This week we released a side snapshot for Java containing a work in progress version of the Deep Dark feature set, including the Deep Dark biome, Ancient City structures, Sculk blocks and...THE WARDEN!
As well as your general feedback, the team also prepared some questions that they would love to hear your thoughts on after playing:
- Was the Warden challenging? If so, what did you enjoy / not enjoy about your encounters with the Warden?
- Describe any encounters you had with the Warden - did they feel enjoyable?
- Were you able to figure out how to sneak around the Warden?
- Were you able to loot chests in the Ancient Cities without being killed by the Warden?
- Describe how the darkness effect felt
- In your encounters with the Warden, how scared did you feel?
For more details on in this snapshot and how to access it, check out the blog post over on Minecraft.net.
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The Warden was definitely intimidating but not very challenging. Whenever I heard it emerge, I just built a pillar and sat on top of it until the Warden went away. One encounter I had with the Warden was when I watched it get trolled by a bat from the comfort of my mighty wool pillar. During my Ancient City survival raid, I managed to loot every chest except for two. That was only because I couldn't find them until I checked out the structure in creative. I think darkness effect was well done but, in my opinion, you can see too much of the Warden when it happens, though. I'd prefer it if the Warden was shrouded in darkness and harder to see except for the glowing pixels on its face and chest. I always felt nervous when the Warden emerged, but I'd always end up amused after constructing a pillar and watching it wander around. I'd even drop items down and watch it waddle over to them for my own amusement.
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oops sorry lol i got the file
i really hope that the "portal" is a portal if it is a portal maybe the warden could be the key to opening the portal or the warden will be guarding a "central room" full of treasure and the tool to ignite the portal. just a coo idea :)
In the ancient cities, the warden should be able to get up to the walkway section with wool. It's usually two blocks tall so the warden can't get up there from the ground while you can pillar up. There should be stairs every so often or make it so it's only a one block tall jump.
The warden was challenging enough to be difficult to kill even for experienced players fully decked out with netherite and potions. Its health and strength are perfect. It is super easy to cheese the warden however. The warden can't figure out how to get around a lava bucket and also can be trapped just by digging a one block hole and filling it with water. Having an elytra and rockets makes for an easy getaway.
Encountering the warden was spooky! I didn't know when it would happen so I was anxious the entire time I was in the ancient city. The animation of it emerging was excellent. Again, cheesing it was easy.
It's kinda easy to run from the warden, but I never was stealthy enough to sneak away.
I was able to loot a few chests, but it was difficult to do so without spawning the warden and being killed.
Even with my brightness set to bright, the darkness effect was almost blinding. This made everything about 3 times as difficult as it would have been.
The warden didn't scare me as much as it made my heart race. Its heartbeat might have also added to that sensation. If the warden were just a bit taller and wider, it would make its appearance more closely resemble its overpowering strength and it would look even scarier.
P.S.
The screams from the skulk shriekers seem too real and should be more distorted and more like that of a ghast.
The warden's hitbox seems too small.
The properties of the reinforced deepslate give new opportunities to the technical community and should not change.
I think the new ancient cities are an amazingly built and suspenseful structure in-game, but I don't think there's a whole lot of incentive to explore them as of now. I think if they were a vital part of crafting netherite tools, it would not only add incentive, but increase the longevity of the game because as of right now, not a whole lot is needed to craft the strongest tools in the game.
Having to go through the Deep Dark with only diamond armor also adds much more suspense and fear to the experience which is a vital part of the new ancient cities, and making them needed to craft netherite gives players way more reason to fully explore and take in the atmosphere. Maybe moving the smithing table to be exclusive to Ancient Cities or even a special furnace to smelt the netherite bars, either way I believe it would greatly benefit and add quite a bit of challenge to the experience.
A little bonus too is that the name-sake would work too, because you would need Ancient Cities to smelt/use Ancient Debris and the overall dark-gray color of netherite works with the grayish colors of the structure as well.
I feel that when you see the world from the wardens POV using spectator mode you should be completely blind besides a few blue flashes when ever a skull sensor goes off near by.
- Was the Warden challenging? If so, what did you enjoy / not enjoy about your encounters with the Warden?
