Minecraft 1.17 Caves & Cliffs update Part 1 & Part 2: When are the two split updates releasing?

Just this morning, on Minecraft's official YouTube Channel, a new video was released detailing more information about Caves & Cliffs Part I and Part II, specifically about the split.

Agnes (a vanilla Minecraft game director) and Alex (a gameplay producer) take watchers through various questions and supply their own answers, while also giving fans a look into the future of Minecraft.

Minecraft 1.17 Caves & Cliffs: When are the two split updates releasing?

When is the Part I Update and when is the Part II update?

Part I of the Caves & Cliffs Update comes out early next week, on June 8th. Part II, however, will be releasing at the end of 2021.

Why not just release everything in the Part II update?

Alex explains that releasing them in separate parts will allow them to focus on specific subsets of features that are released in each update. He then mentions that it is ideal to release them separately so that they can get the updates out as soon as possible and receive as much feedback as possible.

What's your favorite feature in Part I?

Agnes mentions that her favorite feature has to be copper. She explains that when she plays Minecraft, she enjoys making up stories about her Minecraft world, and copper helps implement things into said stories, like adding a history to everything. With the use of copper and how it oxidizes over time, it can add a fun historical element to any Minecraft world.

Alex mentions that his favorite feature is powdered snow, especially because one of his real life hobbies is skiing and hiking. The addition of powdered snow brings the element of mountaineering into Minecraft, and he is very excited about it.

How will the version numbers work for Part I and Part II?

Part I of the update is 1.17, and Part II of the update will be 1.18. They decided to make both updates have major release numbers due to the fact that each update comes with a plethora of different things and are each big enough to count as a major update on their own.

How will biomes work in Part II, will there be 3D biomes?

There will be 3D biomes in Part II, and a prime example of said 3D biomes is the Lush Caves biome. This is because with Lush Caves, they can have a specific biome underground (Lush Caves) while having a completely different biome on top in the Overworld.

How does the mountain generation work in Part II?

The mountain generation will eventually work as just another extension of the terrain generation that Minecraft currently has. They explain that there are usually two types of mountains: hilly and steep. Adding the different types of mountains has been an adventure, and Alex states that he used his own experience in climbing mountains when designing the mountain types that will be added in the update.

With Caves & Cliffs it feels like Minecraft is becoming less and less simple, is that a conscious decision?

Agnes explains that tons of new features and items are being added so it could seem like Minecraft is becoming less and less simple, but they believe that they have managed to keep the simple beauty of Minecraft, which is very important.

What are the goals for world generation in Part II?

The overarching goal of world generation is to make this generation of terrain fit in with past generations of terrain, almost to seem as if nothing has changed.

How will the borders of all worlds look when updating to the new world generation of Part II?

When users update their Part I world to the Part II world, Mojang has made sure that the players existing world will blend in with the generation of Part II. When updating to Part II, the new patch will not change anything in the chunks that the player has already visited and built upon, though things might change in chunks that the player has seen, but not yet visited.

Will branch mining still be doable?

Branch mining will be doable, because Mojang has made it a goal to keep it doable from the beginning. They do mention, however, that they have tried to make it so that new strategies will be able to work without invalidating old strategies.

Will the split of Caves & Cliffs affect future content?

As of now, the main goal is to release both parts of the updates in good quality. They do, however, have future plans for Minecraft, which will be announced at Minecraft Live 2021.

Will Part I release on all platforms at the same time?

Part I will be released on all platforms on the same date, so players will not have to worry about that.