What you need to know
- Minecraft Earth is an augmented reality game that combines exploration and building mechanics.
- The game is about to get a number of important changes.
- The problematic monetization still hasn't been fixed.
- The game is available for free on the Apple App and Google Play stores.
Recently, Minecraft Earth Early Access went live in the United Kingdom and the United States. The download is a free-to-play game that blends augmented reality (AR) with a new version of Minecraft built on the Bedrock Engine. The goal is to build structures and explore a superimposed Minecraft world wherever you are.
The game is about to get some major changes. The official Minecraft Earth Twitter account said, "Upgrades and improvements and bug fixes... We're getting ready for the new year with lots of updates that make it better to play in the world of Minecraft Earth." You can take a look at the main tweaks below.
- Get to know your way around with the new Build Mode tutorial.
- Improved speed of sign-in and app resume speeds by up to 50 percent on all platforms.
- Players are now gifted starting items the first time they enter Build Mode.
- Location reporting now has comment box for specifying detailed reasons like "busy road" and "water feature."
- Farming in Buildplates now requires tools for harvesting.
- More Adventures added for you to explore.
- Jolly Llama can eat ferns covered in snow.
- Fixed many game crashes.
- Fixed many sign-in issues.
- Added new hostile mob tracker for Adventures
- Mooblooms now look correct when sheared for their buttercups.
- Added smelting intensity animations.
- Updated audio in various parts of the game.
- Added support for many new blocks and items which will be coming soon like the snowball, bone, rotten flesh, gunpowder, raw salmon, food, and nature items.
- Added recipes for polished granite, andesite, diorite, and lapis blocks.
- Improved Diamond Tool and Weapon damage.
- Improved Iron Tool and Weapon damage.
- Improved effectiveness for using right tool on corresponding blocks.
- Decreased effectiveness of wrong tool on corresponding blocks.
- Cluckshrooms no longer drown when entering water.
- Salmon no longer disappear when put on Buildplates.
- Players that had all of their crafting or smelting slots locked should see this resolved.
It's great to see that the game is getting a lot of bug fixes. However, the real issue remains. The monetization needs to be fixed because right now, it's quite unfair.
When discussing the problem, Windows Central's Jez Corden wrote, "Oh Minecraft Earth, we hardly knew ye. Microsoft's promising... augmented reality mash-up seemed like an obvious win for the company... but in familiar Microsoft fashion, a greedy monetization scheme not only betrays the game's core fans, it completely misses the point of what Minecraft is. It makes me wonder if the people who made this game are actually familiar with Minecraft's audience and gameplay."
Minecraft becomes a reality with AR.
Minecraft Earth takes virtual building, exploration, and discoveries to the next level. Microsoft's upcoming augmented reality flavor of the hit blockbuster brings Minecraft into the real world, rivaling successes of Pokemon GO.
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