Dungeons Hero Skin Pack Thumbnail. Taken from Twitter. |
Caves & Cliffs wasn't exactly the type of "cave update" I expected Mojang Studios to announce back in Minecraft Live 2020. While this was a long-awaited patch many people were hoping for, I had my reasons to suspect something slightly different. You see, Minecraft Dungeons was already released at that point and pretty much since the announcement I suspected that Mojang must be working on some "dungeon update" for Minecraft that would also promote their new spin-off title.
It didn't really happen. Closest we got to it was Iceologer being the best option in the event's Mob Vote and the sneaky addition of Illager Rune font in Snapshot 21w37a for Caves & Cliffs Part 2 (there's a link to Xisumavoid showing it off). That was it. Not that I'm complaining about the update(s) we ended up getting or another stupid vote. All of this is not really important here. I understand and somewhat admire Mojang's desire to keep two games separate since both of them are doing their own thing. If that's what it is.
However, the lack of "colaboration" just seems odd to me. No, Dungeons Hero Skin Pack for Bedrock Edition is not it. I'm talking about carrying over some features from one game to another, opening each of them to the new audiences. Reusing the work in a way most players probably wouldn't mind. This idea seems obvious to me and I have in mind certain features that I would've added in this Dungeons Update. Not just the regular game, but DLCs as well.
Starting From The End.
My focus here would be on what kind of "new stuff" Minecraft could get from Dungeons and in what way. Not changing what's already in a game, but I'm about to potentially break it. Ideas can be different: you can have a lot of things to say about the one while other stops at "what if you do this thing". So I think it's best to start from something I can't really elaborate on as I don't really have enough knowledge on what I'm about to mention. You know, just get this out of the way and slowly move over to something more fleshed out.
Minecraft Dungeons caught my interest with its announcement and since then I tried to somewhat keep up with it. Strangely enough, my interest abruptly faded away after its announcement and I didn't know much about the expansions. I think a huge part of it is system requirement since my current laptop is too old for this game. Recently I decided to take a quick look at the Dungeons again and... Have you seen The End in Echoing Void?
End Wilds Loading Screen from Minecraft Dungeons. Taken from Minecraft Wiki. |
It looks awesome! Yellow grass and vines. Purple trees & logs. I can see both yellow and purple leafs. Some glowing variation of Chorus and flowers...There's even a boiling water there? The End looked very empty in Minecraft before, but after the Nether Update, all the under patches adding more things to the Overworld and now that! This dimension needs another update and Mojang Studios has a starting point. Although I think that it might be not necessary to move over all of this in order to preserve this barrenness of The End: just make it less excessive.
There's this recent trend with really tough mobs in Minecraft: Vindicator, Piglin Brute, Warden... Watchling can fill the similar niche as "more nostile version of Enderman with more eyes and stronger punches". You would have to avoid looking not only at his head, but also chest. Maybe Carven Pumpkin doesn't work on his as good or at all, but this could be a bit much. I'm not so sure about other types of so-called "enderlings". Endersent is just too much for the regular Minecraft. Between Snareling and Blastling, I think the latter is more plausible as to me he seems more straight forward.
Deep Flames.
Since I started with Echoing Void, I think it would only make more sense to keep going in this opposite order. It was kind of tricky to pick up something from Hidden Depths & Flames of the Nether, but I think I manage to find a couple of worthy candidates. There's really no reason to kill Elder Guardian except for a sponge block. What else could he hold that might be useful for the players? Well, Guardians have an eye. Perhaps make it so that there's a rare chance to get "Eye of Elder". Surroud it with 8 glass blocks on crafting table in order to make Eye of the Guardian that can be activated with bucket of water. Take it use by having its laser act in the same way as Elder Guardian's, except it defends the player that activated it: charging before the attack, 14 block radius and... Mining Fatigue 3? 2? None?
