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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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  • 0
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     Imagine thinking that lugging around villagers to different biomes is a fun way to play.

    Also, Why make it unnecessarily difficult to achieve the higher-level enchantments? If the devs want to make it so that someone is enticed to get the highest level of enchantments, then why arbitrarily limit it? If I want to go around the world for books, I'll do that, and I've done that in the past. I always knew trading with villagers was an option, but most times I preferred exploring anyways and seeing the books as an extra bonus.

    TO THE DEVS: Please don't do this to the player base. Please don't turn into other studios that pigeonhole the players into one pathway for progression! Minecraft is supposed to have multiple ways to play and complete the game (if they even choose to complete it). Why get rid of the player's ability to play in their SINGLEPLAYER game the way they want? Leave the multiple paths open to the player's interest. If you feel that some biomes you have spent a lot of time updating aren't getting enough attention, then make them more enticing to visit and live in using a unique way. Do not punish those who have found playstyles they have grown accustomed to (unless it's truly game-breaking and ruins the fun for other people in multiplayer).

     

    Lastly, I have been playing since roughly around late 2009, early 2010. Adding tedium to a game makes it boring. I will quite literally stop playing and spending money on this game after so long. Leave the trading alone, PLEASE!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    A very good update because there is no village in the jungles and swamps and this gives some difficulty, because that is where the best spells are and it also gives motivation to use boats on ice and trolleys, I would also like the robbers to also have different costumes like residents depending on the biome will depend on the loot from the robbers themselves and in the tower which can also be updated depending on the biome, so I hope for a big optimization of these things

  • 0
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    First the good: Making Librarian trades less random is a great idea at its core and the wandering trader being able to buy some stuff from the player is also amazing for early game, when you previously never had a use for the trader's trades for a lack of emeralds.

    The bad: The biome locked trades are interesting from a thematic standpoint, but utterly terrible for gameplay. Nothing in the game telegraphs this change in trades nor the existence of jungle and swamp villagers, so without going to external resources about the game, nobody would be able to figure this stuff out easily and most would just get frustrated. I have no idea how this stuff actually could be properly telegraphed, since most other jobs a villager can have don't really have the same opportunity for thematic trades.
    The other bad thing is the fact that librarians are no longer able to sell max level books. This just makes them straight up worse than just using enchanting tables, since the cost of rolling for lucky enchants is on average lower or pretty much equal to buying them directly from villagers. Trading just is faster once set up. The problem is that trading is way too niche and tough to set up for this time difference to be at all worthwhile. Making enchantment levelling with an anvil cheaper would be a step in the right direction, but even with that theoretical solution, this problem in the game's balance would not be fixed.

    Villagers need to be nerfed, but this is not the way.

  • 0
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    As per my last post (too few characters are given):

    I said I would quit playing after investing over a decade worth of time into this game. Let me explain: if this is implemented, I would see it as a brash move that is entirely inconsiderate of the players that care enough about speaking up. Quite literally almost every single piece of feedback about villagers is against it. If the players that you're developing for are speaking out so vehemently against your changes, and you change them anyways, I don't see any reason to keep respecting the game with my time if the game and the player base/community that surrounds it isn't respected in reciprocity by the developers.

    Additionally, I made a thread of my own where I explained this same thought: In the decade+ that I have been playing this game, I have never felt the urge to give feedback, and I have never actually followed through with a want such as that until now. This is such a crazy change that you even have someone like me, a grown man with a PhD, speaking out against changes in a block game, or any game in general, for the first time ever.

  • 0
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    I do really love these changes However i feel that enchanting tables need to be reworked to be more useful in exchange, as at the moment villagers are really the only way to get into end game enchantments, however i feel this should be more feasible via the enchanting table

  • 0
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    I understand that the developers are wanting to encourage the player to explore the world they are in, this has been seen with the introduction of sherds and trims. This is an extension of this. However, I do not believe that this is a balanced experience. Not being able to get maximum enchantments from Master Librarians when you have to travel a distance to be able to find a village in that biome, or take a couple of villagers with you to breed them. This is going to turn a lot of people off who have limited time playing Minecraft. I only have a couple of hours a week that I am able to play and if I had to spend all my time wandering and exploring to find villages with villagers that wont even give me the highest level of enchantment, I am going to lose interest very quickly, as I believe others will also.
    I think a better balance would be to keep the maximum level enchantments, Unbreaking 3, Fortune 3, etc, at the master level of Librarian, and not limit it to specific biomes. There is still a lot of work in trying to get the specific villagers with the trades you would like, so really the reward for work is balanced.

    I understand that villagers are currently very OP, but I don't think limiting the enchantments to certain biomes and also certain maximums is the solution. Removing the stackable curing effects and only allowing max XP villagers sell max enchanted books would be a better more balanced way for the entire community.

