Depending on how we think about it, we can say that we have been waiting for Minecraft 1.19 since October of last year, when it was announced at Minecraft Live 2021, or that the wait dates back to October 2020, when Mojang announced the great update of the caves and the mountains, Minecraft 1.17 Caves & Cliffs Update. And it is that, as we have already commented on some occasion, the set of novelties that should have arrived in said update, finally it has been distributed between Minecraft 1.17, Minecraft 1.18 and Minecraft 1.19. And, what’s more, there is still something pending.
Mojang gave explanations at the time about this delay, and personally they seemed adequate to me. It is true, yes, that many of us expected that everything that was left pending in 1.17 would appear in 1.18, something that finally did not happen either, and since then there has been a growing critical spirit with the management of the company in recent times. I understand that point of view, and I share part of the arguments put forward by its defenders, but even so, I think Agnes Larsson’s management at the head of development has much more positive than negativeand I think Minecraft 1.19 is a hit.
It was in the middle of April of last year, a few months after the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and when the Activision Blizzard scandal was about to break when Mojang, with Larsson at the helm, apologized for the delay, but also made it clear that between meet a calendar date and ensure the health and well-being of his team, he kept the latter. A very unusual approach in the video game industry, in which crunching is the order of the day, and In addition to being successful, it seemed exemplary and very, very brave..
having had to wait for Minecraft 1.19 to be able to face the Warden It is not something that has made me especially excited, of course, and less considering that the previous great update, Minecraft 1.16: The Nether Update was, simply, spectacular. However, and as I have commented on previous occasions, I am aware of the incredible technical challenge of adding 64 new depth layers in the Y coordinate. I understand that it was delayed to 1.18, and that Minecraft 1.19 was the version with the content expected in that new subsoil.
I make this introduction to make it clear, because I think it is the honest thing, that my predisposition regarding Minecraft 1.19 was positive, and seeing what has been added in each of the snapshots that I have been testing, made me understand that the final result would not disappoint me. And effectively it has been like that. At the moment I have only been able to dedicate a few hours to it, but I consider it sufficient to confirm that Minecraft 1.19 is a great update, and well worth it.
Find and capture what’s new in Minecraft 1.19
I’m not going to repeat here what’s new in Minecraft 1.19 so as not to bore you, but if you still don’t know them you can find them here, instead I assume you already know them, so I’ll talk about them in the order in which I’ve gone finding. Keep in mind, yes, that I speak of an experience on a new map and in game alone, not on a server with friends.
Single Player –> Create New World –> miscellaneous settings –> Play and that’s it, I’m on a new map, starting from scratch, without using plugins (not even a map, which for my taste are essential). And this in a game in which my main objective is to explore, since I have set out to find all the new elements of Minecraft 1.19. So, first decision: at least first I will not make a shelter or tie myself to a specific location. Not until we find a mangrove swamp.
So, said and done: first few minutes dedicated to getting the basics (wood, stone, food, wool and coal), build a chest boat (my first milestone in exploring what’s new in Minecraft 1.19), looking for the sea and, with an improvised soundtrack by José Luis Perales (and he left, and his ship was called Libertad…), I launched myself as Doctor Livingston into mangrove search I wish I had a machete and a pith helmet at home to set me up more, but hey, we’ll have to wait for the arrival of the Metaverse to enjoy such an experience.
Unfortunately I couldn’t discover seagulls (Mojang, note, I want seagulls for a future update), but when it comes to finding a mangrove…well, neither. Something was wrong with my plan. Perhaps my sailboat called Libertad had failed me? Perhaps the problem was in my ability to navigate without a map (maybe I took a few turns without realizing it)? Did I forget to update to Minecraft 1.19? Something was not right, I began to get impatient…
My luck seemed to change when, in the distance, I spotted a village. Perhaps it was time to set up camp? No, because it wasn’t really a village, but a terribly anomalous distribution of blocks of land, my joy in a well. Was it time to summon the superpower to jump from survival mode to creative mode? Was listening to “A Sailboat Named Liberty” ten times on a loop a limit not to be crossed? Minecraft 1.19 had me from the beginning? My right hand suddenly trembled as I prepared to simultaneously press the F3 and F4 keys to take the easy way out.
But not, I could not do it. Defeated in just over half an hour by Minecraft 1.19? That couldn’t happen. So, after hearing a colossal harangue in my head (yes, at the same time as Perales, it was a bit cacophonous), I decided no, it was not the day to give up. Of course, I chose to change my strategy or, to be exact, go back to my classic strategy: set up a haventurn it into a huge base and, from there, start the exploration, always signaling the path traveled to be able to return.
