Minecraft 1.8 update: Endermite, rabbits, faster minecart and much more! When is it coming?

Version 1.7.2 of Minecraft release in October last year, and while there have been upgrades and fixes since then, fans and players alike are buzzing for what might come in Minecraft 1.8. Over the past few months, the beta versions have been floating around, getting players hyped for all the changes coming. Below you’ll find a list of some of the most anticipated mechanics coming to the new version of Minecraft. And don’t forget, there’s a Minecraft free download on Rocky Bytes.

- Endermen, the creepy mobs haunting The End can now spawn an Endermite, a small nightmarish Silverfish clone, every time they teleport (15% chance). Thankfully, the Endermen seem to be hostile to them, so if you’re extremely lucky, they’ll take each other out and leave you alone.

- For all your cuddly needs, there are now rabbits! You can pet them, you can squeeze them…or you can kill and eat them. They’re tasty. You can also tame and breed them if you like. Just be careful, there’s a tiny chance the bunny in front of you is the dreaded Rabbit of Caerbannog (a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail).

- Tired of your sluggish minecart? Well, they’re getting a big speed boost! The downside however is that they can now derail at corners if you’re going too fast and refuse to go uphill if you’re too slow.

- Underwater monuments, massive temples in the bottom of your biome sea are coming. With it are the new Guardian mobs, giant laser-shooting one-eyed fishes, and their big daddy Elder Guardians that act as the monuments’ bosses. 

Aside from gold and loot, Underwater monuments and Guardians are a valuable source of the new material Prismarine.

- Speaking of new materials, Granite, Diorite and Andesite are coming into the game.

- Minecraft 1.8 will introduce the Spectator Mode. By simply typing a command, you can now explore the entire map, flying around and clipping through surfaces like a ghost.

- Enchanting now costs both levels and material components. While they still require a minimum level to acquire, sacrificing 1 to 3 levels is now part of the price.

- Villager Trades will now offer more rewarding and useful items for the player, and villagers will now have more professions, from Cleric and Fisherman to Weaponsmith and Armorsmith.

- There are literally hundreds of tweaks in the engine and scripting coming, from biome generation to the tiniest block. The entire game is being revamped and with that come hundreds of new commands.

Listing every new mechanic is impossible, so we’ve focused on the most important and exciting bits.

There is still no official release date for Minecraft 1.8 other than Winter 2014, so there’s only a few months more to wait for all these changes. What are you most excited about? Please let us know in the comments!

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