Minecon 1.9 Update Information

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Minecon, the large and popular expo for all things Minecraft, is well underway these days, and that means tons of new announcements and information about upcoming features, such as the long awaited 1.9 update!

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Here is all the Minecon 1.9 update information gathered so far:

The End:

  • The Ender Dragon fight is to be overhauled, changed to be the same as console edition fight; some obsidian pillars have cages, preventing players from just shooting the caged beacons.
  • Once a certain damage threshold is reached, the Dragon will come down to the ground to face players.
  • A new item called “Dragon’s Breath” can drop.
  • The Dragon can be respawned optionally.
  • The End features more island to explore, which are accessible by Ender Gateways. The Dragon has to be defeated to explore these islands though.
  • A new Ender City: this city will be constructed by materials only found in The End. As such, new end-specific blocks have been added – both building blocks and new naturally-occurring plants.
  • A new plant, the Chorus Plants, can be cut down like cacti or sugar canes, breaking a piece will make all pieces above it collapse.
  • Planting these new plants require players to harvest a flower on the main stalk, you cannot just place a piece of the plant in soil.
  • A new mob, the Shulker, have been introduced. The Shulker is hostile and is camouflaged as a type of block, hiding inside. It shoots projectiles at players.
  • The projectiles from the Shulker deal damage like other mob attacks, but they also causes the player to levitate uncontrollably for a while. These projectiles can be redirected by hitting them, but they can’t be reflected like Ghast projectiles.
  • A new potion effect, Levitation, has been introduced, can be mixed into potion. Works similarly to the Shulker projectile.
  • The Levitation effect will only make players levitate, to get down again you have to drink milk, to negate the potion effect.
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The new mob, the Shulka!

Combat:

  • New feature: dual-wielding! Allows for right-hand or left-hand main, players decide.
  • You can only have one “right-clickable” item in your hand at a time, due to right-clicks attempting to use your off-hand item.
  • Off-hand items (such as torches) can be played normally with a right-click.
  • F is the default hotkey used to swap main and off-hand items. When not in combat, this is useful for lighting while mining, and drinking potions while running or fighting etc.
  • Holding a map in the players hand will provided a mini-map.
  • Shields are added – roughly the size of a banner, they can be customized like one with colors, logos, and so on. Can be dual-wielded, and looks like a tower shield.
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Shields!

New arrow types:

  • The Spectral Arrow: this arrow applies a glow/outline effect for 10-15 seconds to whatever you hit, allowing you to see it through blocks. In team events, this arrow will outline the player in the teams color. Invisible players hit by the arrow will stay invisible, but will still get the outline.
  • The team is contemplating to allow arrows to have some potion effects applied to them, although balance is a big concern at the moment.
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The Spectral Arrow in effect.

Potions:

  • Potions will now show an on-screen icon for their effect when ingested, instead of having players have to open their inventory to see what effects they are currently under.
  • The further right an icon is, the longer the effect lasts, with left-most icons being the ones that are ending soonest.
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The new levitation potion in effect, you can also see the new potion effect items in the upper right.

Misc.

  • Discussed the possibility of adding more expensive, but more durable, boats in the future.
  • 1.9 Snapshot should be coming soon, but no was date specified.
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Here you can see the new dual-wielding system, with torches in the left hand and a diamond sword in the right.

All in all, 1.9 is looking good, and like it brings a bunch of much-needed features and updates to the game! For more screenshots of the new 1.9 update, check out the imgur album.

Furthermore, the new Telltale game based on Minecraft was revealed in a trailer, called Minecraft: Story Mode. You can watch it right here:

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