A Critique of Snapshot 23w31a

Minecraft, as a sandbox game, benefits from open-ended game design. Giving the player multiple options and letting them go at their own pace. But instead, Mojang is so bent on closing everything and railroading players into one specific progression path. It really detracts from what made Minecraft appealing to begin with. I don't understand why Mojang insists on turning a game whose biggest draw is being an aimless sandbox into a half-baked adventure game where all of the adventure is forced rather than encouraged. Instead of giving players incentive to visit other biomes, such as by giving biomes unique content, you are now forcing them to visit other biomes, and very artificially at that.

Calling Mending "overpowered" isn't much of an argument unless we're talking about an especially extreme example, such as letting people fly freely outside of creative mode. You can already play survival mode with cheats on, so it's not like the game being challenging was ever a particular concern. Minecraft is also simply too random to have strict progression. It is by definition randomly generated and trying to railroad the player down one hyper-specific route of gameplay is not only totally needless and unfun but also nigh impossible due to how the game is designed.

I won't say enchanting doesn't need changes, but look at buffing the enchanting table and anvil before you look at nerfing villagers. People rely on villagers out of necessity; the alternative is simply too messy.