All trade changes in Minecraft 1.20.2 Pre-Release 1 explained 

Minecraft's first pre-release for Java Edition version 1.20.2 has arrived, bringing a continuation of Mojang's balance changes to villagers and their trading mechanics. 1.20.2 Pre-Release 1 brings similar alterations to cartographer and armorer villagers, splitting their inventories depending on their home biomes. Armorer villagers have also seen a trade price increase.

It should be noted that all of these changes remain under the Experimental Features toggle in Minecraft. Fans can enable them or disable them. However, as part of the 1.20.2 pre-release, these villager balancing choices are very much part of Mojang's plans for the official version 1.20.2 and beyond.

For Minecraft fans who may have missed the latest round of villager trading changes, it seems like a good time to examine them.

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Analysis of the villager trade changes in Minecraft Java 1.20.2 Pre-Release 1

Minecraft fans will need a few diamonds for diamond armor trades in the latest snapshot (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft Java 1.20.2's first pre-release has its upsides and downsides. It provides new items to trade when dealing with cartographer villagers while making gear like diamond armor more challenging to obtain. Moreover, the biome-specific trade tables seen in recent librarian changes have been brought to cartographers and armorers.

With regard to cartographer villagers, these mobs have received seven new distinct maps that point to various biomes, villages, and other structures. The maps provided vary depending on the cartographer's home biome and profession level. These varieties extend to jungle and swamp villages built by players.

Here are the new cartographer maps provided in Java 1.20.2 Pre-Release 1:

• Desert Cartographers - Savanna and plains village maps, jungle explorer map
• Jungle Cartographers - Savanna and desert village maps, swamp explorer map
• Plains Cartographers - Savanna and taiga village maps
• Savanna Cartographers - Desert and plains village maps, jungle explorer map
• Snow Cartographers - Plains and taiga village maps, swamp explorer map
• Swamp Cartographers - Snowy and taiga village maps, jungle explorer map
• Taiga Cartographers - Plains and snowy village maps, swamp explorer map

Meanwhile, a significant overhaul has been administered to armorer villagers. Players will now need to seek/create armorers from specific biomes to facilitate certain trades. Moreover, fans who are expecting to trade for diamond armor will now pay not only with emeralds but also a few diamonds.

According to Mojang, this move is intended to reserve diamond armor trades for players who have progressed far enough to procure diamonds of their own. This effectively means that trading for diamond armor early on is still possible but much more difficult than it was previously.

Changes to the armorer's inventory based on biome and profession level in Minecraft's latest pre-release (Image via Mojang)

All in all, it appears that Mojang is committed to making villagers less of a boon in the early game when it comes to procuring powerful gear, items, and enchantments. Meanwhile, adding additional maps to the cartographer villager should help fans navigate their world and find generated structures to explore and loot.

Some Minecraft players will surely not be unhappy with the slowed overall progression of obtaining things like diamond gear and powerful enchantments. Moreover, the need to create jungle/swamp villages and move villagers to them will be a tall task for many fans. Regardless, these changes appear to be central to Mojang's rebalancing efforts.

Mojang has made it clear that while it intends to carry on with these rebalancing changes, it's open to feedback from players. If there are any aspects of the buffs or nerfs that fans want to voice a positive or negative response to, they can do so by heading to Minecraft's official feedback site and leaving comments or posts.