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Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot Feedback

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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    • Was the Warden challenging?
      The warden was deffinetly challenging, but protection 4 gear helps alot, though the warden hits fairly quickly so it kinda makes up for that. If I drink the max turtle master potion and eat an enchanted golden apple while fighting The Warden, it is kinda easy to kill it though.

    • Your encounters with the Warden 
      I have encountered the Warden 4 times, two of the times, the warden spawned on like 8 blocks further up in the cave, on a big dripstone spike thing, and had to jump down to me. It would be great if you made it so that the warden spawns at the same y-level as the player.

    • Were you able to sneak around the Warden? 
      Yea, I love that the projectiles distract it, it is fun and challenging to get passed it.

    • Could you loot chests without being killed by the Warden? 
      Yes, I looted 1 chest that I found, but then activated the sculk shrieker, and the Warden was so quick that I couldnt run away and had to fight it because I also couldn't get rid of it by hiding.

    • Darkness effect
      It was very cool, but I feel like its a lot like blindness, it would be so cool if it made everything dark except for light sources and the warden itself, because it was really hard to see it and see the animation, so if you could only barely see the lightsources, it would make for a cool concept in maps and make a great darkness effect.

    • How scared did the warden make you?  
      It was actually kinda very scary, not like any other mobs.

      (I cut the questions to make space for my answers).

      -iXtrafe
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    Warden needs more speed when it is in rage mode. Players can easily out run the Warden when jumping + sprinting,

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    Would be awsome if the new enchantment could be transfer to the leggings insted of the boots we all ready have plenty of enchantments exclusive for boots but none for leggings , also i don't think that the fight with the warden should be any more dificult like the others are complaining, it can be realy cool when you fist experience it but it gets too fucking anoying when you get use to it and are trying to do other things. 

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    The Warden shouldn't have any loot drops as the Mojang team said, but there needs to be a lot more end game loot inside the Ancient Cities. The loot is much worse than end city loot currently.

    Also I hope a new structure gets added inside the deep dark aswell, like the one that was showed in Minecraft Live.

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    when i looked around in my world I wasn't to excited about it, the warden doesn't drop anything,  you can't really collect reinforced deep slate but you can move it? if the theories are correct and its a new dimension then that's understandable... kind of. the deep dark was postponed not once but twice and to be honest unless there is a bigger secret that hasn't been announced yet, It doesn't make me want to look for the city. the only thing currently that would make me want to go to them is for the boot enchant and that is just for the deep dark biome. In my opinion, i expected more when MC Live said it became a bigger thing than what it was expected to be. it looks like there was more focus on the movement and the way the mob worked than what its going to drop, or an actual good reason to go down and explore these cities. in order to get me to actually explore these, the mob needs a unique drop or i want the ability to collect reinforced deep slate. i tend to be impressed with what the DEVS come up with but this, not so much this one, and i get that this isn't an official snapshot but even with caves in cliffs it felt like there was more focus and attention on it than this. i think there is still more work to be done in order to get me to find a reason to explore them.

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    First off as plenty of users stated...the warden is too easy to deal with at the moment. Here are some things i suggest:

    • make the warden be able to deflect arrows similar to how endermen do.
    • make it so that the warden can break blocks to get to the player if they are hiding in a hole similar to the wither.

    These are some ways i believe can make the warden less killable. But other than that i love the sounds and darkness effect of the warden. it wakes it feel quite spooky!

    Another thing although i love the ancient city's and the vibe of them...there isn't much of a reason to explore it... Sure the new enchantment is ok however i do find that the restrictions for it are a little too harsh. Perhaps removing some restrictions or making it a leggings enchantment will make it worth searching for. Also in my personal opinion the loot table for the chests are a bit disappointing. Perhaps adding a new tool item can make it a bit more exploration worth it. So far i like the vibe but it needs more polish. 

