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Let's talk about Villager Trading! - Librarian, Wondering Trader

The latest snapshot/preview includes experimental changes to the wandering trader and librarian trades, which we're introducing to rebalance the villager trade system. Here's a look at what's changed: 

Librarian

Before these changes, players could get any village enchantment from any librarian. A novice librarian could sell the best enchantment in the game! For some players, this felt too random and made trading feel overpowered when compared to using the enchanting table or searching for enchanted books in structures.

With the new rules, librarians from different biomes sell different enchantments, and each village biome has one enchantment that is only sold by master librarians.

Players will have to work towards getting the best trades instead of relying on random chance. We hope this makes librarian trading more interesting and skilful, while also revealing some clues about their history of each village type through the enchantments that are sold there.
 
Wandering Trader

Some players felt that the Wandering Trader had unfair prices and didn't sell many useful items. We have lowered their prices, added more trades and increased the amounts available. The Wandering Trader will also now buy useful items from players, so it's possible to help them on their journey by giving them supplies even if you don't feel like buying anything.

As this is an experiment, we would really appreciate your feedback as work continues and to help us decide on the future direction for villager trades!

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  • Official comment
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    Thank you to everyone who has sent in their suggestions and feedback regarding the experimental trade change!  We are trying out these changes to rebalance the villager trade system and make it more fair and fun for everyone. However, these changes are not yet final, and they will stay as experimental features while we continue to work on them. We still need your feedback to help us improve and decide, so please continue to let us know what you think of the new trades, what you like and dislike, and what suggestions you have in this thread!

  • 1395
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    I'm not sure how I feel about this change BUT in superflat minecraft how do you guys expect us to get the books? We have a entire smp on superflat and need the nerf not to happen in superflat thanks and take this into serious discussion because this is a serious thing your gonna do

  • 110
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    Wandering trader has not a lot of stock for each trade. Only one trade for hale bale to 1 emrald is not good enough, maybe 3 for that trade and others that don't have many

  • 276
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    Are trading halls not a thing that the developers think are legit at this point? I think making Librarians follow a set of rules that make it more difficult to setup robust trading halls seems like a pretty bad overall nerf unless there's ways to either fake biomes or move villagers easily since they're notoriously difficult to move even with carts and boats. Would love to bait villagers like regular friendly mobs.

  • 1647
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    This is a bad change for the villagers and their trades. Return everything as it was.

  • 231
    Registered User commented
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    Librarian villager can sell the same enchanted book of the same level with the same or different prize which does not feel right

  • 103
    Registered User commented
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    Add Bamboo to the wandering trader for 5 emeralds we need it for superflat

  • 355
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    Hate the librarian changes I'm afraid.  I'm all for new challenges and ideas being brought into the game, it helps keep things alive.  But setting up villager trading hall is already one of the biggest and most labour-intensive things you can do in the game (when you factor in the time you build the breeder, move villagers to where you need them, then sort through them all to get their trades set up, never mind if you are making a build around it to look nice, need to sort out what sort of source you are using for emeralds (other trades with attached farms and/or pillager raid farm) and considering adding the zombie mechanics to bring prices down), without making it even more labour intensive.

    I may be wrong, others might disagree and like this mechanic.  But if it must be brought into play, can we at least keep it only as an option that is off by default in the live version so that those who want the extra challenge can do so without it causing bigger impact to the rest?

  • 130
    Registered User commented
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    Overall the changes are fine, I think having some books be guaranteed is a good change. However putting the most important book (mending) behind a villager type that most people probably don't know exists is ridiculous. Also putting the good enchantments to lower than their maximum level is also a really bad choice. Mostly because anvils, and enchanting in general, hasn't been updated in forever and you'll quickly get to the point where what you want to enchant is too expensive. Unless this is getting pushed out with a massive enchanting overhaul, this should be seriously reconsidered.

  • 5
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    I think the villager trading changes make sense to avoid the tedium and early-game power of re-placing lecterns to get any trades you want, but mending feels almost necessary with the anvil's repair mechanics having a hard limit.

    I would be more welcoming of this change if anvil repairing no longer had a cap, since I feel like mending is a bit of a band-aid fix to avoid having to deal with the anvil. This could make mending a nice-to-have that's worth the effort without feeling forced to do it.

  • 245
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    My first take on this is that this is forcing all player types, and there are very different play styles among the community, to play in a way that forces exploration over how they would prefer to play the game. Bottom line is that some people feel the biomes are too big now....way harder and longer to travel now until one has Elytra even with using a nether hub. There are also players who like to find an area and "stay put". As a sandbox game...this should be respected (for lack of a better way of saying it) rather than imposing play style because another part of the community feel something is too easy. Also...Not ALL players want to partake in Raids which seems to be a reason behind these villager trade changes also. The raid farms that exist are far more overpowered than villager trading with librarians imho.
       Curretnly, no one is forced to take the easy route as is being brought up as an "issue". Those players that feel it is too easy can simply choose not to do so. Whereas this change forces a style of play onto players in order to get enchantments with no choice.  
    More to come I am sure as I think this through more. 

