Minecraft 1.19 Features TIER LIST

It's been more than a month since 1.19's features were revealed. Well, hopefully only a small percentage of them, given how painfully brief the 1.19 reveal was in Minecraft Live.

I said I would wait a while for the hype cloud to settle before writing opinions on individual items. I feel enough time has passed now that I can talk about each feature that was revealed at MCL 2021. However, I figured a tier list would be a good way to convey how hyped I am for each feature, and how good I think this feature will be in terms of benefiting the game. Features will be ranked on how awesome I think they are, how hyped I am for them, how much fun I think they will be, and how much they will add to the game. In this tier list, I will not be discussing anything that has not been confirmed for the Wild Update. This means that anything shown in concept art only will not be included.

So, here goes!

S-TIER

These are the features of 1.19 I am the MOST hyped for!

Deep Dark Cities

Okay this one should come as a shock to nobody (assuming my one reader wasn't shocked by this). It's OBVIOUS to me that this is the feature to be most hyped for. Mostly because it is something COMPLETELY different. I am an adventurer. I feel there comes a point painfully quickly where nothing is a challenge anymore, and I've seen and done it all. The prospect of a new survival challenge that is so massive it got delayed TWICE honestly has me really stoked. And not only that, it is TOTALLY different to anything we've seen before. The fact that we have some genuine horror tucked deep within our Minecraft world fills me with joy. Minecraft over the last few years has become less like a survival game and more like a giant soft play centre for kids. I am so glad we are finally seeing something a bit less 7-year-old-friendly in Minecraft. I want to be scared, and kids should be scared too. Thank you so much Kingbdogz.

Also, the Deep Dark has come with the promise of new and unique loot. I can't wait to see what it does! A new weapon?!

The Warden

You know you have achieved total conquest of Minecraft's enemies when you start punching iron golems to death out of boredom, because you just want to fight something that won't instantly die. I have absolutely reached that stage on numerous occasions. When you are an adventurer and there is nothing left to pose any challenge because you have all the totems, beacons, netherite, enchantments, and god apples you'll ever need and far more, the game becomes stale. As such, I am beyond stoked to see them adding the new toughest mob in Minecraft! One that will scare the pants off me even as a super buffed-up invincible player. Also, one of my very first rants on this blog was about how I was getting sick of "tank" hostile mobs that had no strategy other than high health and high melee damage, and could be cheesed by pillaring 3 or 4 blocks. The Warden promises to be different. 

Bring on the Warden!

A-TIER

Sculk Block Family

I REALLY love the idea of Sculk in Minecraft. It's like a slime mould, and it basically feeds on death, spreading over dead and decomposed mobs. This whole family of blocks is absolutely intriguing. I am particularly intrigued by the Sculk Shrieker. After all, it is the block that summons the Warden. But mostly by the legit creepy sound they make, and the Darkness effect they give the player. I'd hate to be a 7-year-old who accidentally stumbled upon the deep dark and heard that sound! This whole family of blocks adds so much lore and is so un-like anything we've seen before in Minecraft, and that always makes me hyped!

Chestboats

This is one of those features that I look at and think.... "why didn't this come years ago?!" It just seems so obvious to me to have chests that can be carried over-sea without the need for Ender Chests! Inventory management is a problem in the game that is worse now than ever, so seeing new ways to transport items, particularly oversea, is one that makes me very hyped. A huge quality-of-life addition, this.

Frogs

I remember years and years ago, like, back in 2013, I had a very vivid dream where they added Frogs to Minecraft. I awoke from that dream, and thought "Minecraft needs frogs. Now!" Well, better late than never, Frogs are now indeed hopping their way into Minecraft. It's just that it took till 2022 for them to do so. I really like what they are doing with the frogs, having there be lots of different types. I'm also glad they're going the route of tadpoles for babies instead of just a smaller frog. It's not clear yet what these frogs will do, but the devs have said they're coming up with uses for each variant. This has me hyped to see what they will come up with.

B-TIER

Mangrove Swamp Biome

I'm always down for more biomes in Minecraft. I've never been the biggest fan of swamp biomes, but it is cool to see another variant of the swamp at long long last. It's certainly a cool-looking biome, but may be a bit of a pain to traverse. And any new tree is a good thing.

Mangrove Trees

Of course, we can't have the Mangrove Swamp without a new type of tree: the Mangrove Tree. If you don't count the Azalea tree (not opening THAT can of worms!) this is the first new tree in Minecraft's Overworld since 1.7, way back in 2013. The Mangrove tree is unique in that its saplings are instead these "propagules". I think people who live in places like Florida are fairly well-acquainted with mangroves and their propagules, but I am not from that place in the world at all. Mangroves are a tree unknown to us Brits. Or to me at the very least. I'd certainly never heard of them before 2019's biome vote. I like that this is a different type of tree in appearance too, having a really unique-looking root system that you appear to be able to sail under in a boat.

C-TIER

In this tier are two "mobs" that I could take or leave.

Fireflies

Although I've wanted to see Fireflies in Minecraft for years.... these ones are two pixels. They're two pixels. They're not even mobs. They're particles. C-tier is about as excited as I can get for particles. They are very atmospheric and beautiful particles mind you, but they are still two-pixel particles. It will be interesting to see if they can be caught in a bottle and fed to Frogs, and they ARE pretty. I will give them that. They are very pretty and atmospheric. But. Particles. You would never see me putting particles higher than C-tier.

Allay

Now, I actually voted for Allay in the mob vote. But that doesn't mean I'm super hyped for them. All the mobs this year were, putting it nicely, a tad lame, but the Allay was the least lame. Not that I'd want super awesome mobs in a mob vote as that would raise the stakes and cause a huge riot. The Allay will surely be a nice addition, but I might be more tempted to keep them for show as my own little pet ticklish fairy rather than its actual intended use of picking up trash.

D-TIER

These are the items I really am not very hyped for.

Mud

I really hope they change the texture and colour of the mud blocks, because what they showed off at Minecon was not very pleasing to the eye. The only reasons Mud isn't F-tier are because of the potential it may have in converting pigs to muddy pigs, the fact it can be smelted, and the fact it finally allows clay to be renewable. Mud is fine as a terrain block, and does add a lot of atmosphere to the Mangrove swamp, but I really hope they make it look less ugly.

Adobe

It's cool to finally see an adobe mudbrick building block in Minecraft, but eh I'm not really crazy about their appearance. I probably won't ever use them. It's good for representation of different places and civilisations and the building blocks they use now or have used thousands of years ago, but again, I never see myself building with adobe. Either people will actually build with this block, or it will go the way of many 1.12 building blocks: totally forgotten.

And now......................

F-TIER

OH GOD, PLEASE NO!!!

Mangrove Wood

IT'S JUNGLE WOOD, BUT WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!! They have GOT to change the colour of this wood. A redder wood that is less.. jungle-y, basically. Please. PLEASE. The first new Overworld wood type in over 8 years canNOT look like a very slightly red-tinged jungle wood!!!

Final Word

All in all, a good roster of features. I can't wait to see the first snapshot of 1.19! I do wonder if it will contain the Deep Dark, Warden, and the Sculk family! I reckon we'll be seeing the first 1.19 snapshot probably around February 2022.

Now if you excuse me someone very ticklish with lots and lots of noodles has just messaged me!