It was fun, but it wasn't challenging, his "screams" were amazing and spooky! but you can still pillar up to defeat him, his spawn animation was sooooo cool it shock me to the core, but his health also bothered me, it was way to high to make the full fight enjoyable, he just feels like an buffed zombie with special animations and slightly diferrent mechanics to me.
- Describe any encounters you had with the Warden - did they feel enjoyable?
Despite of what i said early, the encounters felt enjoyable on the most part, even tho he is way to tanky and can basically hit kill you in every situation in hard mode i still had some fun fighting with it, but i think that on a long term server his spawn would get annoying.
- Were you able to figure out how to sneak around the Warden?
I just ran away for the most part but yes.
- Were you able to loot chests in the Ancient Cities without being killed by the Warden?
My generation didn't award me with any chests XD, or i wasn't able to find them.
- Describe how the darkness effect felt
It felt so cool and spooky, it been a long time since i felt so imersed on minecraft. but over time on the warden fight the coolness of the effect started to fade way.
- In your encounters with the Warden, how scared did you feel?
With all my points combined my only big complain is the lack of variety, but i tought the enconter was scary and fun, hopefull to the future!
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It's very easy to sneak past the warden, just throw a snowball get on the wool paths and run. building up a couple blocks and digging a hole in a wall makes the warden easy to kill. being able to use lava and water on the warden to slow him down i don't think should be possible.
One of the ancient cities i found was completely underwater. It was really cool I'd swim past skulk and it would activate, because of this i was wondering how the warden reacted to the water, he ended up spawning in a wall and being stuck on a waterfall, I think some mechanics for the warden underwater would be cool.
In the ancient cities the deep dark biome would get overruled by dripstone caves meaning that monsters would spawn in the ancient cities maybe change that.I think there are too many enchantments for boots. So I think swift sneak should be added to the leggings. Like it's making your legs move faster. Just an idea.
I wrote a comment a little earlier to answer the questions that the team wanted feedback on. Anyways, I wanted to write this to pitch a few ideas that would make the Warden more of a force to be reckoned with.
First, I think the Warden's sensor range should be increased. It should detect anything within the general area of Ancient Cities (100+ blocks), since nothing but the player is meant to make vibrations down there.
Second, it is easy to outrun the Warden so I think it should continually get faster as it runs until it matches the speed of the player. It should also chase the player until it gets them or becomes stuck.
Lastly, I think that when the Warden realizes it can't get you from where it is, it will crawl into the ground and emerge wherever the player is standing. If the player standing on a one-block-wide pillar, and the Warden is angry it would literally emerge from right under the player if there isn't any other suitable space.
If you somehow make an infinite loop of pistons and doors going off with redstone, the warden literally just stays in the area, so I think that the warden shuold lose interest in something if sound is always emitted from an area, so that the warden doesn't get distracted in that one area forever.
Warden:
Firstly, I noticed that the warden is able to suffocate in blocks like most mobs. I think that the warden should be invincible to suffocation damage, since the warden spawning and despawning animation suggests that it lives for long periods of time in solid blocks. Therefore it makes sense that it would have developed some sort of way of surviving those conditions. Also, as many people have pointed out, it seems too easy to "cheese" it by pillaring up or trapping it in lava.
Otherwise, my experience with the warden was very enjoyable. I really liked the amount of health, damage and speed the warden has, and I do not think that it should be nerfed in any way. The new sneaking aspect in gameplay is very appealing to me, and I really like the sound design once the warden is summoned. The warden is terrifying, and I really like it.
Ancient cities:
I really like the design and layout of the ancient cities. The block pallet is perfect, and the structure feels very natural/immersive. I like the unique loot that can be found in the chests, and am exited to see a new way of obtaining skulls. The new reinforced deepslate is fascinating, and I am very exited to see its application in the technical aspects of the game. I really hope it will be more easily obtainable in survival.
Darkness effect:
This effect can get quite annoying at times, but that really is its purpose. I do think that night vision should counter its effects in some way, and maybe be an item in loot chests.