  • 205
    Registered User commented
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    While this change might sound like a good idea on the surface, the more I think about it, the more it seems misguided.

    First, if this change were to be made, it would render all kinds of large scale/centralized "Villager Infrastructure" like Breeding Stations, Curing Stations and Trading Halls obsolete given that you now have to find the Villagers scattered around the world.

    Now, imagine you finally found a Mending villager, but your trading Hall is at X:100 Z:100, and the villager is at X:6,000 Z:7,000. Villagers are known for being extra dificult to move around, and using minecarts will require tons of resources and infrastructure, even if you move them through the Nether.

    Then, finally, imagine you finally got your Mending Villager to your hall at 100,100, but the book costs 54 emeralds, and curing them will just reduce the base price to 34 emeralds and that's it, again, this would significantly reduce (or straight up remove) the incentive of building Zombification and Curing Infraestructure.

    I am sure that the Dev team can, and will come up with a better alternative that will not disrupt some practices that have been in the game for more than 5 years now and that are a staple of the Survival Minecraft experience for a large chunk if the playerbase.

    With much love and respect :)

  • 306
    Registered User commented
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    These are great ideas!!!

  • 73
    Registered User commented
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    I think these changes are great, but with now needing to combine books to get max level, the anvil exp cost needs a massive overhaul. I think fisherman villagers should sell the fishing enchantments. Somewhat related as well, enchantment tables desperately need an overhaul, they feel just too random and not worth the risk IMO

  • 272
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    This is a very positive change as it makes mending a lot fairer overall

    Though i would prefer if there was also a slight nerf to the armorer's inventory as well

  • 54
    Registered User commented
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    i like the wandering trader changes, and i can tolerate making some enchantments only available from specific biome villagers i guess, its a really annoying change, id much prefer maybe more weight chance for that biomes traders to have those enchants than make them exclusive, but its something that can be unhappily endured. but removing some enchants completely from villager trades, and making sure we cant get the max levels of those enchantments from villagers is one of the absolute worst updates that could possibly be made to this game. please do not go through with this change Mojang. ive obsessively played this game for years but this change breaks my heart so much that it could very well be the thing that makes me turn away from minecraft forever. please do not do this.

  • 17
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    I think there should be more trades that make the wandering trader buy items that you're more likely to have, because i don't find myself carrying a fermented spider eye very often, it'd be great if the wandering trader would buy and sell something like sand or maybe cobblestone for example.

  • 10
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    I can definitely see the idea of having the librarians have special books for each specific biome, but I think the idea can only work if there was an easier way to transport villagers. If you wanted to get a mending villager, which is now locked to swamps, but your base isn't near a swamp, it's a long, annoying hassle to actually bring the villager to your base. I think if you're going to toy around with the idea of changing how villagers pay out based on the biome they're from, you should also have a way to transport villagers to not push away those who use the villager's farm tactics for their base. Maybe give villagers the ability to board camels. Or make a system for them to follow you much like a dog or a cat, like a companion system for villagers. The idea is definitely interesting but can use some fine-tuning overall :)

  • 19
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    In theory, I think these are good ideas, but in practice, I think the changes to villagers are terrible. I think going out of your way to go to new villages is a pretty great idea. But you can't find swamp or jungle villagers normally. So basically you'd have to transport villagers to said biome, breed them, and then and only then can you unlock 3 good trades, which just sounds like too much of a hassle. I don't want to go to the ugly swamp biome just so I can get good enchants, sure I could transport the villagers back to my home, but with how annoying villagers can be, and the prospect of having to transport them hundreds of thousands of blocks just doesn't sound like something I would find enjoyable. Also, doesn't this completely remove almost all enchanting books from superflat? I know superflat isn't exactly the most popular way of playing but some people are really dedicated to their superflat worlds and it'd be a shame to see it go to waste.  However, I think some of these changes are good! Some of the ideas I do like is the zombie villager changes, this would give players more of a reason to do raids, and I also love the changes to Wandering Traders. Overall, not exactly happy with the changes to villagers, but this is just a snapshot, and the point is to gather feedback, so I can understand. If it does come to a full release though, it's safe to say I don't exactly think I'll be a happy camper.

  • 5
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    Give us a cool way for transporting Villagers, give us an Town Hall or smt different then the Bell then would building an village be actually fun and not just something stupid (and maybe something like the villagers give you more then just trading and spawning an golem...)

  • 3
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    I am so, so glad these changes are being made! Villager trading was one of the most unbalanced, progression breaking, exploitable mechanics in the game. These changes would finally fix that. Minecraft is about mining and crafting, not selling sticks and buying enchanted armor. But, even after the discounts have been fixed, there is still one way to cheese trading, and that is building a raid farm, which can generate unlimited amounts of emeralds. I feel like that should be fixed as well, to really complete this rebalance.

