Minecraft‘s yearly update cycle has provided the game and the community with a limitless stream of content, but the dangerous and secluded Ancient Cities in the upcoming Wild Update could benefit from having more rewarding loot. Every year, Mojang holds an event called Minecraft Live where it showcases new and exciting developments regarding the future of Minecraft, typically giving sneak peeks at what is to come next. In late 2020, Mojang showed the earliest iterations of the Deep Dark biome and the Warden, which were initially supposed to release with the Caves & Cliffs update. Last year, the Ancient Cities were unveiled to serve as a companion structure to the Deep Dark biome, though the loot and rewards that have been added to the Minecraft 1.19 snapshots so far have been relatively lackluster compared to how dangerous Minecraft‘s terrifying Warden is with its lasers and the biome as a whole can be.
When looking at other structures in Minecraft, such as the Woodland Mansions or Bastion Remnants, the loot in the Ancient Cities seem less rewarding and beneficial in comparison. Woodland Mansions have the chance to reward the player with a Totem of Undying, which will prevent them from dying and grant temporary buffs to stay alive. Bastion Remnants can reward the player with Netherite Scrap or Ancient Debris, along with a surplus of blocks of gold, since Piglins are obsessed with golden items. Ancient Cities can provide the player with three unique items that are exclusive to the cities, though none of them are as beneficial or useful as the previous two structure’s loot.
Within chests that are scattered around Minecraft‘s Ancient Cities, one can find an assortment of items, ranging from coal all the way to enchanted golden apples, including a new Minecraft item to guide players where they died last. The new exclusive items that can be found include a new enchantment, echo shards, and disc fragments. This new enchantment is called Swift Sneak, and it can be applied to leggings and allow the player to move significantly faster while crouching. The echo shards, when combined with a compass, can be crafted into a Recovery Compass, which points the player in the direction of where they died. Finally, the disc fragments that are scattered throughout the cities can be crafted together to make a new music disc, which plays like a found-footage tape of a previous explorer perishing in the Ancient City. Considering how rare the Deep Dark biome is to find, the rewards for locating one could be far more advantageous if Mojang delved even deeper into the lore surrounding these mysterious ruins.
The Deep Dark biome is vast and mysterious, and although Minecraft‘s Ancient Cities may be ruined and decrepit, in the center of them is a massive structure that is known as, “The Monument,” and it looks similar to the shape of the Warden’s head. Many players in the Minecraft community have suggested that this monument is actually a portal to a sculk dimension and that it opened up and brought the sculk growth into the overworld, along with the Warden. This theory is actually backed up by the new music disc found in Ancient Cities, as the recording ends with a booming ignition sound and a crystal-like sound being triggered, almost as if a portal had been opened to another dimension, similar to the Nether or The End. While Mojang has not indicated that this will actually make it in the game, if it were to include this as a feature, it would be the first new dimension since Minecraft‘s reimagined End Cities and islands in 2016.
By allowing players to cross over into a sculk dimension, Mojang would be able to use this as an opportunity to expand the lore of the Deep Dark much further and include many more features for players to utilize and discover. While adding a new dimension may not be an easy task, making it look similar to the Deep Dark biome could be the way to go, as the biome-specific blocks, such as the sculk blocks, have experience-storing properties, so players would be able to harvest experience points at a much easier rate. This new dimension would serve as an excellent incentive for players searching for an Ancient City and could provide Mojang with a new feature that could be updated for years to come.
When looking at Minecraft‘s Ancient Cities, besides its impressive architecture, its unique items all follow a similar visual theme and fit in with the surroundings of the sculk growth. Since none of the three new items help combat the Warden, introducing a new class of equipment could incentivize players to delve into this mysterious biome. Since the Warden holds the trapped souls of its victims in its chest cavity, introducing various soul-related items could fit the theme of this new enemy and aid the player in staying alive while in its presence. The defining feature that could separate these soul items from other tools and armor, besides just being stronger, could be including a perk that no other item in Minecraft has, that being life steal.
Because Minecraft‘s terrifying new Warden deals a tremendous amount of damage, killing players in only one or two hits, being able to life steal from it could keep players alive long enough to either kill it or escape. Life steal could come in a variety of different ways, such as a potion, an enchantment, or a perk with a cooldown period, similar to how a shield is unusable for a few seconds after blocking something. While Mojang may intend for people to avoid the Warden and use stealth to maneuver around the Deep Dark, being able to create another semi-boss with the Warden could act as an incentive, similar to the Wither, to acquire high-level equipment and fight it for special loot. Since there are no other items or abilities like it in Minecraft, adding a life steal mechanic could be a great new addition to make the Deep Dark more rewarding and Minecraft‘s scary Warden mob more manageable.
Minecraft has been listening to player feedback for years, hosting mob and biome votes during Minecraft Live and tweaking new additions during their snapshot previews based on player data. Since the community has been vocal in their dissatisfaction of the current loot table for Ancient Cities, it is likely that Mojang will continue working on it down the road and include more features and benefits for players that delve down into its alien environment. Minecraft‘s Wild Update releases later this year and will be free for all players.
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Author: Nicholas Kincheloe
