Summary
One of the most divisive and well-known events in theMinecraftcommunity,the yearly community voteis always an interesting time of year. While the votes have recently decided what mobs get into the game next, with the losers following at some vague, undetermined point in the future, the biome votes are just as intriguing and important to the future ofMinecraft, even if one has not occurred since 2019, there are a few interesting details to note.
While there are plenty of biome losers so far, the few winners and fortunate losers that have made their way into the game have informed players' perspectives on how the votes played out. Some of the biomes seemed far better in theory than in the actual world ofMinecraft, and with so few of the biome losers having entered the game yet, the distinct differences between the current winners are clear.
3Swamp
Biome Vote 2018 Loser
Technically, a vote loser. Thus far, the Swamp, with the subset of the Mangrove Swamp, is the first and only loser of the biome vote to be incorporated into the gamedespite not winning the vote back at Minecon. With the Swamp following in a close second to 2019’s vote winner, the Mountains, it’s not too surprising that all the swampy charms of mangroves and frogs wound up in the game shortly after in 2022. Beating the Badlands voting option by over 25%, the additions found in the Mangrove Swamp were greatly appreciated in-game, especially by the frog lovers out there.
The crowning jewels from the addition of the Mangrove Swamp are certainly the new mangrove wood type and the chest boats. The mangrove wood blocks are a brilliant new part of the wood color palette, especially since the so-called crimson hyphae is hardly more than magenta, and opens up the possibility for even more wildly vibrant wood types found in real life, such as the rainbow eucalyptus. Beyond the new block type, the new variant of the boat is something that truly should have been inMinecraftlong before the vote even took place. Perfect for the early game and players moving tons of items without access to the shulker box, the chest boat is the best option when exploring new locations with new goods to take for the journey ahead.
Thanks to the Swamp vote idea, other new elements in the game arejust as strong, with frogs adding some fun life to the boggy areas and mud allowing the ever-valuable clay to be renewable and farmable far cheaper than villager trades. Froglights are unique lighting blocks with a fairly unique palette, and frogs in general provide a way to farm slimes and magma cubes for extremely valuable drops.
2Taiga
Biome Vote 2018 Winner
The winner of the first biome vote, the Taiga received a fairly tame upgrade and an update to its environment. Unlike other biome votes that promise new natural blocks or features, new trees, oreven new terrain generation,the Taiga vote promise only offered a single new plant block or crop in the sweet berry bush, the new campfire block, and the new (adorable) mob, the fox.
While the berry bush is a fun new food option that doubles as a trap block, the true stars of the new and improved Taiga biome are the foxes and the campfire block. The campfire block added floating smoke to the game, giving the much-desired ambiance and decoration power that players had to imitate with cobwebs for the longest time. Campfires may offer a functional purpose in cooking food without a fuel source, but that is rarely what most players actually build them for, as they are a rather decorative and cozy block.
The fox is the mostenticing new addition foundin all variants of the Taiga biome, with the wonderful arctic or white-furred version readily found in snowy forests. While the fox can hold items in its mouth and even play a part in auto-cooked chicken farms, the general antics of seeing them running around the player’s base, screeching in the dead of night, or jumping head-first into snow. Beating out the Desert with meerkats and palm trees, and the Savanna with ostriches, baobab trees, and termites. It’s a shame, as the Taiga biome’s strongest features are hardly relevant to the biome itself.
1Mountains
Biome Vote 2019 Winner
The latest biome vote winner and the most extreme upgrade for a winning biome so far, the Mountains are easily the best transformation seen by a biome vote candidate, pathing the way forexploration alone or with friends. With the Mountains winning, Mojang took the opportunity to finally add a grander world scope, increasing the world height and granting the Mountains the majesty they deserve, with dramatic heights and snowy peaks.
Beyond the drastic change in the biome’s generation, the addition of mountain goats and powder snow gave players an actual reason to explore these lofty peaks when not scoping potential base locations. Powder snow is a fascinating trap block, trapping and freezing mobs to death inside, and the mountain goat offers a dangerous neutral mob when exploring the heights even in the daytime, with thegoats capturing that mischievous nature of headbuttingstationary players right off the mountainside.
