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Let's talk about ice caves

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We're super excited to finally share ice caves with you! These chilly caverns are as beautiful as they are dangerous. Now that you've had a chance to venture into them, we're eager to hear what you think.

As you explore the ice caves, here are a few things we'd love your thoughts on:

  • How easy or difficult are ice caves to find? Do they appear often enough during your adventures?
  • How do you feel about the amount of ores and resources available inside the caves?
  • What are your thoughts on finding lava within ice caves? Does it feel surprising, interesting, out of place, or something else entirely?
  • How do the caves feel to explore? Are they too dark, or do the ice crystals provide enough light and visibility?
  • If you've played with Vibrant Visuals enabled, what do you think about how ice caves look, especially the water, lighting, and overall atmosphere?
  • Does the amount of ice in ice caves feel right, or would you like to see more or less of it?
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  • 0
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    People have voiced their complaints that lava feels unnatural in these biomes. When I first viewed the Minecraft live I guessed we were going to get a new situational form of Water for colder biomes, think a “freezing water”. Not as dangerous as lava but when entered it gives you the same freezing effect as powdered snow. I feel this would be an easy and smart solution for the lava problem and introduce a new danger to caves and cold biomes.

    This could be avoided by wearing leather armor the same way leather boots stop powdered snow from making you fall through it.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    I feel like finding lava in the ice caves is somewhat silly. I would prefer some kind of barrier between the ice and lave. As other people have said basalt would work but I think a layer of obsidian would look nice, maybe even including some crying obsidian making it easier to find.

  • 3
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    I would love to see more ice in the Ice Caves. Somebody had a fantastic idea of adding lengthy veins of Blue Ice into the cave walls in the larger caves. That would be quite the addition.

  • 2
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    • What are your thoughts on finding lava within ice caves? Does it feel surprising, interesting, out of place, or something else entirely?

    Seeing that lava is adress here, it would be cool to see it as magma blocks covering the surface or the lava pools, by making every lava source block expossed to air on that biome beacome a magmablock on world gen. maybe if is posible to not have the lava flows the better.

    • How do the caves feel to explore? Are they too dark, or do the ice crystals provide enough light and visibility?

    In terms or explorarion is odd that they don´t go down all the way to bedrock level, other things that could help is to make the "deeper" parts of this cave be of blue ice, and fossil or some structure trapped on normal ice (the transparent one)

    as a litte side note, frostbites could apply the freezing effect for 5 sec as the amount of time it feels to litte to be dangerous.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    Make ice caves reach the surface instead of generating 20 blocks down? I think they'd look cool intersecting with surface snow biomes.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    The ice caves are gorgeous, but they do seem to be a bit too dark. It would be nice to see just a little better without using night vision, since that takes a bit away from the cold vibes of the caves.
    I think since the caves are so cold despite being deep underground, it would be cool if the game leaned more into the mystical nature of the caves, and the water in the ice caves gave the freezing effect. Maybe it could even be a different type of water (like slush?) in case players want to use it for moats or traps around their builds?
    Also, on the topic of builds, Ice Bricks would be an incredible addition to the game! Being able to carve ice into bricks and other types of blocks that could be used to create structures like ice castles and the like would create amazing opportunities for players to make themed builds. I'd be super excited at the prospect of building a huge frozen fortress in a large ice cavern or even above ground in an ice spikes biome.

  • 9
    Registered User commented
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    Regular undead shouldn't spawn if cold themed ones already exist

  • 11
    Registered User commented
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    Ice Balls should be able to be crafted into ice blocks

    similarly to how snowballs are crafted into snow blocks

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    I would like to see desert caves next similar to terraria

  • 1
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    My friends and I play on a 5-year-old realm and pay a subscription for it. As players who have progressed far into the game, these frozen caves offer almost no reason to seek them out. 

    What if we could find a chest frozen in some ice -- still visible from the surface -- that has a map to an ancient city, a frozen trim, a large quantity of ice balls (32+ of them), or an ice zombie spawn egg. Something real that we go out of our way to find when we adventure: it needs to be relevant to players in an old world and be abnormally exciting when we find it.

    It's been a while since we've gotten a feature that is highly sought-after, non-renewable, and biome- or structure-exclusive. Dried happy ghasts were so close to a feature like this, except they were made renewable and easily craftable from our ghast tear waste byproduct of our gunpowder farm. I get the ice balls are trying to be this, but for a player on a world this progressed, they will never be things someone could want in relevant numbers.

