So.. What does one actually DO in Minecraft?

Xylia

Terrarian
Terraria always keeps saying "Also try Minecraft!" and I've heard everybody talking about Minecraft, for years and I finally, within the past few months, decided to buy the game and give it a go.

I've put in maybe 20 or so hours into the game, and I've also browsed the wiki some, and honestly... I can't figure out what I'm actually expected to do.

I got to the point where I'm wearing full iron armor, using all iron tools, I have a base (however basic, but functional) built, I have a bed to sleep in, it's safe from monsters, etc. I have several stacks of coal, a couple stacks of iron bars, almost a full stack of gold, a few stacks of redstone powder, I even made a twice-zoomed out map, and....

I can't figure out what else I'm supposed to do.

I know about trading with villagers, but ooof. That seems like a grind that would take hundreds of hours to complete so I kinda gave up on that. I went to the wiki and looked up what seemed like the easiest, and the best I could find was using wheat or potatoes to get emeralds, but even if I did that... you gotta level the villagers up (some 16+ trades to get the first level!) to get anything decent.

I know that there's stuff having to do with enchanting, but IIRC that requires obsidian to make the table for that, and you can't mine obsidian without a diamond pickaxe.

I probably spent about 10+ hours trying to find diamonds, just tunnelling around in areas that give gold and redstone (and according to the wiki, Diamonds can theoretically spawn here too) and I've even went all the way down to the bedrock layer and only found a single vein of two diamonds, once.

So, I thought maybe I'd explore the world some.. after walking around in a featureless desert that had nothing but sand and sticks, after finding dozens of huge mountains that were similarly featureless, it leaves me to ask.... what am I missing here?

Is that all the game is?

I don't want to diss the game or anything, I mean, on a mechanical level, it's fun to play (though the arrow skeletons are way too annoying and you gotta turn destructive mob actions off to preserve your sanity, as well as keep inventory on death), but the huge swaths of featureless land makes the game seem so empty and bleak. I've found a couple villages, and those are neat... but you gotta be careful or the villagers get killed off (another reason I don't want to level them, it'd stink to put all that work and some zombie eats the villager without you knowing about it).

Or is it one of those games like Starbound where you absolutely must mod it to get any kind of decent experience out of it?
 
Diamonds are a pretty important resource since it opens up obsidian, which opens up enchanting, as you said, as well as the Nether. I'm kind of surprised that you haven't found all that many diamonds, since I've heard a few complaints that diamonds have gotten too plentiful in the modern day due to shipwrecks and whatnot, although that might just be because you don't know the "techniques" for finding diamonds. Try strip mining around y-level 11, though it still might take a while.

Minecraft is much more of a sandbox than Terraria is, so if you feel you need some kind of goal to get towards, you'd probably be best setting one yourself (admittedly, that might be tough if you don't know much about the game). The most obvious goal would be killing the Ender Dragon, although that also opens up some more "endgame" content as well. You can have other goals, like getting as many advancements as possible, or personal goals like building a large good looking castle or something.

Personally, my enjoyment out of Minecraft comes from:
- Tapping into my creativity and building "nice looking" buildings or structures
- Tapping into my creativity and designing fun and/or functional redstone contraptions
- Tapping into my creativity and messing around with commands and designing data packs
- Playing with friends and getting into wacky hijinks with them

Maybe try to find some inspiration in other people and watch build tutorials or playthroughs on youtube and see what they do. I stress the "find inspiration" part since just copying them won't give you all that much satisfaction, obviously.

If you find you're still not having fun, I suppose modding the game is an option. There are many modpacks out there that have a certain design philosophy in mind, such as Rebirth of the Night, which focuses on the survival and combat aspects of the game, or Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons, which focuses on exploration and quests, or something like Skyblock inspired packs, which are more focused on progressing and automating resources.
 
Oh, there's plenty you can do with Minecraft. Seems like you haven't gotten to a certain dimension yet, which requires obsidian, which requires diamonds... like the person above said, try strip mining at around Y11 and you'll likely find more.