I found this whole snapshot fun and enjoyable however I have some issues with it. Starting off the Warden is way too easy to deal with you can kill it easily and you can run from it easily (even without sneaking) to fix these two issues maybe make wardens climb walls or have some kind of attack to reach you from a distance, as for the Ancient Cities they are fine aside from the loot they could use some more useful gear/enchantments swift sneak is good but its only useful in very specific situations, the blocks I think these are really good however with the catalyst I think they should have a 19/20 chance for a sculk sensor and a 1/20 for the shrieker rather than a 9/10 and a 1/10, and finally the deep dark itself I think the biome itself is really bland I think there should be more blobs, and to balance it out when adding more blobs to the biome make shriekers less common on average, Overall I really like the new features in this experimental snapshot and I hope to see some improvements in the near future.
sensors with a value of {value0} and shriekers with a value of {shrieking:false} still emit redstone signals and still shriek. these are amazing blocks, however useless for builders. im not sure if these nbt tags are just made that way or just broken, but please fix
wardens ignore the {domobspawning:false} gamerule, as well ignoring {noAI:1}, still having a heartbeat thatll increase to its surroundings
I found quite a funny bug where if the warden goes underwater it won't be able to move anymore, if you make his tendrils go off he'll walk slowly in a circle in attempt to go to it, but fails.
Hope i could help!
I feel like the chests need propper loot, rather than just yet another boot enchantment. It's probably subject to change anyways, but better loot like diamonds or some other exclusive item.
As alot of people have said it is very easy to avoid the Warden. One of my suggestions is when the Warden screams it could destroy blocks placed by players within its raidius. An alternative is that it could burrow next to the player or ontop of the player as this would make the Warden alot better. I love what you have done so far and cant wait to see the next experimental snapshot.
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Couple ideas for de-cheesing the fight:
1) Make the warden have a "suck attack" where they pull the player in with enough force to pull them out of 2-high holes or off of pillars. The warden does have a big mouth and and chest cavity thing - maybe that can be explained with a sort of "black hole attack".
2) Let them move through rock-type blocks to pursue the player. This could involve swimming up pillars or ignoring the blocks making up tiny holes.
3) Let them destroy sand and gravel, and convert any pillars to sand/gravel. Then if you pillar up, you get pulled down pretty quick. This is probably still a bit cheesable though with using different blocks.
4) Water seems to be a bit of an issue for them, so maybe have them burrow under the rock at the bottom of any water they find themselves in, only to appear somewhere else more near the player.
5) Lava also seems to be a bit of a problem for them, slowing and damaging them. Maybe give them fire protection, or even immunity.
It would also be cool if they had some immunity to suffocation damage (at least for blocks), since they can literally burrow into blocks. I'm also not a big fan of the gigantic arms being entirely outside their hitbox. Maybe these can be part of the hitbox, but not included for block collisions so they can still move freely?
I'd also keep the bats behavior - bats could even be their food source, as it would make sense why they evolved to hunt sound/movement.
It is extremely easy to cheese the Warden if you have an elytra, as it is possible to quickly loot all of the chests in a city and fly away before any Wardens can get to you.
A good solution to this could be to introduce a kind of Sculk that "catches" flying creatures, similar to a venus flytrap. It could be similar to vines, growing on the roof of caves and reaching all the way down to the ground, but it would have some special interaction with other Sculk mechanics.
Any flying entities caught in these Sculk "vines" would get tangled up in the plant's(?) leaves and slowly fall to the ground. It makes a lot of noise when mobs pass through it too, so it acts as a hazard.
Not only would this solve the elytra problem, as enough of these "vines" in an area would make travel through the air impossible, but it would also give the area a lot of ambience and extra mood; whilst giving the ceiling of the deep dark caves some visual interest. Additionally, the Warden may be able to climb up these vines, finally allowing it to deal with its mortal enemy; the common bat.
This would not only give the Warden some more presence and force players to actually engage with it, but it would also give player the opportunity to lob projectiles at the "vines" to lure the Warden to specific areas.
Of course, this is just a solution thought up by some random player of the game, who has no idea if this idea can be implemented or not. But hopefully the idea of some anti-elytra cheese is helpful to you.
The Warden's animations and sound effects are great, however it is very easy to just avoid by pillaring up, using lava or water, or getting it trapped in a hole. Giving it the ability to climb or break blocks like the ravager, and also being able to swim or being fire resistant would make the Warden much more difficult to fight.
the warden has no options for when players pillar up. maybe give them a projectile attack similar to llama spit that can knock players off?
also, they are extremely bad at swimming upstream. doing the classic "hey enderman wanna see something cool? *places water on ground*" is a very easy way to get away from the wardens when they're too close to the player to pillar up.
too many mutually-exclusive boot enchantments. I think swift sneak should be moved to the leggings.
obviously the ancient city loot tables are a little lacking but I have a feeling that that was an intentional decision for this snapshot and not representative of loot in the final release. I would like to see more in the chests, though.So far I really like the overall feel of the warden and especially the visual fee of the Areas of the deep dark.