    This is not a unique plea -- a lot of content creators and long-time players have been feeling serious fatigue with the recent updates.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    I hope we get ice and calcite bricks, walls, slabs, stairs, etc. from this drop. Snow bricks, too, if possible.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Higher ore generation is nice, but... why don't you just add new ore types instead? Like calcite ore deposits, or packed ice ore deposits... or any of the other stone variants for that matter (andesite, diorite, or granite ores)? I don't really understand the reluctance in adding them now that mined ores all turn into the same raw ore item.

  • 3
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    I think having regular stone in these caves throws off the vibe a bit, I honestly would prefer less ores and more ice. Ores are plentiful and as small as biomes are, I don’t think it would be any painful for my play-style. For context, I have a 12 year old world now and have almost no need for mining ores anymore.

    I also am not a huge fan of the lava in the ice caves, but I also understand it might be tough to work around that from a technical perspective. I have heard one user on social media suggest to have basalt form between the ice and lava.

    I also really wish biomes were bigger overall. I have found that at times biomes are sized well, but in the last couple updates, biomes are a majority of the time are too narrow in one dimension. (this particularly happens with above ground biomes where you can see further). When I enter a biomes, I want to be able to wander for at least five to ten minutes, being fully immersed in the biome before finding something new.

  • 1
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    I think that the lava in ice caves looks pretty good. Even if it's not realistic, it adds to the weird laws of physics that Minecraft has. Not everything has to be realistic. However, I do think that it would be nice if there were something that generated between the lava and the ice. Many people think that basalt, specifically smooth basalt, should generate. Many other people say that obsidian should generate. I think that a new type of obsidian called snowflake obsidian should generate. It would be able to be mined with a diamond pickaxe, and it would be similar to crying obsidian, but it would have a snowflake pattern on it. I feel like that would fit the winter theme of the ice caves and the entire drop, even if that might not be realistic for how snowflake obsidian actually forms. Even if it's not snowflake obsidian, I still think there should be some kind of barrier between the lava and the ice.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    I think Ice Caves should generate a bit higher. I think a cave opening with icicles hanging down at the opening would look cool. Also, something should be done with the lava. I think magma blocks covering the first layer or two lava lakes would be good.

  • 6
    Registered User commented
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    Give us a Full Calcite Block set. Walls, Stairs, Bricks, Slabs, Chiseled.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    Too dark currently. More ice crystals or something else.

    More ice: add normal ice too instead of so much packed ice.

    Lava should be surrounded by basalt (from existing mechanics) (not my idea, just seconding)

    And maybe patched of powdered snow?


  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Maybe we can use ice crystals to have a counterpart to tinted glass, like frosted glass or something, or a very clear no texture glass (almost invisible and can be used to manipulate walls in survival like a debug stick does!)

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    • How do the caves feel to explore? Are they too dark, or do the ice crystals provide enough light and visibility?

      rn they are too dark to appreciate. in the real world since ice is translucent, the subsurface scattering of light in things like icebergs adds a subtle glow to the ice as light spreads a little. ice being slightly emissive around ice crystals might help. snow is a little nonsensical considering we find these without connnecting to the atmosphere

      additionally, having higher ore count kind of encourages the destruction of these beautiful caves, which reflect negatively to environmentalist values

     

    • What are your thoughts on finding lava within ice caves? Does it feel surprising, interesting, out of place, or something else entirely?

      a  boundary might be nice; smooth basalt, which can be made into smooth basalt variants that can be greyer indigo-ish or purplish to be different from deepslate and blackstone. additionally,  mostly i want more calcite and ice block options. it would expand the palette of cool whites and blues by a lot. 
  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    I would really like to see differences between Deepslate and Stone layer ice caves. I think a new stone type is warranted, a dark blue stone has been sorely needed for a while now and I think that it belongs in the deepslate layer of the ice caves more than anywhere else. Calcite blockset also seems needed.
    Icicles are great, I would reduce the base of icicles to just a few pixels, They're a bit much right now and might limit builders. But I think they fit in really well with powdered snow and the idea of environmental hazards to exploration, I think that idea could be expanded on with brittle ice that shatters when you stand on it.
    Ice Crystals need to be renewable.
    The contrast between lava and ice is interesting, but feels out of place without something in between, again I have to suggest a deep blue stone.
    There's a bit too much ice, the problem with it isn't the visuals but that you can't pick it up without silk touch, again I think that a darker blue stone could be perfect and also make the caves feel more new and exciting.
    I would love to see new ores in the ice caves, it could be time for a new decorative ore type, silver or zinc could work well, or a new gem, like saphire.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    A thousand thumbs down for ice (any kind) being ok next to lava.

