10 flaws in Minecraft 1.21 update

Minecraft 1.21, also known as Tricky Trials, brought with it several exciting features, including trial chambers, new potions, the mace weapon, and two new mobs. However, not all of the features and changes introduced with Tricky Trials are as great as these. There are several small issues with the update that kept it from reaching its full potential.

10 examples of minor issues of Tricky Trials can be found below, along with why exactly these things are so disappointing.

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10 issues with Minecraft 1.21

1) Breaking raid farms

Having to consume ominous bottles is what breaks fully AFK raid farms (Image via Mojang)

One of the most frustrating parts of 1.21 is that Minecraft's bad omen revamp broke fully AFK raid farms. These farms were great due to being able to farm huge numbers of totems of undying and emeralds for trading.

However, since bad omen is no longer automatically applied and instead need to be obtained by consuming Minecraft's new ominous bottles, these farms no longer work as they used to. Players now need to manually restart raids, which limits how useful these builds are.

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2) Copper bulb nerfs

The copper bulb was almost a much more interesting item (Image via Mojang)

One of the most interesting parts of the original copper bulb was that it operated on a single-tick delay. This made it unique when compared against other redstone components, which normally operate on two-tick delays. This allowed players easy access to odd-tick machines using the copper bulb.

However, Mojang changed this unique characteristic, much to the dismay of players everywhere. Now the copper bulb uses the same two-tick delay as the rest of the redstone components in the game. While it's still a great block for Minecraft steampunk builds, it's no longer the Redstone wonderblock it once was.

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3) Breach not useful in single-player

Armored mobs are not nearly common enough to justify putting breach on a mace (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft's new mace weapon is one of the coolest parts of Tricky Trials. The vertical fighting style it has introduced is unlike anything else in the game. However, one of the weapon's three enchantments is almost useless in single-player survival.

This is Minecraft's breach enchantment. When put on a mace, it reduces the effectiveness of the target's armor against smash attacks. At the max level, which is six, the enchantment reduces armor by 60%. However, there are only a few mobs that can have armor: piglins, undead mobs, and closed shulkers. Breach should have some secondary benefit to make it worth using over density in single-player.

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4) Too many similar names

Many trial chamber-related additions have confusingly similar names (Image via Mojang)

This is more of a meta-issue with 1.21. There are too many features and items in the update with very similar names. Take trial spawners, ominous trial spawners, trial chambers, trial keys, ominous trial keys, and ominous vaults, for example. That list has way too many uses of the words ominous and trial. This can make it very hard to learn the update since all the names blend.

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5) No fletching table functionality

Hopefully, the fletching table will receive a use soon (Image via Mojang)

The fletching table is the final Minecraft villager profession workstation to not have a use. Many of these workstations are incredibly useful, such as brewing stands, blast furnaces, and smithing tables, which makes the fletching table's lack of utility stand out even more. The fact that Mojang gave the blocks a use in the latest April Fools update makes the lack of a real purpose frustrating as well.

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6) Heavy cores are too rare

Having maces locked behind the 7.5% drop rate heavy core is a frustrating aspect of 1.21 (Image via Mojang)

As previously mentioned, the new mace weapon is one of the most entertaining parts of the update. To craft a mace, players will need a breeze rod and a heavy core. These heavy cores are only obtainable by opening ominous vaults, at a 7.5% drop rate. While not the lowest chance, it is unfortunate to have a fun item locked behind such specific and time-consuming grinding.

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7) All the new songs need music discs

1.21 would have been better with more music discs (Image via Mojang)

There are three new Minecraft music discs to be found within 1.21's trial chambers. However, nine new ambient tracks from Lena Raine, Kumi Tanioka, and Aaron Cherof play in different biomes. All of these tracks are incredible, to the point that the update should have added music discs for more of them.

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8) The crafter should use copper

Copper would have been a more interesting material for crafters (Image via Mojang)

Copper was a major focus of Tricky Trials. Trial chambers are made mostly of copper, and many new copper blocks were added to the game. Using copper rather than iron in the crafter's recipe would have made much more thematic sense for the update. Iron is already such a powerful and useful material; it would have been nice to see copper become better.

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9) Missing polished walls

Adding the rest of the missing stone variants would have made Tricky Trials a better update (Image via Mojang)

One of the best parts about Tricky Trials for builders is the wave of new tuff and Minecraft copper blocks that were added. However, this makes the other missing block variations all the more confusing. For example, polished granite, diorite, and andesite don't have walls. 1.21 would have been an amazing update to complete all these random gaps in the block palette.

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10) Banner patterns should stack

Banner patterns would be better loot if they were stacked (Image via Mojang)

There are several new aesthetic items found within trial chambers, including pottery sherds, Minecraft armor trim templates, and banner patterns. While these sherds and templates will stack in players' inventories, banner patterns will not. This makes finding them as loot frustrating more than exciting, as they quickly clog up a player's inventory.