Minecraft 1.20.2 update fixes one of the oldest villager bugs

Minecraft 1.20.2 debuted just a few days ago for Java Edition, bringing along a plethora of changes and features that players can enjoy. A large collection of bug fixes were implemented as well, some of which may be a bit disappointing for longtime fans of the sandbox title. One fix, in particular, has made villager trading somewhat less cost-effective than it was before the latest update.

In previous versions of Minecraft, players could cure a zombie villager and reinfect it multiple times, allowing the trading discount provided after curing to stack. However, as of version 1.20.2, players can only receive the discount once, as Mojang stated that the stacking effect wasn't intended.

Although curing a zombie villager in Minecraft is still great for trading, version 1.20.2 does diminish the overall value of doing so.

---

Fixing the trade discount glitch in Minecraft continues a trend of villager nerfs

Minecraft's villagers have been receiving quite a bit of attention in recent snapshots and previews before the zombie villager discount bug was ever addressed. In fact, Mojang is currently implementing a total villager trade rebalancing piece by piece, though this process remains an Experimental Feature that must be enabled.

The implementation divides villager trades into different offerings depending on the villager's home biome, including biomes like jungles and swamps where villages don't naturally generate during world creation. This leaves players scrambling not only to find the right villager biomes but also to level up villagers' profession levels to obtain the best trades.

Combined with the fact that Minecraft villagers no longer provide stacking trade discounts after being cured from their zombified states, version 1.20.2 has significantly altered the way villagers operate within the game when the rebalancing is toggled on.

Villager trading halls have become less effective due to the biome-dependent nature of the trade rebalance, and players won't be able to simply zombify and cure a villager multiple times to acquire high-quality items for an immensely reduced cost. The discounts are still useful but are a far cry from what they were before.

Between the rebalancing of villager trades and fixing the discount bug, Mojang is clearly making a concerted effort to make villagers less of an easy source of powerful items early on in a playthrough. This has led some fans to grow quite unhappy, even before the trade rebalancing becomes a full-fledged feature that can't be disabled.

Although Mojang is openly accepting feedback from the player base, the developers seem to be committed to their vision of making villagers less of an early-game crutch of sorts. It appears that in Mojang's eyes, if fans want powerful gear, items, and enchantments from villagers, they'll have to put in quite a bit of work to do so.

Considering that villager trading halls have been such a huge part of Minecraft for over a decade, players haven't been particularly thrilled with this slew of changes. Many have reached out on Mojang's feedback site to ask for the trade rebalances to not be implemented at all, but the developers seem to have a different point of view.

Some players have also seen the discount bug fix as adding insult to injury, as the fix made to zombie villagers wasn't implemented via Experimental Features. This may be due to the fact that the stacking discount was never intended from the start, but it certainly hasn't made many longtime Minecraft fans pleased.

Whatever the case may be, though fans have clearly made their voices heard in recent weeks, Minecraft 1.20.2 has shown that some implementations for the future of villagers and their trading mechanics aren't open to suggestions. Hopefully, even with discounts being limited to one per cured villager, Mojang has plans for the future that will bring players back around.