  • 0
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    I like the curing nerf, and the wandering trader changes, and I'm OK with removing fishing and trident enchants from the librarian trade pool, but the rest of the librarian trade rework is problematic at best. New and casual players are not going to want to transport villagers and build a village just to get mending on their tools. It forces an unnatural progression to the game that has nothing to do with either the end game goal, nor what most players want to work on, especially not in the early game grind. I'm currently taking the time to gather all the villager types in my world, but this is for a huge project and only came after I've beaten the dragon and the wither multiple times and have maxed out gear. I would never even dream of undertaking such a thing in early game.

    I would much rather see the leveled enchantments, take power for example, as a trade which levels up as the librarian levels up, so he sells power 1 as the first trade, then power V as his last. This still encourages the player to level up his villagers, but offsets the anvil cost of having to add low level books together. I could maybe see locking a few unique and unusual trades behind biomes, such as frost walker, the curses, and thorns, but I really feel sorry for the superflat players if this gets implemented. Minimally, jungles and swamps NEED to generate villages if you insist on biome dependent trades, and basic necessities need to be available regardless of the biome.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    this is an interesting take on trying to balance trading but i feel this will be a more tedious method of getting enchantments. its good that your trying to make higher tiered enchantment's harder to get but it causes problems for newer player not bothering to try, experienced players finding more annoying to need to travel fair out for 1 book, anvil mechanics being awful, how mobs can be transported and so on. its great that your trying to nerf villagers but at the same time its making the game somewhat less fun by doing it this way without fixing previous issues that the community has communicated to you in the past.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I really think this is a step in the right direction. People are just going to be upset because it's a nerf, the exact same thing happened with gapple crafting, and now gapples are a cool and rare item that people actually get excited to obtain. people have gotten used to the BEST armor being their minimum, midgame tools/enchants are more than good enough for casual play

    That being said, I get that some people don't like mc to be challenging, so I think maybe the old (current) system should be kept in easy and maybe normal mode, while the new nerfs are added to hard and hardcore mode. 

    biome based enchants are a bit unintuitive, but I like that there is actually a reason to collect villagers from each biome type now.

    I think mending was buffed with this, now you're garunteed mending whenever you're in a swamp. Maybe villagers shouldn't be able to sell treasure enchants

    linking minecarts and being able to power furnace minecarts using a hopper minecart would be great additions in order to add a good way to move multiple mobs. That way, the hopper and furnace can be behind the player, but still move in the direction of the player (because the hopper is feeding the furnace, so it moves away from the hopper)

    buff anvil repairing, since that actually costs material. maybe the cost calculation for repairs, naming and combining enchants should be separate instead of all being the same value.

    Anyways I'm excited to see how the new trading mechanics develop! You have done good work, mojang

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Wandering Trader changes are in favor.
    The librarian biome fix is the opposite.
    Taking villagers to biomes thousands of blocks away in a minecart is nonsense.
    Please judge by adding occupation blocks for each biome.
    If the new block generates the librarian you want, it's worth the adventure.

  • 16
    Registered User commented
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    Having enchantments biome specific is not a good idea currently since certain biomes do not have their own villages, for example the swamp biomes, making us need to make individual villager breeders in biomes where enchantment can be traded

  • 0
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    How about you guys just fix some more critical bug on bug tracker or something else. This change forcing player to each different biome just for EFFICIENCY 3, and yeah it also can cause a lag 'cause of player loaded the unnecessary chunk and world size will be bigger than before. This also make the game even more time consuming and for the someone out there saying "I can easily max out my gear with villager their need nerf so bad",let me tell you not all people out there is neet like you,they have a job.We don't want a game that make us spend a few hour just to find a biome. If you guys want to nerf it at least don't lock any of the enchantment based on biome it's tedious maybe increase the price and nerf the curing system and is actually enough. I'm sure this is the most hated update ever

     

     

  • 0
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    Edits to Biome-Specific Books:
    Instead of exclusively biome-specific books, to encourage players to explore and set up multiple outposts to trade at villages, instead highly increase the chance a villager sells a specific book, which is a more player-friendly system would be to not make books exclusive or completely unlockable on a Superflat world, but the loot table for a Villager more appealing in a certain biome.


    Example: In a Plains Biome, villagers have a 25% chance to roll Unbreaking of any level as a book. Swamp Villagers however, will only have a 2% chance of Unbreaking I or II and Unbreaking III is impossible to get.


    Reasoning: This tells the story these Villagers have all interacted in some way, however they don't do so anymore and their supply of these special books to their biome are much more rare because the knowledge is much harder to come by. Some books may be entirely absent from a single biome because they only have one level or it may not be "needed" in their environment, such as Channeling from a Desert and Acacia biome because they do not have thunder storms, let alone rain storms.

