Top 5 features getting removed in Minecraft 1.20 update

Minecraft 1.20 has been one of the most anticipated pieces of content for Mojang's sandbox game since the release of the Warden in last year’s The Wild Update. Titled Trails & Tales, it brings several features to the Minecraft world in the form of a new biome, blocks, and mobs, as well as the archaeology mechanic, among several other additions.

Introducing game-changing content in Minecraft also paves the way for many features to get removed or replaced. While Mojang wouldn’t necessarily go through the trouble of removing important features like Golden Apples, bats, axolotls, or even diamonds, some older items in the game do tend to go through impactful revamps.

Note: This list is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer

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Minecraft 1.20 Trails and Tales: What existing features is the new update removing or changing?

5) The old smithing table

The new smithing table interface (Image via Mojang)

The smithing table has been in Minecraft for over four years, serving as a way to change diamond armor, tools, and weapons into netherite gear. The Trails and Tails update is now removing the classic smithing table interface and replacing it with a newer one to integrate the recently added smithing templates. However, the look of the smithing table block remains the same as it has been.

Smithing templates allow players to style their armor sets using a process called trimming, which is exactly like it sounds. Armor sets get stylized cuts and designs in them that allow the combination of materials as well, thus completely changing how armor sets look in Minecraft.

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4) Dyeing multiple carpets with a single dye

One red dye combined with a white carpet gives a single red carpet (Image via Mojang)

Carpets are some of the most common decorative items in Minecraft, in addition to the fact that their convenient and easy to use. Although their best use is to cover floors, players can also get creative and use them to travel in and out of farms or structures surrounded by the fence block.

Two carpet-related features that are being removed with the introduction of Minecraft 1.20 are the old recipes for dyed carpets, which conveniently allowed players to dye eight carpets into eight different colors or use a single piece of dye to color eight different carpets. The new recipe only allows for one carpet to be dyed with one piece of dye.

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3) Meadow and plains biome reduction

The Cherry Grove is the latest biome added to Minecraft. It is slated to be one of the most beautiful biomes in the game after Lush Caves from the Caves and Cliffs update.

One of the many characteristics of this new biome is that it spawns on an elevated plain, which means that its generation often crosses borders with another biome having similar generational properties.

The meadow biome is an easy target for such overlaps due to it sharing the “elevated” nature of generation, resulting in scenarios where it is now replaced by the cherry grove biome.

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2) “Easy” Netherite

While diamond tools are, by far, the most reliable tools in the Overworld, Netherite is in a league of its own due to its almost impenetrable durability and the ability to resist fire and lava.

Netherite wasn't exactly easy to get in previous versions of the game, but the Minecraft 1.20 update makes it even harder to obtain netherite gear. This is due to the addition of smithing templates and, specifically, the Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template.

While players could previously upgrade their diamond gear to netherite by simply using a netherite, the latest update has made Netherite Upgrade Smithing Templates a mandatory part of the upgradation process. To make it even less convenient, these special templates are only found in Bastion Remnants, which makes them amazingly useful. However, upgrading to netherite becomes more difficult.

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1) Guaranteed chests near structures

Some ruined portals may not have chests (Image via Mojang)

The introduction of archaeology is one of the most significant developments in Minecraft’s long and illustrious history. However, it has been known to cause some anomalies. Archaeology adds blocks like suspicious sand to the game, which gives players loot if they use a brush tool to gently clean and reveal it.

This presence of loot can often result in chests not generating inside or near structures that are known to have a guaranteed chest spawn, like ruined portals and even (in rare cases) desert temples. On the other hand, the change has made structures like desert wells useful as suspicious sand, and, therefore, loot can now generate inside or around these.

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The Trails and Tales update is a rollercoaster ride from the start, with the new camel mobs to ride on, finding unique plants with the help of a sniffer, and exploring the new 1.20 world with a raft. With several changes updating the quality of life in the game, most features being removed eventually end up improving the title in different ways.