There was nothing to get from Dungeons' take on the Nether, so I have to cheat. I didn't want to look into its Seasonal Adventures because of Adventures Passes: those things are just weird, I don't get them. However, it turned out that Wildfire wasn't introduced into the game with Flames of the Nether DLC, but as a part of Luminous Night. I voted for Phantom, but I thought that both of them were cool. Keep him mostly similar to Dungeons portrayal with the importance of destroying his shields in order to make him more open to the attacks. Besides larget quantities of blaze rods, Wildfire can drop a special Enchantment book for Shields that randomly replicates his shockwave attack after blocking an attack with a cooldown. Similarly to Turtle Shell, Wildfire's Crown could provide brief Fire Resistance effect. Maybe in exchange for more wasted durability to make it more balanced.
Bone-Freezing... Mines?
Before moving on to an obvious and long-awaited illager, I'll talk about Scatter Mine from Howling Peaks. Technically, you can make a "mine" in Minecraft in a form of TNT trap with Pressure Plate. Don't forget how destructive Minecart with TNT can be. The benefit of using Scatter Mine could come from it not destroying blocks after detonation. It probably shouldn't detonate automatically after 10 seconds, but still not hurt players while still getting triggered by them. A rare PvE-only item you find in several underground structures like Stronghold, Mineshaft and Dungeon (a.k.a. "monster room" or "spawner box"). No crafting recipe for it. I think it would also be great to get it from Wandering Trader.
Iceologer Casting Spell. Taken from Minecraft Wiki. |
How to approach Iceologer from this odd perspective? What ideas I have in mind? Well, I think he could be an actual Overworld Boss. Frozen in huge Ice Chunk at his own ruined hut or some kind of plateau (very rare structure), leaving some room for player's imagination regarding how or why Iceologer ended up in this situation. Once you break one block of this magical ice (Diamond/Netherite Pickaxe only), he breaks free and prepares for battle similarly to Wither. Iceologer would need to be slightly taller than other illagers in this boss form. After falling to the ground, his Ice Chunks could replace whatever blocks were there (with exceptions) with Packed Ice. Maybe Iceologer could also freeze himself during a fight in order to quickly restore his health? Besides that, I think he should borrow some abilities from Wretched Wraith for more variety and multiple phases of the fight: summoning a couple of Strays and firing icy projectiles.
I wasn't sure about Ice Wand as Iceologer's drop, but it has to be something special for a boss. Again, it's about "how it should be implemented". My idea is a mix of two aforementioned abilities: Wretched Wraith's Ghostfire that has a random chance of summoning Ice Chunks above whoever was hit by it. Both variations of the attack would imply a cooldown to the wand: let's say, 1-2 second for Ghostfire and 6 for Ice Chunk. This item won't have durability, but it will feed off Player's XP bar depending on attack's type with Ice Chunk costing much more than Ghostfire. For example, 5 XP for projectile and additional 10 if you get the Chunk. I'm not sure about these values as it feels like Ice Wand should cost more XP, but at the same time you need to make sure that more players manage to use it without the need to farm 30+ levels for a few shots... or that's how it should be?
In Search For Wanderings.
Either way, it's time to go back to simpler additions. Luckily for me, Jungle Awakens delivers on that front with Mossy Skeleton. There're more variations of Zombies than Skeletons in Minecraft, so adding another undead archer makes too much sense to me. Nothing out of ordinary here: just a skeleton who shoots Arrows of Poison and spawns in all kinds of Jungle, as well as Jungle Temple and maybe even Lush Caves. This has to be one of the most basic and easiest to implement suggestions I mentioned here.
What about the base game though? Aside from all these DLCs, what Minecraft Dungeons can offer in its purest form sort of speak? Obviously, there're quite a few blocks that could be taken from one game to the other. Too many and difficult to describe, really. Because there're no real names for those blocks, from the looks of it. A lot of variations of stone and dirt, including stone bricks covered in sand and stone pillars. There's even more paintings. Again, there's no need to drag everything into Minecraft: some blocks & decorations are better stay as exclusives to Dungeons. Just simply pick some more reoccuring examples.