  • 1
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    I think it would have been better if you had a skill tree system for the villagers and their professions. You want them to get a fire protection 4 book? Well first they need to learn about protection one with bringing them some resources like bones and arrows. Then perhaps they get fire protection 1 with a blaze rod and water bottle. Then fire protection 2 uses magma cream. 

    If you want to add biome history then make the resources for the enchants based from biome specific resources (like cherry wood, mangrove propagules, etc.).

    This gives a logical explanation to the reason the villagers got the ability to sell those resources. It prevents getting top tier enchantments in the first 5 minutes and still allows SMPs and such to get the end game and start building crazy things without repeated grinding.

  • 25
    Registered User commented
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    I'm opposed to the idea, this totally nerfs villagers and makes max armor and tools much harder to get because the "too expensive" anvil error may occur. 

    I could get behind this idea though if a few changes were made. If new swamp and jungle villages were added, this would make it a lot better. It would also be great if when the villagers were leveled up, they sold the max enchantment of their specific book type instead of a lower version. If these few changes were made I could totally get behind the idea, but as it stand now, these changes would make the game more challenging and not in a fun way.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I don't think this is a good idea for the game, maxing a villager to need to buy 2-4 books. Also, the villager biomes they require for good enchants(unbreaking and mending) means you need to bring a villager to these biomes and level them up. it's difficult to learn, it's expensive and most importantly it's tedious. (Most of the player base would just quit playing if they need to bring a villager 1000 blocks for a certain trade).
     I like the idea of having to travel. That's the best way to play Minecraft, however making it a requirement ruins the fun. To slowly bring a villager along is mind-numbingly boring.  
    Also some recommendations:
    *making different wooden lecterns for different trades
     *Giving the enchantment table better enchants
    *Adding jungle and swamp villages (which I think is required)
    although I understand the difficulties of this; and how villagers would get stuck in both biomes 
    **Getting rid of the "too expensive" tag on anvils, as max armor would become impossible  


    Minecraft has been my favorite game growing up. I started playing late in about 2015
    and was my absolute favorite. I loved the endless possibilities as I've grown up (being 18 now) and over 5,000 hours. If this update goes through, I'm never playing in versions past 1.20.1, which dislike playing due to the netherite change, but I would no longer feel enjoyment in playing which would mean it becomes monotonous. I would hate to have to stop playing over something as small as this.

  • 20
    Registered User commented
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    I think we all collectively hate this idea, dont make it another firefly situation. 

  • 0
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    My second suggestion, which revamps curing.

    Edits to Curing:
    Curing should be able to be done multiple times, however the process should be more difficult. It would have 5 tiers, example below. A wrong cure will lead into a failed curing state where one full day must roll over until the villager can attempt to be cured again, gaining the new "Zombie's Wrath" effect, which will give the Zombie Villager Strength II and Speed I.
    First Tier - Golden Apple and Weakness I.
    Second Tier - Golden Apple and Weakness II.
    Third Tier - Torchflower or Pitcher Plant and Weakness I.
    Fourth Tier - Nether Stew (New item utilizing all 9 crafting spots, with the items required being: Warped Fungus, Twisting Vines, Warped Roots, Nether Sprouts, Crimson Fungus, Crimson Roots, Weeping Vines, Raw Porkchop, and a bowl; gives player Nausea and no hunger points or saturation on consumption) and Weakness II.
    Fifth Tier - Scute or Dragon's Breath and Weakness II.

    Reasoning: I wanted to make each tier renewable, but more time consuming in a way, as well as there being risk if you mess up. The first two tiers are "normal," however if you want the best deals possible, you need to explore more put more time into developing more bases as you explore your world for specific items, some of which, like the Scute, are time-consuming to get. The swap between Weakness II and Weakness I for the Second to Third Tiers is to catch players off guard, and possibly set them back an entire Minecraft day.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I am positive about this change, however, due to the fact that the book for the maximum level of enchantment cannot be bought from a villager, it must be combined, but after a while the inscription "too expensive" will appear on the anvil. You should raise the experience level limit for enchanting.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I think the discount for healing villagers is generally fine, but trading with existing librarians on a biome-by-biome basis is very time-consuming and makes it very difficult to obtain enchantments to efficiently advance the game. I would like to see a return to the previous style on this point.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    It is better to make the conditions and potions affect, for example, when there is a shower torch in the room, bookshelves, a bed and it will be a child, and at the time of birth, the parents would have, for example, a regeneration effect, then it will work better as a priest, and if instead of a shower torch, simple and night vision, then he will be better as a librarian, but also so that this improvement is not so strong or complicates the reproduction of residents, this can break some mechanisms but also give something new, but I wanted residents depending on the biome (I will tell you later how), but here is a discount with zombies I like it, otherwise you can get a repair or a diamond breastplate on the server for 1 emeraldbut, but I would also like the inhabitants to have a connection with the biome, for example, again, better spells or lower prices from the librarian in the jungle, and in the desert it is possible with a cartographer, in the swamp a fisherman, on the plains a farmer, in the taiga a gunsmith, in winter a tanner

  • 6
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    GO for this changes not only Buffing the Enchanting Table but also obtaining OP item little bit hard cuz that what makes survival as a survival  as alot and majority of the players just go straight up finding village and get MAX enchanting over mining, crafting enchanting table and make level 30 enchanting.

