(November 2011)
The game released with a few new features that hadn’t been part of the Beta (they were in the Beta 1.9 release that never came to be because they were rolled into the main game). This included Hardcore Mode, for people who wanted to really challenge themselves.
Negative and positive status effects appeared, such as Strength boosting, Poison, and so forth. Brewing was introduced, as well as Breeding. The End was added, along with Nether Fortresses, so players had quite a huge amount of new things to try and accomplish.
1.1 (January 2012)
Players didn’t have to wait long for a substantial patch. Major language support was added (try playing the game in Pirate Speak or Klingon sometime!). There were also quite a few tweaks and adjustments made to improve general gameplay, but not too many major overhauls were done at that time.
1.2 (March 2012)
NPC Villages weren’t too happy about this patch—it came with Zombie sieges. At night, villagers had to contend with heavy monster attacks as long as there were players anywhere in the same chunk. This sometimes led to entire depopulations of the towns. Pretty nifty, actually. Fallen villagers become Zombies themselves, further adding to the chaos and destruction. Good times!
Biomes continued to expand, so world generation improved a decent bit after 1.2 was added.
1.3 (August 2012)
This was the first patch where Adventure Mode was available. Players could craft specific challenges and structures for others to explore, and this was possible because creating buildings was disabled. Fire and bucket use were also restricted, so adventurers couldn’t simply tunnel or burn their way through everything.
Villages continued to improve as well. Trading was introduced, so villagers had a bit more purpose besides simply being cool to find and protect (or slaughter if you weren’t such a nice person).
1.4 “The Pretty Scary Update” (October 2012)
Beacons and Anvils were added. Beacons were especially cool because they are so hard to create, so they serve as yet another type of late-game goal for serious players to focus on. Speaking of endgame stuff, the Wither was included in this update. Being one of the nastiest things in the game, this boss is hard to summon and can be quite tough to kill.
Players also got to meet Witches, Wither Skeletons, and Bats. This made for a really cool Halloween in Minecraft history.
1.5 “The Redstone Update” (March 2013)
Even more machines came into play with 1.5. Activator Rails, Daylight Sensors, Droppers, Hoppers, Redstone Blocks, Comparators, and Weighted Pressure Plates were introduced. Minecraft machinery was always cool, but many more automations were possible after this.
1.6 “The Horse Update” (July 2013)
Wolves and Ocelots were already in the game, but Horses were an absolutely necessary inclusion for many players. Exploration was even cooler now that you could take your animal friend along for the ride.
1.7 “The Update That Changed the World” (October 2013)
Our personal favorite was patch 1.7. The improvement to world generation was extreme; biome additions and improvements made the world richer, so regions felt like they had much better differentiation.
1.8 “The Bountiful Update” (September 2014)
Mapmaking and Survival Mode both received updates and improvements in 1.8. There were also quite a few new types of blocks added to the world, which greatly enhanced the feeling that the underground wasn’t just a huge slab of rock and special resources. New varieties of stones and ores added visual appeal to the underground areas, and also improved the ability to build interesting structures that had more stylish decorations.
Villages also became more robust. Villagers could be encouraged to breed through gifts of food, and adult villagers gained distinct professions for trading.
The rest of the world became slightly happier and cuter with the inclusion of Rabbits. To balance all things good and evil, Guardians and Endermites were also included.
1.9 “The Combat Update” (Unreleased)
Shields, Quivers, and left-handed items are all planned inclusions in the next major update. We can’t wait to try them all out!
