Highlights

  • Many want an End update in Minecraft to breathe life into its bland outer islands and provide more reasons to explore its depths.
  • Introducing an exclusive End ore could justify exploration and open up new possibilities for unique features and challenges in the End.
  • To avoid redundancy with Netherite, new armor and weapons from an End ore could offer unique abilities or introduce a world of new threats for players to face.

Minecraft's latest update, Tricky Trials, has been a huge success — gifting fans a gauntlet of unique challenges that offer a real test for early and mid-game explorers. With 1.21 complete, Minecraft's next content drop should focus on a truly underserved aspect of the game.

Fans have long clamored for an update to Minecraft's End, and with good reason. The End's liminal, alien atmosphere is undeniably effective — a time capsule of an older Minecraft and its older philosophies. The fight with the Ender Dragon should certainly stay intact, but the content of its outer islands needs a bit more polish. Ethereal music and eldritch buildings are nice but, once an End City is found, the player has no reason to return. These beacons of lost civilization house the elytra and shulker shells, the only resources unique to the outer End; the rest of the realm is a desert of beige islands and disparate structures, bereft of surprise.

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Minecraft's End Should Take Notes From Netherite

It's long been suggested that Mojang should give the End a makeover. New mobs, plants, structures, and biomes have all been suggested, but the crown jewel among these ideas has always been an exclusive ore. With The Nether Update in 2020 adding Netherite to the game, and with further updates adding complications to the upgrade process, Mojang proved that it was willing to drastically change progression. The status of the End as Minecraft's finale makes it deserving of a true capstone resource.

An End Ore Would Justify Exploration

The vast reaches of Minecraft's End actually have some fascinating generation. Oceans of void separate masses of endstone, many of which have cliffs beneath cliffs that form natural exterior caves. Unfortunately, the undersides of End islands aren't worth a second thought; only the End's surface will ever have anything of value. This is where the value of an End ore could come in, making these shrouded crevices worth indulging in.

Moreover, End ore would be a great gateway for more new features. Once players are encouraged to gather this material, new mobs, structures, and cave generation can be woven through the End's cosmic asteroids to further excite players. With how much fans love Minecraft's new underground trial chambers, subterranean dungeons should feature in the End's underbelly alongside some terrifying threats. The dimension is already home to many bizarre denizens, so much so that it would follow quite naturally for its cave-dwelling mobs to be beyond monstrous. Those that have never seen the dull, purple light of the void could well take on some Lovecraftian forms.

The End's 'Netherite' Should Open Up A New World Of Progression

Minecraft's Netherite armor and tools already make the player practically invincible, especially when decked out with the right enchantments. This could be an issue when considering a further End upgrade; new armor and tools would be redundant when nothing can threaten a Protection IV-clad Netherite warrior. An obvious way to circumvent it would be to have the resource create new equipment and weapons or an armor set with unique abilities. Something with teleportation or levitation ability would be hugely on brand, and the latter would synergize greatly with the mace.

On the other hand, Mojang could introduce a world of new threats. Minecraft could introduce a combat update that creates an effect similar to Terraria's hardmode; killing the Ender Dragon could cause harder mobs to spawn and new structures to generate, both of which could create demand for a new armor and weapon set. The only issue here would be the fact that Netherite is often acquired after the dragon, but this can be countered by placing an End ore behind another progression gate (like a post-dragon boss) that would demand Netherite upgrades.