With the release of the Trails & Tales update, the era of major annual updates is out of the picture. Now, Minecraft developers plan to bring new features and changes sooner than ever. The first set of bigger changes is heading your way with the upcoming Minecraft 1.20.2. From the way you get diamonds to the trades you avoid, a lot is about to change. So, join us and discover everything you need to know about the next update!
Minecraft 1.20.2 Changes
Note: Our guide relies upon the latest Minecraft Snapshot 23w31a and preview 1.20.30.20 version.
Biome Based Trades
As you already know, Minecraft has a variety of villages that differ based on the biome they spawn in. The differences are always limited to chest loot, villagers' costumes, and house designs. But, not anymore. With Minecraft 1.20.2, even your trades change with the biome of the villagers.
The Librarians are the first villagers to welcome this new trading system. Earlier, novice librarians could offer unique Enchanted Books, regardless of their village biome. But with the new update, librarians from each village biome sell different enchantments. Plus, there are even some exclusive enchantments for each biome's master librarian.
New Trades of Librarians
Let's go over all the enchantments you can get from biome-based trading with librarians. Please note that the ones in bold text are exclusive to the master librarians with full XP.
- Desert: Fire Protection, Thorns, Infinity, and Efficiency III
- Jungle: Feather Falling, Projectile Protection, Power, and Unbreaking II
- Plains: Punch, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, and Protection III
- Savanna: Knockback, Binding Curse, Sweeping Edge (Java only), and Sharpness III
- Snow: Aqua Affinity, Looting, Frost Walker, and Silk Touch
- Swamp: Depth Strider, Respiration, Vanishing, and Mending
- Taiga: Blast Protection, Fire Aspect, Flame and Fortune II
Interestingly, the jungle and swamp biome don't have villages of their own. So, the game expects you to create your own villages in these biomes to unlock the special trades. Though, you can cheat the system with the best Minecraft 1.20 village seeds, some of which spawn villagers in these biomes.
Better Wandering Traders
It's been years since Wandering Traders made it into Minecraft. But, most players usually avoid them due to their limited and almost unfair trades. The Minecraft 1.20.2 update is about to change that and the first step is selling.
Instead of only buying items from the Wandering Traders, you can now also sell items to these mobs. This opens up a brand new way to get emeralds in Minecraft while you are traveling. The Wandering Traders can buy the following items:
- Water bottle for 1 emerald
- Water bucket for 2 emeralds
- 4 baked potatoes for 1 emerald
- Milk bucket for 2 emeralds
- Fermented spider eye for 3 emeralds
- Hay bale for 1 emerald
New Items for Sale
Other than the ability to buy, the Wandering Traders of Minecraft 1.20.2 also offer some exciting new items. The list includes:
- Any type of logs: 8 items for 1 emerald
- Enchanted iron pickaxe: 1 item for 6 to 20 emeralds
- Potion of Invisibility: 1 item for 5 emeralds
Alongside these new items, the update is also making all the existing trades much cheaper than before. The overall aims of these changes aim to make Wandering Traders the go-to mob for getting items during a journey. While they still can't replace villagers, they have come far being the mobs that players avoided.
Time to Dig Deeper for Diamonds
It is a common fact that learning how to find diamonds in Minecraft is a major challenge. Many players don't even gain access to them until quite late in the game. But, Minecraft 1.20.2 is here to make things easier.
It makes diamond ore generate more frequently within the deepslate layers of the overworld. This layer begins at the world height of Y=0 and goes all the way to Bedrock. So, the deeper you dig, the better your chances to find diamonds.
Other Changes
With the major stuff out of the way, here are all the other changes you can find with the next update:
- While introducing the biome-based trades, Minecraft 1.20.2 also removed certain enchantments from village trades altogether.
- If you unload water on a barrier block, it gets waterlogged. This allows you to add invisible blockades within water bodies in creative mode.
- You can no longer crouch while riding a vehicle.
- When you cure a zombie villager in Minecraft, it only leads to trade discounts the first time. You cannot reinfect and cure the same villager over and over.
- You can now find the last 50 commands from your chat across different game sessions.
- Minecraft allows you to control random events and values in the game using a new "Random" command.
- Regular and calibrated Sculk sensors can now detect totems and potion activation.
Release Date of Minecraft 1.20.2
While there is no official announcement for the release date of the next update, the latest snapshot is a major sign. Moreover, looking at previous release cycles, we can expect it to come out in mid or late-September. But, take our prediction with a pinch of salt because all updates are subject to technical delays.
Get Minecraft 1.20.2 Update
With that, you are now familiar with all the upcoming features before all your peers on Minecraft 1.20 servers. But it can still take a while before you get your hands on their final versions. So, as you wait, don't forget to travel across your world to get find all armor trims in Minecraft. They are a great reward for exploration and make you look your best. Having said that, which other feature do you want to see before we reach Minecraft 1.21? Drop your picks on our Discord server and find out what the rest of the community is demanding.