As for the dimension, you may have seen a specific structure around while exploring. It may look like a strange building made of obsidian, stone bricks, and some other hellish-looking blocks. These are Ruined Portals, broken versions of portals that can take you to the Nether. This dimension allows access to many new resources (as well as a tier of armor and tools above diamond), the most important for progression being Blaze Rods. These drop from Blazes in Nether Fortresses made of Nether Brick. You can craft them into Blaze Powder, which combines with Ender Pearls to make Eyes of Ender. Throw a few until you find a Stronghold, then place your remaining eyes into the End Portal Frames to activate the End Portal. Once you're ready and geared up, enter the portal and prepare to battle!

There's also hundreds of thousands of servers you can join to play minigames and other things on, the most popular one is Hypixel (mc.hypixel.net). It's got dozens of minigames for you to play, though these days many players are competitive as hell so look out.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about the game without having to go in fully blind, Minecraft is the most popular game on the internet so there's literally countless posts and videos online for you to watch and read.

Point is, there's a lot more to this game than you might think! After all, it's the #1 game for a reason.
 
Not finding diamonds in Minecraft is like not getting a Voodoo Doll in Terraria. You're going to go nowhere fast on the progression tree.
 
So after an hour ish in various tunnels at Y-23 (on 1.18 snapshot), I finally found one.

One.

Argh.

Hopefully I can find/break into some more caves, but there's so stinking much water everywhere, like every other cave system I find is flooded.

EDIT: Reason I'm playing on the 1.18 snapshot is because 1.18 is going to release on Nov 30th, and I don't want to start all over again or risk the world being corrupt or what-not, figured I might as well just load the pre-release snapshot that way I already got a 1.18 compatible world going.
 
So after an hour ish in various tunnels at Y-23 (on 1.18 snapshot), I finally found one.

One.

Argh.

Hopefully I can find/break into some more caves, but there's so stinking much water everywhere, like every other cave system I find is flooded.

EDIT: Reason I'm playing on the 1.18 snapshot is because 1.18 is going to release on Nov 30th, and I don't want to start all over again or risk the world being corrupt or what-not, figured I might as well just load the pre-release snapshot that way I already got a 1.18 compatible world going.
Why are you mining at Y-23?
 
If you can make a pickaxe enchanted with Fortune, you'll often get more than one diamond per block of "diamond ore". Use a regular pickaxe for other stuff and keep the Fortune one in reserve for valuable items that drop ores rather than whole blocks. Also keep a bucket of water you can pour on lava to make it into obsidian for later mining.

(To get a magic book with Fortune you'll need to do some fishing. Keep an eye on what you fish up; sometimes you'll get a fishing rod with Mending, which increases the rod's durability in exchange for experience points that would've gone to your experience level. You can start with a nearly "dead" fishing rod and return it to like-new condition just by fishing, since each catch yields a little experience. If you get a rod with Mending plus Luck of the Sea and/or Lure, you're golden.)

You won't find many blocks of diamond ore unless you're on or near Y = 11 (the number might be different in versions other than the one I use, but I think it's always just above lava-lake level). Just randomly digging around won't do it. Instead, make long straight tunnels at Y = 11, with two or three blocks separating them. At three blocks between tunnels you might miss one isolated block or a thin sliver, but because most blobs are at least two blocks wide you'll find most.

[eta: Caves aren't that great a way to get to diamonds. I dig staircases down to Y = 11. Dig out a stack of five blocks vertically, then another five a meter lower, and so on. Carry a stack of cobblestone or other stairs so you won't have to jump every step of the way back up. IIRC, if you don't make enough vertical space, you'll hit your head on the ceiling and damage your helmet; don't know if it damages heads if un-helmeted. Naturally you can start in a cave and dig downward from there.]

What else to do? Well, explore, of course. After getting lost embarrassingly close to known territory, I tend to build pole houses — stack up wood, rock, dirt, nearly any kind of block, then run ladders or vines up the side. At Y = 100 or so, climb onto the topmost block and start building out a platform, then add walls (I always use glass windows) and a roof. Now you are above most terrain features and can survey a large area easily. Use torches to make visible roads between points of interest and you can see them at night, making it easier to understand the surroundings and plan where to go next.

