Release Date: April 19, 2011
Protocol Version: 11
Minimum Java Version: Java SE 5
Highlights: Added achievements and statistics, new rails and saplings, cobwebs, thunderstorms, and charged creepers.
Additions
Blocks
- Birch Sapling – Grows into birch trees.
- Spruce Sapling – Grows into spruce trees.
- Cobweb – Unobtainable in-game without inventory editing until Beta 1.8.
- Detector Rail – Crafted from 1 stone pressure plate, 6 iron ingots, and 1 redstone dust; detects minecarts and emits redstone power.
- Powered Rail – Crafted from 1 stick, 6 gold ingots, and 1 redstone dust; increases minecart speed and transmits power up to 8 connected rails.
Mobs
- Charged Creepers – Creepers struck by lightning become charged and deal stronger explosions.
Non-Mob Entities
- Lightning Bolt – Occurs naturally during thunderstorms, dealing damage and creating fire.
Gameplay
- Achievements & Statistics – Now persist across worlds.
- Weather – Rain, snow, and thunderstorms occur naturally.
General
- Controls – Shift + click quickly moves items in/out of inventory.
- Options – GUI size adjustable; Advanced OpenGL for better performance.
Changes
Blocks
- Beds – Can be used during thunderstorms even in daytime.
- Leaves – Birch and spruce leaves now drop respective saplings.
- Crying Obsidian – Removed from terrain.png.
- Grass Blocks – Fancy graphics now make sides match top color.
- Ladders – Crafting recipe fixed to produce 2 ladders.
- Saplings – Can now be used as furnace fuel.
- Redstone Wire – Off-state wire is no longer black; vertical connections fixed.
Items
- Dropped items move faster in water.
- Redstone dust can now be placed on snow.
Mobs
- Pigs – Burned pigs drop cooked porkchops; struck by lightning becomes a Zombie Pigman.
- Wolves – Spawn more frequently, even outside taiga/forest biomes.
General
- Controls – Tab switches input boxes; Shift + F2 screenshot bug fixed.
- Performance – Major improvements for slower computers.
Bug Fixes (14 major fixes)
- Ladder climbing only works when lower half is inside ladder block.
- Grass block sides now biome-colored on fancy graphics.
- Water movement speed restored to pre-update values.
- Wolves’ pathfinding improved for doors.
- Portal and ice lighting fixed with smooth lighting enabled.
- Stairs no longer let light pass through incorrectly.
- Wolves’ health synchronized properly in multiplayer.
- Redstone in off-state now displays correctly.
- Crops hit by water now drop seeds and wheat.
- Moving minecarts continue when closing the world.
- Mojang logo scaled correctly in maximized client.
- Chest placement exploit with water source removed.
- Sugar cane can only be placed on dirt blocks.