Minecraft villager nerf: Why you should be worried about the upcoming trading changes

Minecraft's numerous villagers have been a source of assistance for years, but it appears as though Mojang wants to make them a little less reliable. The developers have introduced a host of tentative changes in the recent game betas, Snapshot 23w31a and Preview 1.20.30.20. In these betas, Mojang has diminished the usefulness of one villager type while boosting the Wandering Trader.

To be more specific, the librarian villager in Minecraft is now much less useful when it comes to acquiring enchantments. Meanwhile, the Wandering Trader has been given the ability to buy certain items and blocks from players while also having its prices and inventory adjusted.

But why would this be a cause for concern? There are several factors, but Minecraft fans may be less than happy with the direction that some villager trades are going.

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What were the negative changes to villager trades in recent Minecraft betas?

For quite some time, librarian villagers have offered a random assortment of enchanted books to Minecraft fans in trades. Sometimes, players could score a powerful enchantment early on, but other times they wouldn't be as lucky. However, the recent slate of betas is changing this substantially.

As of the most recent round of betas for the upcoming Minecraft 1.20.2 update, librarian inventories are heavily adjusted. The enchantments that can be traded for are now dependent on a librarian villager's home biome, and certain enchantments can now only be accessed by leveling a librarian up to master level.

Moreover, certain enchanted books were completely removed from librarians' inventories, meaning Minecraft players must look elsewhere for them. Presumptively, this means more time exploring generated structures, fishing, or other activities and hoping the game's RNG will grace them with an enchanted book loot pickup.

In addition, Mojang stated in its patch notes that two sets of enchanted books would only be accessible via "secret" biomes. To be more specific, this means jungle and swamp villagers, which don't generate in the game world by default, must be bred to acquire their librarians' enchantment books.

Ultimately, the slew of changes to librarian villagers in recent Minecraft betas results in a substantial overall nerf. The changes suggested by Mojang now require fans to spend more time roaming around different biomes to source their enchantments and making entire living spaces in jungles and swamps to breed the necessary villagers.

Additionally, with the removal of a handful of enchanted books from librarian inventories, players now have to spend extra time plumbing structures just for the slim chance of getting the enchanted book they need. Granted, librarian enchantments were also randomized but tended to pan out more often than not.

Mojang stipulated in the recent beta notes that the changes to librarian villagers were done for balance, as many players could acquire powerful enchantments early on in the game to gain a boost. While balancing certainly isn't bad for early-game Minecraft, this also causes an inconvenient hassle for those already well-established in their world.

The good news for these changes is that they're tentative and can be enabled or disabled via the Experimental Features toggle. Mojang has stated that it's collecting feedback on the decision, so it's possible this rebalancing may still be tweaked before it's implemented in Minecraft 1.20.30.20.

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Minecraft's nerf to curing zombie villagers is also substantial

Another major sticking point of the trading nerfs for villagers concerns zombie variants. Snapshot 23w31a and Preview 1.20.30.20 have capped the number of discounts that a villager can provide after being cured of zombification. After these betas, players can only receive a single discount after curing a zombie villager.

Although Mojang and some fans have hailed this move, some players certainly won't be pleased with their villager trading halls and farms being less productive. With only one discount in place, players will also need to accrue more emeralds for their trades, which they likely won't be thrilled with.

Sure, some players will say that one emerald trade for powerful gear or items was exploitative to begin with, but many disagree. Considering the material cost inherent in curing a zombie villager, some likely believe they had to work to get their stacking discounts.

Nonetheless, Mojang has stated that these changes are also up for player feedback. Perhaps the community can make its voice heard, either positively or negatively, and come to a consensus that works both for balance and player satisfaction.