Minecraft 1.21 update will break one trend common in major updates

Minecraft 1.21, also known as Tricky Trials, is bringing some major content to the game, including trial chambers, a revamped bad omen effect, and a huge expansion of blocks to build with. However, for all of these amazing inclusions, there's a feature missing from it that's been present in every update since the Nether Update.

This feature is a new biome. For all the amazing content that Tricky Trials is bringing to the game, it has no new biome additions, bucking a major trend for major Minecraft updates.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

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How Minecraft Tricky Trials is breaking a major recent update trend

The Nether was much more bland before its biomes were added (Image via Mojang)

Every update since the fan-favorite Minecraft 1.16 update has featured some kind of new biome. Working backwards in time, 1.20 brought with it the game's gorgeous cherry groves, making mountaintops much prettier. 1.19 added a secondary variant of the swamp biome in the frog-filled mangrove swamp. 1.19 also finally added the deep dark, protected by the deadly warden mob.

1.18 is noteworthy for introducing six new biomes. These are the six current subtypes of mountains found on many of Minecraft's best seeds: meadows, groves, snowy slopes, jagged peaks, frozen peaks, and stony peaks. The earlier half of Caves and Cliffs, 1.17, brought dripstone caves and lush caves, known for the adorable axolotls found within them, to the game.

Finally, as previously mentioned, there's 1.16, the Nether Update, which kickstarted the trend to begin with. This update completely overhauled the Nether, turning it into the dimension known and loved by players today. Basalt deltas, crimson forests, soul sand valleys, and warped forests were all added to the game with this single update.

Update	Biomes Added
1.16	Basalt Deltas, Crimson Forests, Soul Sand Valleys, Warped Forests
1.17	Dripstone Caves, Lush Caves
1.18	Meadow, Grove, Snowy Slopes, Jagged Peaks, Frozen Peaks, Stony Peaks
1.19	The Deep Dark, Mangrove Swamps
1.20	Cherry Groves

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Everything Tricky Trials is bringing to the game

`Trial chambers are 1.21's most impressive feature (Image via Mojang)

While it's easy to hyper-fixate on what an update is lacking, this can lead to an unnecessary negative outlook on Minecraft, the update, and even Mojang as a whole. It's important to take the entire update into account before writing it off entirely just for what it's lacking.

Tricky Trials is adding quite a significant amount of content to the game, as well as setting up an incredible foundation for future updates. The largest inclusion has to be trial chambers. These structures are similar to strongholds in size but are Minecraft's deadliest structures by far.

This is due to the variety of mobs found within them, as well as trial spawners, a new type of spawner, not caring about light level. Instead, they summon hostile mobs automatically whenever a player gets near. If a few waves of mobs are defeated, the spawner will deactivate for a while after dispensing some loot.

This loot can contain trial keys needed to open another new feature of 1.21: vault blocks. These are new loot containers that can be activated by every player on a server once, the first vanilla use of personalized loot. This is an exciting indication of how loot might be handled in future Minecraft structures.

There are two new mobs to expand the list of mobs: the breeze and bogged. Both will be seen in trial chambers, but bogged, a new skeleton variant that deals poison damage, will also be found in swamps. Breeze are exclusive to trial chambers and drop breeze rods, which are needed to make the new mace weapon.

This weapon requires breeze rods and a heavy core. Heavy cores are unique, rare pieces of loot found only in ominous vaults. These are less common vaults that can only be opened with ominous keys, which are dropped by trial spawners during ominous events. Ominous events are an optional way to take on trial chambers, started by entering one with the revamped bad omen effect.

This change, where bad omen is a foundational effect that's built upon by structures, is a fascinating and exciting glance into just what the future of the game might hold.

The mace itself is an amazing weapon, able to convert fall damage into entity damage dealt with a smash attack. It also has an AOE knockback effect when hitting a smash attack.

There are also three new unique Minecraft weapon enchantments for the mace: breach, density, and wind burst. Breach makes armor less useful against the mace, density makes the weapon hit harder, and wind burst allows players to spring back up after landing a smash attack.

An example of a map to a trial chamber (Image via Mojang)

Given how important trial chambers are, it's vital to be able to find them. Thankfully, Mojang has that covered too, with a new villager trade being implemented for a map straight to a trial chamber being available from a cartographer.

Minecraft's list of potions has also been expanded with Tricky Trials. There are four new potions being added to the game, along with their status effects. These potions include potions of oozing, able to spawn slime, and potions of infestation, which can cause silverfish to pop out of damaged mobs.

There's also potions of weaving, which cause mobs to explode into cobwebs, and potions of wind charging, which cause air bursts on entity death. There are also tipped arrows for these potions.

Additionally, there are a few minor aesthetic and artistic changes coming with 1.21. There are four new music discs, 20 new paintings, three new pottery sherds for Minecraft archeology, two new armor trims, and two new banner patterns. Copper and tuff are also getting a huge new range of items and blocks to make them more useful for building.

These options should make customizing a survival base much easier and more enjoyable than it already was.