was shown. I have some theories, though, as to why such a modest amount was shown this year:

1) They learned from last year that it's a good idea to underpromise and overdeliver, rather than overpromise and underdeliver. With the reveal of C&C, they made a lot of promises that were completely impossible to uphold. We all know the update was WAY too ambitious, and it resulted in a bit of a mess where feature after feature kept being canceled, removed, or delayed. This led to a lot of backlash, confusion, and disappointment amongst some fans (especially when certain content creators make videos with clickbaitey titles like "MORE features were removed??"). If they revealed much less this time around, rather than revealing way TOO much, any additional stuff they do add comes as a very pleasant surprise.

2) They themselves don't yet know the scope of the update and how far it will go. They said during the show that only now they were working on the frogs. It appears to me they are trying to split their time between 1.19 features and wrapping up 1.18. And if I had to guess, the latter is their current priority. 1.19 may still be very early in development.

3) Just not much to show yet, for similar reasons as above. They're wrapping up 1.18 and haven't done much prototyping for 1.19 yet. But of course, they HAVE to have a show every year, and there HAS to be a big juicy marketable reveal of the next update every year.

So yes, there likely IS more coming to 1.19. Other biomes will almost certainly receive some attention, but it appears the Swamp will receive the most. But that still doesn't explain the total lack of any sort of news on Archaeology. Is that completely shelved now? Have they completely gone off that idea? Is it coming in the next NEXT update as the theme of 1.20? Why was Ulraf not even in the show at all to give us an update?!? Why did it have to end right there!?!??!?!

Final Word

It's not that I was disappointed in what was shown. I absolutely LOVED what we saw. It was just that the show wrapped up so quickly and without any word on Archaeology or Birch Forest updates. They started by saying they were planning on giving lots of biomes a facelift, or more ambience, they showed one biome and one piece of concept art, and that was the end. Our big reveal for the year. When they hint there is a much wider update, show us one biome and then end it.... it makes the whole thing feel a bit like that feeling of "...oh...".

I'm sure 1.19 will be amazing when it comes. But I can't help but feel, after the big epic reveals of 1.13, 1.14, 1.16, and C&C, this one was rather brief and hollow. But again, don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved most of what we DID see.