We’re still speeding toward the Minecraft 1.17 release date this summer, which will bring us a host of improvements for both caves and cliffs. A new snapshot is here to bring us another round of features to try out in beta, and this time it’s mostly about underground fauna. But there are some other changes too, including a way to get infinite copper – if you’re willing to grind for it.
The big additions in this update are a load of new plants. There are cave vines, which will grow down from the ceiling and produce glowberries. We’ve got the dripleaf, which is big enough to (briefly) support your weight and serve as a platform. You’ll find spore blossoms beautifying caves and azalea bushes beautifying the surface. You can see all the details on the official site.
Copper gives us the more surprising changes. You can now use a stonecutter to craft various copper block variants, and the oxidisation process for those blocks has been overhauled. But the big thing is that Drowned mobs now have a chance to drop a copper ingot, which replaces the previous gold ingot drops.
This means that you can now farm Drowned for infinite copper, rather than relying on discovering and mining the resource underground. The drop rates aren’t amazing, but once you’ve strip-mined your starting area, this might be the best way to continue collecting that copper.
For more sandbox games to dig into, you can follow that link.