On the first couple encounters the warden had me quite scared and managed to kill me quite swiftly. It took me a while to figure out how to navigate around the warden and unless surprised or unprepared it has a very hard time killing me and I don't struggle against it too much when I tower up or burrow down quick enough.
Maybe a way for the warden to shake me off my towers or to still get to me if I burry a bit would make it more challenging but I'm uncertain if the warden needs to be.
A very warm suggestion I'd have would be to make it so that the warden DOES NOT disappear again if you Name-Tag it. This Creature has so much potential to be used as something like a"Chaser" in a Player-Made Labyrinthe so similar for other players to enjoy playing in some kind of Mini-games. OIr just simply be available as Pet or Guard for Bases or Centerpiece to player-to-player challenges/games.I think the warden was easy to avoid, but walking around down there is scary!
I think that the candles should start out unlit, so bringing a flint and steel will help a lot. Using a flint and steel would make a sound, so the player can do this at his/her own risk. I think that it would make avoiding the warden harder and make the deep dark more scary.
The warden, excluding methods of easily defeating it, is incredibly powerful, as it can disorientate players with darkness, and is strong enough to keep all but the most prepared players away, though it is thwarted by bats (maybe make it a mechanic? where bats fly up to a ceiling after flying away a bit, while the warden chases after it, giving the player some time to get away.)
from "field testing" encounters with the warden are very tense, and you are able to hear the warden from very far away letting you know that there is a threat nearby.
a way to sneak around the warden, or rather, the warden spawning is to sneak up to the either the sensor or shrieker and break it before the shrieker can activate, the sensor is easier to deal with, as the shrieker can only activate from the sensor.
it is likely specific to different ways the cities generate, but due to the above statement, i found it relatively easy to sneak around (if not spooky)
likely due to testing not including actively seeking the sculk out (instead using the locate command to go directly to it) i found that the darkness effect made it hard to easily escape the area (mainly due to other mobs spawning outside of the deep dark.)
when the warden spawns, my usual first reaction is get to safety, usually meaning get away.
(p.s. slowness potions seem to be a good way to create distance between you and the warden (amusingly effects animations) maybe it can be largely immune to potions, but has to "shake" the effect off first)The city feels really empty. You can avod the Warden, and there is literally nothing else. The mechanics and generations are cool, but it feels l little lacklustre. I hope that some casual mobs will be added (a new mite maybe?) or just something similar to the shulker, (block like creature that shoots you?), maybe following the same hearing mechanics... And ofc, I really think that the ,,portal'' would be a missed opportunity if it woudn't be an actual portal.
I think the Warden despawns too quickly.
I know it's supposed to be able to avoid him but that's just too easy. My idea would be to link the despawn time to the difficulty of the world.
The warden felt to hard to kill, it took at least 20 axe and I know that was probably your aim to not try and kill it but avoid it completely.my encounters with it felt different and scary. I knew how to sneak around him mainly because I watch a lot of videos on Minecraft. I found looting chests to be unecessary as the loot in them * at the moment is not worth risking it, the darkness affect was cool and also spooky and mysterious I liked it alot. I felt a different kind of fear from the other mobs, which I quite like because this game needed a new scary mob feel. An idea I had for what the warden could drop is that when you kill it, it drops like some ore thing and when you get four, you came make boots which make you sneak faster than the other books, another idea is that he drops his heart and you can make that into a sort of edible thing (like the golden Apple)
An idea of how to make the warden less "cheesable"
-Make it so the warden can break blocks if in full aggro
this would disable the build up a few blocks "cheat" and make it so the warden has a lesser chance of getting stuck somewhere.
OR
-Make it so the warden can climb blocks if in full aggro or sniffing
this would not be many blocks but being able to pull itself up 3 blocks in a cool animation would make it so that it can still reach the player if they got some height.
I love almost everything with this snapshot so far but once you can cheese something by clicking 3 times below you it removes some of the horror unfortunately I just want it to be whenever the warden gets aggrod on you, you feel like you have almost no escape.
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