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    Now the Warden fight is extremly easy to cheese as many others pointed out already, just a lava bucket and/or some blocks maybe giving the Warden a ranged attack like throwing sculk projectiles or something at the player. These sculk projectiles could give you an effect similar to shulker bullets maybe something like a marking effect, wich will make it easieyer for the Warden to track you and prevents it from going into hiding as long as you are "infested" by the effect.

     

    The Warden appearing is pretty effective as an example hearing the shrieks and suddenly being hit with the darkness effect is pretty scary I basically ran without orientation, however once you know where the warden is you can cheese it.

     

    One thing I was abled to do is to build "Warden traps" essentially lava pits with redstone activated doors pistons etc. above it.

    The thing I really liked was the atmosphere in the ancient cities maybe some ambient sounds coult dake it to the next level.

    Something I find somewhat funny is the fact, sculk sensors essentially blow themselves up if you place TNT next to them as it gets lit by the redstone signal from the placing sound.

    One thing I think is currently lacking is loot in the ancient city.
    The blue light reminds me of the Allay so maybe you'll be abled to summon the Allay through "the portal" perhaps by getting the Warden to go through it               ... or it could just lead you to the Killer Bunny...

    Sorry if this is rambly and difficult to read.

    All in all: great work!

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    The Deep Dark biome doesn't feel as unique as the other cave biomes. Currently it feels like a normal cave but with small patches of sculk, not a unique biome. I feel like it needs some more blocks, altered cave generation, or something, to make it stand out.

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    Maybe to make it harder to "cheese" the Warden fight by placing blocks it could "melt" into the ground and travel through blocks towards the player, maybe even leaving skulk behind. This would make sense because we already see the Warden coming out of the ground when it is summoned. This would also make the fight much more dynamic for players who choose to fight the Warden as opposed to stealthing it, which is what players who fight it want. Leaving behind skulk as it travels through the ground also adds some reward for fighting the Warden, as it is a very dangerous yet potentially profitable way to farm skulk blocks.

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    I think there was a missed opportunity with the roar the warden does. Players are able to create a pillar and easily avoid death from the warden. When the warden roars at the player, the player should be knocked off the pillar by the sheer force of the roar rumbling the ground beneath the player. This feature could also be a help to map makers by creating an easy way to shake the player's pov.

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    I thought that the snapshot was great, I love the generation, I love everything about it. the only thing that I see as an issue is why would people want to go back down there if they already got the swift sneak enchant, especially since it can't be combined on boots with depth strider, or soul speed. There isn't much use other than for the deep dark, its a catch 22. another thing is that I believe that the warden is too easy as a mini-boss, and should be treated like one (for example the wither dropping good loot, while the warden drops nothing). It would be amazing to see more lore of the warden, and maybe even have a specific drop for the warden, maybe implementing a system where the ancient relics from the archeology stuff (which I know has been canceled) is being protected by the warden, and only the warden has the key to open up the "vault" that the loot is hiding behind. I hope this helped and I am very excited for this update! 

    Cheers!

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    First off, I love how the Warden feels right now, but its way too easy to avoid him. I feel that dread when I'm being chased, but as soon as I pillar up or climb some stairs, the Warden looses all sense of a threat. I know a solution for this is coming, so I'll leave it at that.

    The Warden is most fun when you are leading him away from you with snowballs and such. Just trying to get away while you can't see 3 blocks in front of you is really intense.

    The loot is a little too easy to get to. Just find all the Sculk Shriekers and break them, and then there is no threat. Honestly I like this, but if they want to change it so that Sculk Shriekers are unbreakable, I understand. But then I can't keep a Warden glass in my base :(

    Also, the loot is honestly underwhelming. I hope when they said there is something worth it down in the Deep Dark they didn't mean Swift Sneak. I think its a cool addition but I feel one other unique and really useful item would be good. Maybe add some ores and food to chests as well.

    The Darkness effect feels amazing. It's pulsating and makes me super nervous, and increases the tension. Maybe it can be implemented a little better, and sometimes I find it annoying, but other than that it's cool.

    So overall, this is great, but could use some improvements.