To keep safe while building high in the air, hold down the Shift key to "sneak". You can back out until you seem to be standing on thin air, which gives you a view of your platform's outer edge so you can stick more blocks on the sides. Of course, leave a missing block in the floor so you can climb back down the ladders/vines.

You can often get rid of water by finding its source. Use an empty bucket to scoop up the source block and the flow will vanish. You could also stick a block of anything where the water source block is.

Good luck!
 
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Why are you mining at Y-23?


According to the chart on this page, Diamonds spawn between Y+16 to Y-64 (deeper = more of them) and the "sweet spot" for Gold is right around Y-23 or thereabouts, and that just happened to be where that cave system was that I found, that had that diamond in it.

You can often get rid of water by finding its source. Use an empty bucket to scoop up the source block and the flow will vanish. You could also stick a block of anything where the water source block is.

When I say "flooded cave systems", I mean humongous caves 100% flooded by water, lol.

But yeah I'll keep that in mind in case I ever flood a strip mine tunnel or something.

To get a magic book with Fortune you'll need to do some fishing.

So, you just randomly catch these enchanting books while fishing..? Huh. Okay.
 
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So, you just randomly catch these enchanting books while fishing..? Huh. Okay.
You can also get enchanted books from villager trading and, well, enchanting. You'll need a bunch of bookshelves (which improve the quality of the enchants) and an enchanting table for that, though.

According to the chart on this page, Diamonds spawn between Y+16 to Y-64 (deeper = more of them) and the "sweet spot" for Gold is right around Y-23 or thereabouts, and that just happened to be where that cave system was that I found, that had that diamond in it.
Ah right, I forgot about that! In previous versions before the Cave Update the best place to mine was at Y-11.
 
I think Mending is a "treasure-only" enchantment, meaning you can't make a book with it, just get it from treasure (fishing, chests, trading if you luck out). One of the best, so it's tough to get.

And yes, it will require a fair amount of hacking (in the mining sense) to get everything. Once you're outfitted in diamond it's worth the effort.

I've not yet got the Cave update so I'm scooping up diamonds at 11. Got about ten cubic meters (90 diamonds) from my most recent mines in the village of Central Cupcake.
 
Well, as an update, I did get extremely lucky and found 2 diamonds.

And I don't know how, but I was searching for lava, and I went through a cave system I already went through and found a lone diamond block tucked under a "staircase" of blocks, and when I mined that one, it revealed two more and then two more.... for 9 in total, lol.

Got the pickaxe, got myself some obsidian and went to the nether, also made an enchanting table but I should really get the bookcases made next, after looking that up lol.

Probably end up taking some gold to the nether to barter with the pigs, seems like a better way to get leather than by trying to find lots and lots of cows.
 
Yay! *applause* RNGeezus sometimes provides, sometimes withholds.

You don't need to find more than two cows. Fence them in, grow some wheat, feed two cows, and you have three. It can take a while but the process accelerates as your herd grows. When it's time for slaughter, feed all the adult cows one last time so there will be plenty of calves. Cruel but that's life for you.
 
Try and make some farms, automation really helps with a sense of progression and cuts down the grind. A good one to start with is ianxofour's iron farm, if you're ok with using tutorials, its very simple and iron is crucial for making more large farms.
 
Y = 12 used to be the sweet spot for diamonds while avoiding lava. I have been out of the loop on the game for a while, so things may have changed.

I understand your problem as I experience it sometimes too. My advice is to give yourself a goal to work towards. For me, it was trying to collect each item and build a showcase for them. From that, I knew what I had to do: explore new areas, collect resources, build the showcase location and so on.

Hope that helps or gives you some ideas what to do. :)
 
So... 1.18 has been officially out for.. awhile.

Been distracted by plenty of other games, but during all of that, I tried to pick at and poke at Minecraft a little now and then, and... eh. I'm getting a very mixed feelings about 1.18.

I like some of the stuff they added, some of the tweaks and such, but yet other things I am finding myself not liking much at all, like...

1). Villages being harder to find. Okay, so they talk about villages being bigger with more villagers, but yet the villages are spaced more far apart. A couple different maps now, I've had to wander more than 2,000 blocks to finally find a village and half of the time I can't remember the way back to the starting location. I think I preferred more plentiful but smaller villages to be honest.