    This is a chance to add a new soft stone block that forms between. Or just put a regular stone there, it will still look way better than lava and ice together.

    Sorry but for some of us realism is important. Things need to be believable (when it doesn't stop/stifle gameplay).

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    ICE AND SNOW BLOCKSET PLEASE MOJANG

  • 0
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    • 1) I find it to be quite easy to find the ice caves as I look for a cold biome and then find a cave in that biome and often I have found one. I think it would be cool to have the caves be able to go all the way down to bedrock. The reason being that i can mine ice pretty quickly and it would make finding resources like diamonds easier and an incentive for people to look and explore an ice cave.
    • 2) It feels like the right amount. Immersion wise if an ore was in an ice cave it would be cool to have a ice variant of the ore block as the stone/deepslate ore in the ice can be jarring. Perhaps transparent ice variant that would let the player see ores through the walls in some portions of the cave. this ice could also be on the surface to allow players to look into a cave from above.
    • 3) Lava in the caves is COOL. A basalt or other material around the lava would make the most sense to me, as it allows the player strip mining through an ice cave to recognize danger.
    • 4) Caves are dark, a medium level between it now and night vision. I would add glow lichen.
    • 5) I do not play with VV as I play on Java.
    • 6) I like the amount. As per earlier comments, thinner more transparent ice would be my preference the closer to the surface the player is and conversely the deeper a player is the more packed/blue ice the player can run into.
    • Additional thoughts: Zombie variant is a great addition
  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Since ice caves are supposed to be chilly, adding a freezing mechanic here would be amazing! Walking inside could slowly freeze the player like Powder Snow does. Wearing Leather Armor or placing Campfires and Torches to stay warm would make exploring these caves a fun survival challenge!

  • 1
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    Yeah there needs to be a barrier between lava and ice.
    Perhaps it could be black ice, invisible ice like tinted glass, they say if you can't see ice at night there could still be the deadly black ice to worry about slipping on, it's slippery because it's melted then refrozen in a thin layer on the ground so it's easier to miss and harder to avoid slipping on.
    but in this context it also makes sense as a dark ice an ashy dirty ice that forms when lava touches ice, and if it was an actual ice variant that regenerated then it's very similar to basalt generators that use blue ice and soulsoil, so what if it was how basalt forms, ice and lava but no soulsoil instead maybe more ice on the other side makes black ice.

    maybe the alternative to a regular generator is it doesn't regenerate like a typical generator but has a unique function to replace the ice that is making contact with the lava, like it actually melts but refreezes.
    please consider this one.

  • 2
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    My combined thoughts on the Ice Caves is that they spawn too infrequently under colder biomes and are quite small when they do, the ore to ice ratio is perfect in my opinion you shouldn't focus on as much as getting the parameters for the biome spawning and size right.

  • 1
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    The vibes are almost there! I think that the caves could be could if they had a little glow-lichen, or a few more of the small ice crystals so that you could see a bit better.

    You could take this a step further and add glow lichen to the ore patches in the biome, that way the player also has a chance to learn that where there's light, there's also ore; pushing that tempting reward even further. This would create a game loop in the biome where you go around from light to light mining ores you find, and trying not to melt the ceiling or the path behind you. Could be quite cool, and also make the biome really stand out as a different vibe, but also different experience compared to the other cave biomes. because as it stands right now, it's almost just as blue version of the dripstone caves.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    The vibe is so close, but it doesn't feel cold to me.

    I don't like suggesting new features in these threads, more just changes to existing things, because I think that it misses the point. But maybe you could get that cold factor up by having some kind of icy crystal thing that's similar to the spore blossom but that emits little snowflakes everywhere instead. That might make it feel super chilly!

  • 1
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    I feel as though they should, if feasable, generate closer to the surface beneath snowy biomes. Having the stone layer between the frigid landscape above and the ice caves below often be so large feels a little strange.

    Ore quantity feels good.

    I quite enjoy the contrast of the lava against the ice, but I, like many others, wonder if perhaps smooth basalt could be made into their dividing block. But if it looks ugly then maybe not.

    I think veins of blue ice would add some a bit of nice visual variety to the caves.

    I hope the devs take this opportunity to add full sets of snow and ice blocks/bricks for building. Ice panes would be neat, too.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    This biome looks amazing! But it would be even better with more ice and snow variety. Please consider adding regular ice for semi-translucent structures, rare blue ice deep down, and full snow blocks for the walls. It would make the atmosphere perfect!