  • 3
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    I think librarians needed a nerf and this is a step in the right direction, but I think the nerf was a little too harsh in some ways. I like the idea of enchantments being specific to the villager’s biome, but some enchantments are now impossible to get via trading and I think that every enchantment should be possible to get with the right villager (each biome type should have more than 3 normal book types and each enchanted book trade they offer should be a random book out of the ones they offer). Rather than limiting what villagers can offer, it should simply be more difficult to get the trades (by making them biome specific) to reward technical players who put in the effort and need to mass produce enchanted books. Also I think the special book offered at master level should be the max level enchantment (ex. plains villagers should offer protection 4, not 3, or at least have a random chance of having the max level). So in short, to reward players who put in work, enchantments that can no longer be obtained by trading should be obtainable again from specific biomes and the special trades should be max level.

  • 22
    Registered User commented
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    I like the changes to Villager Trading. Though I do have a few comments:

    • Having curses be a potential trade book in Savannas and Swamps. I would suggest making cursed enchanted books a random chance in all biomes. It adds some lore that the villagers messed up and are trying to get rid of them. Maybe sell them for like 1 emerald. Then for Swamps replace the curse with Lure and for Savanna's replace the curse with Quick Charge.
    • I like the new additions to the Wandering Trader though I think some of the trades could modified. Firstly I would have the Wandering Trader sell the player some food items such as Sweet Berries, Dried Kelp and Mushroom Stew. I would also remove some useless trades such as Podzol, Vines, Moss Block, Lily Pads, Sea Pickles, Glowstone, Kelp and Fern. Those items are so abundant in the world that there is no need to have the Wandering Trader sell them. Also maybe having an Enchanted Book trade or a Potion trade called Trader's Potion with Invisibility and Speed would be cool. Also having to trade it a Boats, Leads and Carpets for Emeralds could help with the lore. Boats to travel on water, leads and carpets for the Trader Llamas. Also this is just a fun idea but for Halloween have the Wandering Trader sell Jack O'Lanterns.
  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    It feels a bit weird to encourage players to relocate villagers. A lot of the abuse of villager mechanics relies on forcing them into new locations, and this change would encourage more of that in different parts of the world. You can get the same effect by hiding more enchantments in trail ruins or dungeons.

  • 2
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    I think you shouldn't do this, for the sake of superflat or single biome worlds. This isn't like adding something that is only available in a certain biome, this is only taking away something people relied on.

    If you're gonna do this, please exclude Mending from this system. It's already a "treasure" enchantement unavailable via enchanting table and it's basically mandatory for long playthroughs or survival megabuilds considering anvil repairs are limited and extremely expensive. Locking it behind either a rare chance while treasure hunting or fishing, or building a village in a swamp is an unnecessary restriction.

    You may want to address the enchanting table, as well, give something for players to swallow the pill. The avenues for improvement are massive; I don't think it's anybody's favorite thing to play the roulette wheel with their hard-earned XP because they can't see—and have no control over—which enchantment they'll receive.

    TLDR: Not a bad idea but intenable if not accompanied by improvements in other areas.

  • 3
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    I think it is a bad idea, because in the other worlds, for example in superflat worlds. And I think remove meta enchantments from villagers for example: Mending, is so Bad. Players who needs a mending book needs to grind by fishing or autofishing, Grind is so bad for the game, it’s kills all atmosphere of Minecraft - the game where you can automise grind’s process.

  • 5
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    I don't really like this change. I understand how broken villagers can be and how annoying the rng of getting books is, but spreading all the books out to 7 different biome types and limiting the level of the enchantments seems a bit too far. I think that simply removing some specialized enchantments from the librarians and only being able to obtain them from structures (i.e. Depth Strider and Respiration only being obtainable from ocean structures) would be a beneficial change that encourages exploration but also allows for villager trading to obtain base enchantments (i.e. protection 4, unbreaking 3, mending).

  • 2
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    Theres gonna be a lot of shock to the Librarian change - players are used to the way that trading works now and generally don't like change, but personally I LOVE this.

    Villagers shouldn't be powerful, but instead reliable and useful, and this change helps that. Initial impressions make me feel like this encourages both resourcefulness and exploration in players. I also love how there is a lot less chance involved - youre virtually guaranteed to get each villager's designated book.

    My main concern is the biome dependancy - no other villager trades are biome-dependant, so communicating this to players 'not in the loop' could be a challenge. Also, theres the everlasting concern of transporting entities (especially Villagers), and further, how this change limits those playing in single-biome worlds. Personally, I'd love to see easier ways to transport Villagers and also new alternative ways to recieve any enchantment book alongside this change.

    Overall though, I feel like this is an incredibly healthy and positive change to the game. Adapting and strategising to recieve the enchantments I want sounds like an incredibly fun way to fix a broken and tedious system. I also love how Mending and Unbreaking, as the most sought-after books, are hidden behind secret villagers, but are also guaranteed at master level. This is definitely a change I wanna see in the game.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    All locking books to books to biome specific villagers has achieved is moving the randomness of repeatedly breaking and placing a lectern (which was admittedly a very monotonous task) to the more frustrating chances of finding a random biome which may not appear for thousands of blocks. It doesn't test the player's skill or make them work harder, it just severely drags out the process with what could be hours of empty travelling.
    I support the sentiment behind the changes but this ain't it

    *Edit: would also make certain trades completely inaccessible in super flat worlds and some maps

  • 24
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    Irrelevant to villager trading but about this snapshot:

    Add generic.damage_resistance as new attribute as well