Minecraft is an ever-evolving game. The team at Mojang work tirelessly to keep a consistent stream of new content coming into the game, helping to always keep it relevant in the minds of gamers. However, constantly adding features means that, from time to time, other features have to be removed. Sometimes it's because of an incompatibility issue. Other times it's because a new feature makes an old feature obsolete.
There are some features, though, that may not be gone for good. Removed features are sometimes returned to Minecraft in new forms when the fanbase asks and Mojang can work out a good way to implement them.
10 Tutorial Level - Learning The Basics
Minecraft is a game for everyone. Being - by some estimates - the best-selling game in history, many people have played/will play Minecraft as their first-ever video game. As such, Minecraft has a responsibility to help those players understand the ideas and conventions that more seasoned gamers are already aware of.
On top of this, Minecraft can be a daunting game at first, and while features like the Recipe Book give players a place to start, many need the game to hold their hand a little more in the beginning. A simple tutorial world like the ones that feature in the Legacy Console Edition and the current Education Edition would be a perfect fit for new players stepping into a blocky world for the first time.
9 Mobs Running From Creepers - Self Preservation
A fluke of accidental programming, Creepers are one of the most iconic images of Minecraft. Their explosive nature makes them a constant hazard in worlds, threatening the player themselves and their creations.
However, what makes little sense is that hostile mobs will gleefully follow a Creeper into battle, despite knowing that being anywhere near it will cause almost certain death upon explosion. Mojang agreed, and in snapshot 14w11a, added a feature where other hostile mobs would keep their distance from Creepers, so they didn't get caught up in the blast. Unfortunately, the implementation caused performance issues with the game, and it was removed before Version 1.8's official release.
8 Dirt Slabs - More Realistic Terrain
While the look of mountainous & hilly terrain in Minecraft gets more impressive by the day, it can still look a bit lacking in places. The chunkiness of the regular Dirt Blocks makes mountains and hills look much steeper than they should be, especially around the base. It leaves players having to jump up even the smallest of inclines.
The solution seems simple, a Dirt Slab to allow more much smoother inclines on terrain. Such a slab was added during Minecraft's Alpha period but was removed due to problems it caused in terrain generation. In the modern-day, the team at Mojang is among the best in the world, so getting around this problem would be far less difficult now. Even if they can't be re-added to naturally generated terrain, having them as a craftable item would be a huge boon to players who want to create the most impressive-looking builds possible.
7 Super Secret Setting - Fun New Looks
One of the sillier features to have been added to Minecraft is the Super Secret Setting. This setting sat on the game's menu from Versions 1.7 through 1.9 and was an internal system that could run shaders. Clicking the Super Secret Setting button would give your game a brand new look in fun and slightly silly ways.
Be it flipping everything upside-down, turning the world black & white, or giving everything a cell-shaded look; the Super Secret Setting was a fun thing to play around with when players had nothing else to do. With mods like Optifine adding some seriously impressive shaders, something like the Super Secret Setting would be great for adding those shaders into the vanilla game.
6 The Far Lands - A Weird New World
While technically not an intended feature, The Far Lands have become a point of fascination for many within the Minecraft community. Generating over 12.5 million blocks away from a world's spawn, The Far Lands look extremely striking and hold within them lots of weirdly-generated terrains from floor to ceiling of a Minecraft world.
They were removed in Beta Version 1.8 and replaced with the World Border players know today. However, players have still gone back to old versions of Minecraft to explore the oddities of this glitch, even going as far as modding them back into the game. Seeing The Far Lands added back into Minecraft would undoubtedly be met with rejoicing from fans and would serve as a fitting reward for people who journeyed so far out into the unknown.
5 Rubies - Like Emeralds, But Red
When Villager Trading was in the works for Version 1.3, a currency was required for the Villagers to accept. The first version of this currency was Rubies. They functioned exactly like Emeralds do in the current versions of Minecraft, only red and more circular in shape.
They were replaced with Emeralds due to the color-blindness of developer Dinnerbone, who struggled to tell the ore apart from Redstone. However, with Amethysts having been added to the game, gems like Rubies & Sapphires would be welcome. Mojang has now gotten around the color-blindness issue by giving each ore a unique look, so there are no more hurdles to players kitting themselves out with all kinds of gemstones.
4 Various Craftable Items - DIY Saddles
Taming Horses is not much challenge in Minecraft. Players simply have to sit on them over and over until the horse gives up and lets you ride it. However, for some reason, if you want a saddle to control the horse, players have to go diving into dungeons to find one laying around in a chest (why are there saddles in underground chests?).
You'd think that given that players can craft items as complex as Stonecutters and Beacons on a Crafting Table, a Saddle would be no trouble, but that thought would be incorrect. Saddles aren't the only simple items that used to have crafting recipes but no longer do. Horse Armor and Enchanted Golden Apples both used to be craftable but no longer are. Re-adding such recipes would be sure to save everyone a lot of hassle.
3 Nether Reactors - Bringing The Nether To You
In the early days of Minecraft's Bedrock Edition, there was no Nether Dimension for players to explore. However, all of the Nether Blocks had been implemented into the game, and Mojang wanted players to obtain them. The solution was the Nether Reactor. First, players had to craft a Nether Reactor Core Block with Diamonds and Iron, then surround it in Cobblestone and Gold Blocks. Activating it would then spawn a tower of Nether-based blocks.
While that iteration of the Nether Reactor was made obsolete by The Nether being added into Bedrock Edition, a similar idea would be perfect with the updated Nether in modern Minecraft. It could become a challenging Nether dungeon with great rewards for brave players who summon it into their world.
2 Cauldron Potion Making - Brewing Up Trouble
While a Brewing Stand allows for more complex potion-making, it doesn't feel very exciting. What's exciting instead is toiling over a bubbling cauldron to make potions with all sorts of magical effects.
Players used to be able to do just that. Before the addition of Brewing Stands, players would have to throw ingredients into a Cauldron in order to get their desired effect. Re-adding this feature would make potion brewing a much more enjoyable process and give Cauldrons a more practical use than what they currently have.
1 Custom Worlds - A World All Your Own
Minecraft's world generation features are extremely robust and create a fun experience for the regular game. But for veteran players who have seen it all and done it all, having something new and weird is a blessed adventure. Custom worlds were perfect for this, allowing players to create wild worlds tailored just for them.
Modern versions of Minecraft have some customization options when building worlds, but nothing like what the game had from Version 1.8 top 1.13. Sea Level, Ore Generation, Overworld Terrain, and the ground itself could be completely customized if a player had the know-how, and it made for some of Minecraft's most unique experiences.