  • 0
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    I like it. I think it adds a new challenge that is needed in this game. It gives the player a reason to explore and expand. Because of this though, I feel like we will need a better map system to be able to keep track of multiple villages that are potentially 1000’s of blocks from each other. Maybe a world map or a mini map with waypoints you can set.

  • 11
    Registered User commented
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    I personally like the changes but if you enact this change then please also allow villager trades to be data pack driven. As a matter of fact even if there is no change make them data pack driven. Allow players to make vanilla villager trading as hard or as easy as they prefer.

  • 1
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    Please don't put this update into Minecraft, it will only make the villagers useless！！！！！

  • 0
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    Overall I like this change. It makes searching for a specific enchanted book much easier, while also making introducing a more interesting pathway to achieving them compared to the current method of mine lectern, place lectern, repeat. Limiting the level makes the enchantment table more usable as currently there's no reason to use it over villagers.

    I think what a lot of people are missing is that villagers shouldn't be farmable. This makes it much harder to create trading halls, and that's a good thing.

    Though, this seems like the time to remove the anvil cost limit, as gear is going to cost much more xp to enchant than in previous versions with the lower levels.

  • 0
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    I strongly dislike the change to villager trading. It feels like Minecraft is dictating the "right way" to play the game by making exploration necessary to achieve basic enchantments. Not everyone wants to go out discovering the while world before they are fully kitted out. Some of us, especially when playing with young kids, prefer to set up in a village and grind until everyone has decent armor and tools, so we don't die 100 times going through a cave. Not everyone wants to play the game the same way, leave those of us who prefer to play it safe our alternate routes to achieving full armor and tools! Especially since it is just as time consuming, if not more than mining and enchanting, just more predictable and "safe".

    That being said, I like the idea of the wandering trader buying things and getting additional trades, but the proposed trades are NOT it, very boring and not useful. Why not give us more alternate options that could help out peaceful and flat world players??

  • 0
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    I understand that librarians specifically need a kind of change to make them less overpowered, especially on multiplayer servers. But making certain enchantments biome specific raises even more issues and ultimately winds up harming smaller groups & solo players.
    A few hurdles making this change frustrating:
    +There is no easy way to move villagers long distances to start these new villages. Villagers cannot be led/enticed, and the best method to move them right now is by boat, which is tricky and relies on going downhill. Maybe make villagers able to ride llamas or camels? 
    +Certain worlds that are single-biome will be permanently locked to specific enchants and unable to make full sets of gear. (see: superflat)
    +Anvils still have the rework limit, which combined with all the enchanted book nerfs make it even more inconvenient if not impossible.
    +Enchanting tables still offer little to no incentive long-term with the anvil rework limit in place. Sure you can get some good starting enchantments with it, but it can only take you so far before you're limited by the anvil.
    Overall, it feels like the anvil limit prevents gradual progression with the player, since you're incentivized to stack books on each other first before applying. Honestly a fun option/fix to these is to completely switch up the enchanting system and make it more like a skill tree - somewhere I saw someone compare it to the MC dungeons system, which is promising.

  • 0
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    The wandering trader changes are fantastic especially since selling to them means we can get a couple emeralds to buy from them with instead of always keeping some on hand or in an ender chest just in case. 

    The villager trade biome dependency changes are not a good fix and would make it even more tedious to get the desired enchantments rather than reducing the overpowered use of trading (as well as be impossible in flat and other single biome worlds). The librarian needing to be higher level to get better books sounds alright in theory but more of a step in the right direction than a whole fix in itself.

  • 0
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    Putting in some effort toward a guaranteed result instead of mindlessly rerolling lecterns is great as a big picture idea. I feel like the effort in this implementation might be to high or the reward too low though. I wonder if there's a more interesting way to make unique sets of trades that doesn't compound the punishments of bad biome luck. I do like the idea of a villager trading setup that only needs 7 librarians.

    And following in the spirit of the camel and making different kinds villages having more things to make them each unique is also great idea.  But I'm not sure if this needs to be done through vlllager trades necessarily. Unique decorative items or cool structures might work just as well.

    Wandering trader changes aren't drastic enough. Go bigger. I really want to like this dude. Half a stack of logs? How about let me buy 5 stacks of prismarine or calcite. Let me buy something cool.