5 best features and changes in Minecraft snapshot 24w19a

With Minecraft 1.21, also known as Tricky Trials, right around the corner, Mojang is finally putting out snapshots centered around the update and its contents. These include the upcoming trial chambers, new mobs like the bogged and breeze, and even a new weapon in the mace, making this quite a significant update in the game's history.

Minecraft snapshot 24w19a is the most recent major snapshot for the update to release, with its best features, additions, and general changes detailed below, along with what makes them so significant.

---

5 of Minecraft snapshot 24w19a's best changes

1) New cave sounds

Cave noises are an interesting feature. Added back in the game's alpha, these terrifying Minecraft features almost feel out of place due to the game's much more family-friendly nature and creativity-driven community. However, they are inarguably one of the game's most iconic features, so it's nice to see them expanded upon.

Mojang has done just that with 24w19a. This snapshot brought four new cave sounds to make exploring the dank depths of the world even more terrifying than it already was.

---

2) Better chunk loading

The game should be noticeably better at loading large areas (Image via Mojang)

One of the best updates from snapshot 24w19a is a revamp on how the game loads chunks. Normally, this is one of the worst areas of the game's performance, requiring Minecraft performance mods to make it better.

Thankfully, Mojang is addressing these issues, at least a bit. 24w19a stops the game from unnecessarily loading chunks surrounding an already-generated chunk that's being read. Additionally, the game now uses less memory and CPU power when loading chunks. This will help the game run on lower-powered machines.

---

3) Mace changes

Players wanting a god mace should make one before upgrading to 24w19a (Image via Mojang)

24w19a also brought some balance changes to the mace, bringing it more in line with other weapons found in the game. There have been changes made to nearly every part of the weapon.

These include raising the base durability of the weapon from 250 to 500 while lowering the weapon's base damage to five. The attack cooldown was also increased to 3.5 seconds from 2.4 seconds. Additionally, the base smash attack damage now has a drop-off formula.

The first three blocks fallen add four damage per block; the next five blocks give two damage per block; and all blocks after this add one damage. Density damage also decreased to 0.5 per level.

The final change is that Density and Breach are mutually exclusive, meaning not all of the new Minecraft mace enchantments can be put on the same mace.

---

4) Massive bug fix list

Zombie villagers will no longer crash older worlds when attempting to update (Image via Mojang)

24w19a also brought a huge list of bug fixes to make playing the game more stable and enjoyable. There are more than 60 different bug fixes listed. Some of the most interesting or major ones include:

• Crashes that would occur when upgrading worlds with zombie villagers from before 1.9.
• The riptide trident Minecraft weapon enchantment not working properly.
• The quick charge crossbow enchantment not working.
• Frogs also no longer suffocate while growing up.
• Sharpness and other mob-specific enchantments actually increase damage rather than decrease it.

---

5) Frostwalker emits vibrations

A calibrated sculk sensor detecting frost walker vibrations (Image via Mojang)

This change is ultimately a more minor one, but it's still exciting to see. Frost Walker is a very powerful Minecraft enchantment in terms of utility. It allows players to form ice trails under their feet as they move, meaning boats aren't needed to cross large expanses of water.

24w19a has given this forming ice a detectable vibration. This means that sculk sensors and calibrated sculk sensors can hear Frost Walker and output a redstone signal from it. This will give technical players another trick for making upgrades to any of Minecraft's expert-level farms.