Snapshot 23w31a is out and it’s packed with stuff. This one focuses heavily on villager trading changes, which is behind an experimental toggle. You also get more frequent diamond ore spawning, the ability to waterlog barriers in creative, and a whole bunch of bug fixes and technical improvements.
What’s New in This Snapshot
Villager Trading Overhaul (Experimental Toggle)
The big feature here is a complete rework of how villagers handle trades. It’s opt-in behind an experimental toggle when you create a new world. If you want to test it, turn it on in the Experiments menu.
Librarian Changes:
Before this update, librarians were basically the same everywhere. A novice librarian could sell you the best enchantment in the game, which made the whole trading system feel broken compared to using an enchanting table or hunting for enchanted books in structures. That’s changing.
Now librarians are different depending on what biome their village is in. Each village biome has its own set of enchanted books they trade, and each biome has one special enchantment that only master librarians can sell. This means you actually have to visit all seven village biomes to collect the full set of villager enchantments.
There are also two secret village biomes where villages don’t naturally generate. You’ll have to build those villages yourself if you want access to their trades. Some enchantments have been completely removed from villager trading, so you’ll need to find them other ways.
Wandering Trader Changes:
The wandering trader always felt a bit useless. Prices were too high, they didn’t sell much worth buying, and that was it. Now they’re actually worth stopping for. Prices are lower, they stock more of each item, and they sell logs now. Even better, they’ll buy stuff from you, so you can sell them items and help supply them on their travels.
Generation and Block Changes
- Diamond ore now spawns more frequently in the deepslate layers
- Zombie villagers are cheaper to cure once. Curing them multiple times no longer stacks discounts
- Barrier blocks can now be waterlogged in creative mode (water can’t be placed by dispensers though)
- You can’t crouch while riding vehicles anymore
- Chorus flowers no longer support hanging or standing blocks
Technical Additions
Beyond the villager trading stuff, this snapshot includes new commands, function macros, persistent command history, network performance improvements, and a bunch of bug fixes. If you’re into the technical side of things, there’s plenty to dig into.
How to Install
For full instructions on installing snapshots, head over to our guide: How to Download & Install Minecraft Snapshots
Download Minecraft 1.20.2 Snapshot 23w31a
Client: Download
Server: Download