This took me a long time, because for my style of play a base is not complete until it has at least two floors on top, another two underground, a warehouse with no less than a hundred chests to organize everything well, a tower quite high, an orchard and a jetty. This done, it was finally time to set out to explore, and unlike the attempt with the chest boat, this time finding the mangrove and the frogs didn’t take me too long. Now she was doing it right. Minecraft 1.19 was starting to give in to me.
Once the biome was explored, I returned to my base, thinking of the next challenge, which was none other than find the most voted mob in Minecraft Live 2021, the ally. A difficult mission, because once found, you will still have to face hostile mobs to free it. I decided to find a pillager outpost, which I found after about ten minutes of exploring. Of course, it is one thing to find it, and quite another to face the hordes of pillagers that will try to kill you when you try to get close.
Three deaths later, I came to the conclusion that I had still misorganized the priorities, so I temporarily gave up rescuing the allies and instead set out to explore the depths. You already know that since Minecraft 1.18 the Y coordinate descends to layer -64, and that with the arrival of Minecraft 1.19 the old cities and the Warden have arrived, which is why I had decided to leave the underground for last. However, an urgent need to obtain diamonds to arm myself and protect myself in conditions forced me to reorganize my plans.
Return to the refuge, necessary equipment to mine in a big way (I am one to make huge galleries) and to look for the precious precious stone. Going down to layer -55 has its thrill, and even more so if you want to secure it with stairs and walls, to later be able to go up and down with ease. Falls, aquifers, lava… you can find everything, and the same when you are already creating the galleries. And all with the fear and excitement of finding yourself, by surprise and without being equipped, with the Warden of Minecraft 1.19.
This finally did not happen and, already with the necessary diamonds, I returned to the surface, equipped myself properly, went back to the path towards the pillagers and, after an unequal confrontation, in which bow and arrows were my allies in the distance , and with a diamond sword for short distances, I finally managed to reach the cage, free the two allies inside it and immediately run like hell. I finally had the new minecraft 1.19 mob!
Objective two out of three achieved, I only had to explore the subsoil until I found the Deep Dark biome and one of the ancient cities to complete the tour of the highlights of Minecraft 1.19. So said and done, back to the shelter, mine some more diamonds to strengthen me and launch into the bowels of the earth. Not in order to face the Warden, of course, because at this point I’m not even half ready for it.
So, aware of my limitations, like someone who travels to the Himalayas to stay at the base camp of Everest, I begin to turn the subsoil into Gruyère cheese, with holes everywhere. And still dedicated to it exclusively, it took me a little over an hour to find one ancient city. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I felt my pulse quicken, and I almost made a fatal mistake when, from the excitement, I wanted to run across the city. Only a fraction of a second separated me from accidentally summoning the Warden. Instead, very quietly, I turned around and went back to my base, very proud.
Minecraft 1.19: conclusions
Both the announcement and the snapshots of Minecraft 1.19 have had me, during these months, waiting for its arrival. The mangroves are fine and the ally, when you get the hang of their mechanics, can be very handy, butor what really had me on edge, despite having tried it in the snapshots, were the ancient cities and the new basement. And now, with the final version already tested, I have no doubt that the wait has been worth it.
I understand the complexity that Mojang has faced when it comes to completely reinventing the underground, and the added difficulty of making games created with previous versions compatible with these developments, and that’s why I think that the time frames in which Minecraft 1.17, Minecraft 1.18 and Minecraft 1.19 have arrived are more than adequate.
However… Will I move my main game to minecraft 1.19 from minecraft 1.16? This is not so clear to me. On the one hand, I do want to update that map to which I have dedicated so many hours, and add all the news from the latest updates. But on the other hand, I think new caves and new mountains deserve a fresh start. I know that my current game, as well as the previous ones, will always be there if I want to recover them, but it may not be what tempts me the most right now.
And this, in my opinion, is a clear sign of the enormous evolution that, together, 1.17, 1.18 and 1.19 have brought. That a game that offers you a continuous experience through its versions, at the same time provides enough of them so that you feel like starting over from scratch, even losing all the progress you’ve made over several years, This is something that I find most remarkable.
Mojang hasn’t done everything right and I already raised it a few days ago: after the release of Minecraft 1.19, you should take your foot off the accelerator when it comes to what’s new announcements and instead catch up on pending changes for more or less time, because their players are still waiting for them with open arms. But what I already thought and with the contact I have finished confirming is that Minecraft 1.19 is an excellent update, which I certainly plan to thoroughly enjoy..
More information: Mojang
