For those who rememberMinecraftin its earliest iterations before the 1.0 launch in November 2011, the game may be unrecognizable today for all its expanded mechanics - especially following Microsoft’s $2.5 billion acquisition in 2014. From late-game content like End Cities, more complex swimming mechanics, and anentirely revamped Nether with diverse biomesall its own, there’s far more to do than simply building a home to survive the wrath of exploding Creepers.
Minecraft’s most recent two-part “Caves and Cliffs"update completelychanges the way worlds generate, adding a 50 percent expansion to overall height and depth with more dynamic mountains and cave systems to explore. The scope of this update became so untenable after its announcement at Minecraft Live 2020 that Mojang split Caves and Cliffs into June and November 2021 releases. Among their additions is a new ore, copper, but its current utility in the creative sandbox is underwhelming and could use an overhaul soon.
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Copper’s Place in the Minecraft Ecosystem
WithMinecrafttraditionally allowing players to upgrade their tools through a series of unearthed materials; going from stone to iron, gold, or diamond; fan-made mods such as the Technic Pack have long added copper as a new ore with purposes like smelting bronze. The official copper ore is much more simple in its current state.
After mining and smelting the raw material into ingots, which can also drop from an underwater zombie mob called Drowned,copper has three general use cases. It can be turned into a decorative block, one players can cut into stairs and slabs as with other materials. Beyond that, three copper ingots are needed to craft a lightning rod that protects players' homes during stormy nights, and two copper ingots with an amethyst harvested from geode structures underground create a spyglass to zoom in on one’s surroundings.
The other major draw for copper is that any decorative blocks placed in a players' world will randomly begin oxidizing and change color. Like the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, copper inMinecraftwill shift from a metallic brown into a deeper verdigris across four stages. If players prefer one stage in the material’s lifecycle, they can wax the blocks usinghoneycomb obtained from beehives. Axes can also be used to scrape the oxidation off a copper block, moving it back one stage at a time.
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Minecraft’s Copper Can Be So Much More
It’s unreasonable to expect copper to have endless uses right off the bat, especially considering Mojang already had to split up its workload on Caves and Cliffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There are still previously teased features like Deep Dark Cities being saved for"The Wild Update,” announced during Minecraft Live 2021, and no doubt more applications for copper will be added over time similar to materials like iron and redstone.
However, with the two functional uses for copper being items each player likely only needs one of, the abundance of copper underground means it’s likely not much more than a marker block to avoid getting lost. One of three options fans could choose from in Minecraft Live 2021’s Mob Vote was the Copper Golem, which could have performed simple tasks like pressing buttons before oxidizing into a statue. This potential use for copper was passed over in favor of theAllay, which gathers items and dances to note block music.
Even without Copper Golems, there’s plenty of interesting ideas Mojang could run with. Copper’s electric-attracting properties could be iterated upon to create new machine components for redstone circuits, or lightning rods could create batteries like inStardew Valleyas an alternative fuel source. Copper tools and armor could also be added, much like Netherite, perhaps with the ability to give the player limited-time buffs if they’re struck by lightning akin to Charged Creepers. Mojang could also take hints from its fans by adding more materials such as bronze. For now, players will have to wait and see what comes out in The Wild Update and beyond.
Minecraftis available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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