2). Caves and Cliffs. I know that's the name of the update, but c'mon, seriously. Does every map need to be 90% filled with mountains with huge holes in them? I get that it was boring before when caves were tiny and few and far between where you had to dig and dig and dig before you finally found a cave... but now... there's almost zero flat terrain or anything resembling plains, you almost always start next to a bunch of mountains and large bodies of water leaving no room for you to grow crops unless you do a crapton of digging and tearing up the terrain (taking hours to do so while you're at it), but it's also annoying to just try to navigate all the mountains everywhere. It would have been nice if the landscapes had more variety instead of everything being a mountain range, especially near the starting location. Oh, and... remember above where I said villages are hard to find? They are almost always glitched, too, because they spawn in the midst of sheer cliff faces. Half of the houses don't spawn, because there's nowhere for them TO spawn.
 
I too find it frustrating trying to find things from ground level, so I look around from up in the air. A house built high on a pole lets you see far away, and it's a landmark visible from afar as well so you can orient yourself in the field.

My typical expansion process goes like this.
  1. Pick a direction and strike out from the nearest house/base. If my destination is through woods I sometimes chop my way through, gaining lots of wood and seedlings and sticks while making the path visible and easy to travel. Add torches all along the way, and cobblestone steps to eliminate jumping. Good to carry a bed with you, or some wool and wood. If you have vines or ladders, bring those too.
  2. Once I find a suitable spot to build, make a house of some kind. To start it's often what I call a "dug-in" — a hole in the side of a hill, preferably facing east or west so I can tell when the sun's coming up or going down from inside. Oak door so I can look out. It'll be a miserable little hovel at first, but a safe place to spend the night.
  3. When day comes, survey the surroundings and choose a place to build your pole. Stack a few blocks of wood, stone, dirt, whatever. Stick vines (or ladders) on one side, and climb them nearly to the top. Put down another block, and stick a vine or ladder on, climb, block, vine, climb, until you're up where you can see a long way. I usually stop around y=120 to 140.
  4. Now comes the scary part. Climb all the way up onto the last block, so you're standing atop it. Hold down the Shift (sneak/crouch) key so you can't fall off*, then edge over as far as you can to one of the three sides that doesn't have vines on it. Place a block or slab on the side of the pole. Do the same for the other two non-vined sides, then fill in the corners and work your way around to create a floor. Keep a space open for the vines so you can climb back down.
  5. After your floor's big enough to suit you, use fence or glass windowpanes for walls. I like glass for the best view. Add a roof if you want a house in the air, or leave it uncovered for a simple observation tower. For the roof you'll add a few more blocks atop the pole, then stick roof slabs or blocks on the topmost block in the pole and build your way outward. Leave a hole so you can climb up top and distribute torches or lanterns; this makes your house more visible from a distance and keeps mobs from spawning up there.
  6. Back on the ground, I might build a garden and/or capture livestock and fence in some pens. Or maybe I'll leave things rudimentary and move on to the next potential spot for further exploration.
After a while my worlds all start to look rather distinctive, with these sky platforms spaced a bit less than a day's travel apart. Not every house I build has a pole tower attached, but enough so I rarely get lost.

Hope this helps!

______________
* After much finger pain I made two keyboard macros, one which presses Shift down and one that releases Shift. Now I can build floors way up in the air (or bridges or whatever) without fear of plummeting to a gear-scattering death, and without my pinky finger aching from holding down Shift the whole time.
 
* After much finger pain I made two keyboard macros, one which presses Shift down and one that releases Shift. Now I can build floors way up in the air (or bridges or whatever) without fear of plummeting to a gear-scattering death, and without my pinky finger aching from holding down Shift the whole time.
If you're on Java Edition, there should be a setting somewhere that let's you sneak by pressing Shift a single time, and there should be one for sprinting too.
 
If you're on Java Edition, there should be a setting somewhere that let's you sneak by pressing Shift a single time, and there should be one for sprinting too.
Nice — I'm on Bedrock so I can play on the Rift. It'd be nice if they'd add that to this version too.
 
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