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Villager Changes in Minecraft 1.20.2

Posted: Aug 14, 2023 in Minecraft

mc head By Nathan Young

Overview

Trading with villagers in Minecraft has been around for many years, allowing players to easily collect useful resources. Whether you want enchanted books or quick ways to get emeralds, you have plenty of options! However, the Minecraft 1.20.2 snapshot changes how players can trade and has sparked some minor outrage in the community. Did this nerf villagers? Most users will say yes, but there are others who may argue otherwise. We’ll be exploring the major changes from this update to help you get started with a brand new way of trading on your Minecraft server. Let’s begin!
 

Rebalanced Trading

Minecraft 1.20.2 Trading Changes

Experimental changes from the Minecraft 1.20.2 snapshot include rebalancing trading with villagers. This only applies to two types of them though, meaning others are left alone. If you’ve been using librarians to quickly get enchanted books, then you’ll be sad to hear this was nerfed. Fortunately, it’s not all bad since you and others alike can still obtain powerful enchants. This just involves a bit more steps and effort to accomplish in-game. Other changes from this update include wander traders having their offers enhanced, which is considered to be a good change for Minecraft. Many players tried using this type of NPC for trading but were unable to find suitable deals. This is no longer the case, as you’re given the opportunity to get useful resources and items now.

Besides this, another aspect that was updated is curing zombie villagers for discounted offers. This was exploited in the past according to Mojang, so they fixed it in their most recent snapshot. In other words, you won’t be able to fully take advantage of discounts nowadays. Don’t worry, we’ll break down all these changes to help you learn more about them. Once you understand everything, it’ll be easier to trade with villagers in Minecraft! When you’re ready, review the subsections below to get started.
 

Librarian Enchantments

Starting off with the most controversial change in Minecraft 1.20.2, librarians only provide you with certain enchanted books depending on their village’s biome. For example, players can now only get mending in swamps after trading enough with the NPC. This is a drastic change, as before any biomes allowed you to get this enchantment. Due to this update, players will be forced to find their desired location before making a trading farm. This can quickly become frustrating for some, as it requires them to have multiple bases in several biomes to get specific enchanted books.

Minecraft Librarian

If you’re curious about which ones are for what biomes, review the table below to learn about them all.

BiomeEnchantment Books
DesertEfficiency 3, Fire Protection, Thorns, Infinity.
JungleUnbreaking 2, Feather Falling, Projectile Protection, Power.
PlainsProtection 3, Punch, Smite, Bane Of Arthropods.
SavannaSharpness 3, Knockback, Binding Curse, Sweeping Edge.
SnowSilk Touch, Aqua Affinity, Looting, Frost Walker.
SwampMending, Depth Strider, Respiration, Vanishing Curse.
TaigaFortune 2, Blast Protection, Fire Aspect, Flame.

 

Wandering Trader Deals

Minecraft Wandering Trader

While exploring your Minecraft world or sitting by an AFK mob farm, you may encounter a wandering trader. These characters provide you with some unique deals, which isn’t all that great. However, this changes with the Minecraft 1.20.2 update since you’re granted more items to buy or sell. For instance, players can possibly purchase an enchanted iron pickaxe with some emeralds. This makes wandering traders more appealing to the community, as before there weren’t too many good deals. Review the table below to find out what items can be sold or bought with this update.

Buying ItemsSelling Items
Water BottleLog (Any Type)
Water BucketEnchanted Iron Pickaxe
Milk BucketPotion of Invisibility
Fermented Spider Eye
Baked Potato
Hay Bale

 

Zombie Villager Exploits

In previous Minecraft versions, players can endlessly cure zombie villagers for discounts. This was considered an exploit by Mojang, as you can easily get enchanted items or books without using traditional methods. Nowadays in the 1.20.2 snapshot, this only works one time. This means players can get cheaper trades per cured zombie villager one single time. If you’ve been using this exploitative method to get enchanted books at huge discounts, then you’ll need to switch ways in newer Minecraft versions.

Minecraft Zombie Villager

 

Trading in Minecraft 1.20.2

Minecraft 1.20.2 Trading

After realizing how trading in Minecraft changed, players need to rethink their strategies to do it in-game. Whether you’re going to keep all nearby wandering traders from now on or build multiple librarian farms across different biomes, there are many possibilities. We encourage you to get creative to see what works best for you, especially if you’re planning to create a new world. However, keep in mind that the rebalanced trading system in Minecraft is an experimental feature in the Minecraft 1.20.2 snapshot, meaning players need to manually enable it beforehand. In the future, this will be a fully integrated change in the game. With this in mind, you and others alike may want to get accustomed to these alterations to get ahead later on.
 

Conclusion

There are a handful of changes to trading in Minecraft with its most recent snapshot, but all of them heavily impact how you use villagers. These primarily affect librarians and wandering traders, but don’t forget about cured zombie characters too. Perhaps in the future, Mojang will decide to rework or rebalance other villager types. Whether you’re a fan of this or not, Minecraft is always changing and expanding its features. We hope this blog helped you learn more about the villager changes in 1.20.2. Have a good one, gamers!

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