     

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    A way to stop to stop warden spawning as they are to powerful but want other monsters

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    The loot tables in the Ancient City felt very underwhelming. For such an exciting area, its loot should be similar to other places of equal excitement, such as the End Cities. 

  • 0
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    I think the Warden is a bit too easy to cheese, I think some new sculk based attacks like a shockwave could be cool. My biggest gripe about this update is the city loot. For being such an incredibly hard thing to find and traverse, having snowballs and a few enchanted books be the big prize is discouraging to say the least. I think at least diamond armor like in the bastions should be here.

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    PLEASE, make it so snow can't generate on top of sculk blocks. I know it's suposed to be an undergroud feature, but the spread of the sculk is part of the beauty of the biome, even on snow, and right now is really frustrating not be able to see it in snow biomes after the initial spread

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    The Warden should be immune to lava and have a higher movement speed in lava. It seems too easy to cheese with lava buckets. As a mythical supermob lava should be the least of its concerns.

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    With the Enderdragon and the Wither, they're supposed to be "one of a kind" and being the endgame bosses that need a lot of setup to encounter. The warden, however, can be encountered very easily and another can arrive as soon as one dies. Because of this, I think it would supplement the Warden very well if it could spawn with different types of ears like the ones you showed in the concept art. The ears it has now are definitely my favorite, but if you wanted to supplement the impression that there is always a warden ready to replace a fallen one at any time, that could be a good way to do it, unless the Warden is supposed to be one entity.

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    It wasn't that challenging, you could easily build up 3 blocks and escape. Also water and lava could easily stop it as it can't swim. Running away was difficult as once you are found, it is quite hard to escape by foot.

    They were very enjoyable, I was tense everytime I accidentally set off the shrieker!

    Yes, it was quite simple yet still challenging being sniffed out was spooky.

    It was a struggle as lots of the chests were near shriekers and would set them off most of the time.

    The darkness effect was super scary! Not being able to see where the warden might be and only hearing its groans was terrifying.

    Very scared, felt like a horror game, I wanted to avoid it and get it away from me as quick as possible

    However, the warden when it spawned would easily suffocate as it could spawn in 1 block areas with no ceiling, causing it to not get out and just suffocate.

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    I really like the update with the underground cities, and indeed the Warden is terrifying, with the scream that summons him. But.... It's too easy to beat. Like, way too simple. It has a lot of life,  hits really hard, but doesn't do anything. It's very easy to go around it without him attacking, you get on a pillar, you lure it away with snowballs. At no time when I was facing the warde did I feel in danger. Moreover, the strategy of making a snowman to distract it totally breaks the fight because it will constantly try to catch the snowman without ever turning on the player, even when getting hit. Put the snowman in a safe place, so that it never dies, and you've won. With "classic" survival gear (partially enchanted diamond armor, enchanted sword and bow + arrow stack) I never had any problems beating it. Sure, as soon as you beat one, another one appears, resetting the threat. But they are so easy to escape that I was able to get away without any problem. Why not have several appear in the same place? As for the chests, it's not too difficult to loot them, knowing that there are no other monsters than the warden. The Darkness effect is effective, but for it to be more terrifying, the warden should try to surprise us. There, it runs on us and I was never surprised by an apparition that I had not seen because of the effect.

    So, apart from the warden fight, a bit too easy, the snapshot is great, keep it up!

     

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    i found a bug: the warden can come out of a sculk vein on a wall and then it falls down. is this really a bug?

  • 0
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    I don't think there is much off a reason to go there, maybe a bit better lot would help, for example there could be a high music disc spawn rate in the chests! The other thing i thought of was that the warden is too easy to defeat, but i don't have any solution to that.