Desert Temple Loading Screen. Taken from Minecraft Wiki. |
It's not as simple with various artifacts. Totem of Regeneration could be an extremely rare item you can "borrow" from Witches and/or their huts. I feel like it's still a bit too much when there're Lingering Potions. Enchantments? Leeching for melee weapons, Ricochet for ranged and Chilling for armor. Latter could be a great exclusive drop from Iceologer as a regular mob, but I don't think it would be that great for a boss... Well, you could make something akin to Dragon's Breath, but make players run around fighting arena with books in their hands to get some of that magic. Other ideas for enchantment include combination of Frenzied & Rush. Once player health goes down to four points (that's when healthbar starts shacking), he gets a new buff named after one of the aforementioned enchantments giving additional Haste and Speed.
Weapons & armor are tricky. Most majority of them are a bit too detailed for regular Minecraft in comparison to what's already in the game, so I really don't see how you can include any of those. I could see something like a helm from Shulker Armor and hat from Evocation Robe (with its Ember & Verdant variants) happen as in-game cosmetic items or, in case of Shunker Helm, something closer to Turtle Shell (maybe Shulkers ignore you if you wear it, but it has a low durability). But I still have one idea: take Guard's Armor and Reinforced Mail, simplify their look to match other armor in traditional Minecraft and introduce them as upgrated version of Leather and Chainmail Armor using Iron Ingot respectively. I have no idea what should encourage players to make them, but its known that Nether (sadly) isn't really that popular and most people probably stick to Diamond Armor instead of looking for Netherite.
As for the weapons, there're a few simple options we can choose from:
- Mace.
My initial candidate was Glaive, but then I realized that actual Spear is in Minecraft Dungeons. Which is a much better fit for my idea of this weapon. To put it simply, I envision Spear as a weaker and craftable variantion of a Trident. It would use the same enchantment with the exception of Channeling, Riptide and Impaling. This might seem pretty underwhelming, but that's kind of the point and I'm not sure if Spear should have Bane of Arthropods and Smite as potential alternative options to Loyalty instead. Crafting recipe can be very similar to Iron Shovel, but with two Iron Nuggets on the sides of a stick closer to Iron Ingot. Maybe it's too cheap and its better for use Ingots instead of Nuggets.
Target Dummy's Crafting Recipe Idea. Made with TheDestruc7i0n's Crafting Recipe Generator. Screenshot taken from Minecraft Wiki. |
Despite picking Spear over Glaive, I think I would still go with Skeleton Vanguard as a mob that could be brought over from base Minecraft Dungeons. Just not with Vanguard Armor, fancy Shield and Glaive. Instead, bring him over as a typical skeleton with basic Shield & Spear you can meet in Desert Pyramid, Jungle Temple and Stronghold. Another very basic suggestion, now that I think about it. There're a few passive mobs and cosmetic pets that could be borrowed from the game as well. Not just recolors of already existing mobs, but also some new additions like Raven (as an ambient mob, maybe). Some of them might've originated from now discontinued Minecraft Earth though. Similarly to blocks, I don't really know what to suggest here. I mean, there's even a Baby Ghast.
Now, it's time to talk about something special. I saved the best for last in order to finish this silly post with the amazing Target Dummy! Surroud the Armor Stand with four hay bales on crafting table in order to create this fabulous work of art. Add him to villages since Target Dummy would essentially be used as a scarecrow. I don't think there's a proper way to make it function similarly to Dungeons, where it's used to test players' weapons & artifacts. Just have it function like a type of Armor Stand that can't be pushed around in all sorts of ways. Despite this, maybe Target Dummy can still hold/wear every tool and armor.
Oh yeah, why not also look into getting some music from Dungeons? Either directly or maybe some remix type of thing. Obviously, if the entire update is centered around this crossover-esque thing, something like this should be expected. I haven't listened to soundtrack of all DLC's (only Echoing Void), so my suggestions would include compositions from base game like Dalarna, Stuga and Wanderlust. I really enjoyed them, so they seem like a solid option.
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