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    It takes 13 end crystals to kill the warden but you can just pillar up and kill it 

  • 0
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    To start I love how the skulk and ancient cities feel so mysterious and interesting compared to other overworld biomes and structures! The shriekers do an amazing job building atmosphere and suspense to the wardens arrival. When the warden was inevitably summoned it would get pretty tense with all the visual and auditory effects! I did find the warden pretty easy to escape the by just towering and waiting out the timer or running away as soon as it is summoned. Also sometimes a bat will just distract the warden for a few minutes (albeit pretty hilarious still an issue). Though I do have some ideas on how to counter these issues. I think the warden should become immediately enraged if it hears sprinting (possibly hardmode exclusive) making a getaway strategy a necessity. All bats within a 40 block radius of the warden should perch on the nearest ceiling and not react to players or mobs. Lastly to counter towering up, digging a hole or boxing I think that the warden should have a screech attack of 5-15 block range that goes through thin walls (if this gets added the wardens hit box might be able to be adjusted to better reflect his size since he wouldn’t have to always be within melee range). If these ways to avoid the warden completely are patched, I think the warden would honestly be feature complete! Thanks to all those who read all this and I am going to make a separate comment regarding the loot in the deep dark and ancient cities.

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    I have a bit of feedback

    1: The deep dark is VERY SCARY and I LOVE the fact that netherite armor DOESNT save you

    2: The loot needs to be VERY buffed, also there needs to be more simple sound traps to summon the warden (like a tripwire that makes a dispenser noise which would upset the warden)

    3: The city needs houses

    4: Lanterns in the walls, with levers that make noise when you flick them (so you have to take care if you want to make light)

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    When fighting the Warden, I was able to get him off my trail by going into an aquifer. He just sunk to the bottom and I was easily able to escape/ kill him without taking damage. 

    The darkness effect and the animation sounds did a fantastic job of creating a scary environment that's truly unique to Minecraft. My only suggestion is to allow the warden to swim/ become buoyant.

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    Currently the Warden is summoned in any part of the world when a shrieker is activated enough time - I would much rather that this was changed, either to only happen in the deep dark, or only when there are sculk blocks for the Warden to emerge from. I, and I think many others would love to use the shrieker for pranks, ambience and building an atmosphere, but don't want the Warden to be summoned.

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    This update looks great and I am looking forward to it though wardens AI has quite a few issues.

    The warden is incredibly easy the first thing I did was run a few tests I found a skulk biome in a small cave and when warden got summoned I quickly blocked off any pathways to me like you might block off a cave to avoid a skeleton or creeper and there was another way to get to me from behind as there were to entrances/exits to where the warden was however they didn't even take the other entrance and instead stood their while I hit the with a sword until they died.

    The warden seemed like his AI was generally worse then every other mob making him very easy to avoid while creating tons of noise. Maybe giving him a method to get through blocks (maybe breaking them if the player is behind but I see that can cause problems maybe like a ravager) so that you couldn't just block him off as you would a common zombie.


    The warden was rather easy to avoid spawning though when he was spawned if you didn't exploit his AI it would be a challenge to hide though placing a few blocks usually did the trick for hiding from him.

    The darkness effect felt great truly fit the ambience incredibly well and made the dark biome feel great to play in I'm looking forward to playing with mods so I can go through in VR.

    I can't really answer for how scared I felt as no games or movies scare me even in VR so not at all but the ambience was incredible and did create a rather pleasant unsettling mood.

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    A few thoughts on the deep dark/skulk

    I feel that skulk patches should only spawn below Y=0 in the deepslate area or even below Y=15. Being above deepslate makes it seem out of place and too common to find.

    The deep dark city loot needs to be better, and have more exclusive things along with the new swift sneak enchantment to give incentive to go down there. Some items that would work well is the “Otherside” disc, enchanted golden apples and other exclusive items.

    I feel like swift sneak should pair with depth strider, like how soul speed can, but be incompatible with soul speed and frostwalker. Depth strider is a really good enchantment and I feel like most players wont want to switch out that enchantment for anything.

  • 0
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    Here is an idea to stop warden cheesing:

    The warden can jump attack, jumping himself up a few blocks to attack people above him. The warden can also kick, kicking you if you hide in a hole.

    Also, I think the warden should do heaps of knockback with each attack it does, considering how powerful it must be to kill you in 2 hits while in netherite.