Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.0.50 is the first official full beta for the ‘Caves and Cliffs Update’
The Nether Update is gone, long live the Caves and Cliffs Update.
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What you need to know
Today is a big day forMinecraftplayers enrolled in theMinecraft: Bedrock Edition betas. With the latestMinecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.0.50, theNether Updatebranch is officially no more. Instead, the 1.16 branch makes way for the massive upcomingCaves and Cliffs Updateand the 1.17 branch. Moving forward, Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Betas should include far more features for players to test as development peaks on the first phase of the Caves and Cliffs Update.
The Caves and Cliffs Update is going to be one of the most ambitious releases for Minecraft yet. Unfortunately, Mojang Studios just announced that theCaves and Cliffs Update is being split into two parts and partially delayed. The first half, which is being openly tested in the latest Minecraft Beta, should arrive sometime this summer. Therelease date of the Caves and Cliffs Update’s second part isn’t set in stone yet, but should arrive hopefully by the end of 2021.
The 1.17.0.50 Beta brings a ton of Caves and Cliffs Update features out of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition’s “Experimental Features” toggle alongside lots of tweaks and changes. There’s also a collection of new features that can only be found by enabling “Experimental Features” like amethyst geodes and more. If you’re excited for the Caves and Cliffs Update for Minecraft, be sure to check out our list of best Minecraft merch, toys, and gifts.
In case you missed it, I recently discussedwhy Mojang Studios sometimes feels like an underfunded indie studiodespite the undeniable success of Minecraft.
The full changelog for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.0.50 includes:
New features
Powder snow
Glow lichen
Tweaks & improvements
Caves
Cobwebs no longer generate suspended in the air in mineshafts
Lush Caves
Copper
Copper block
Deepslate
Dripstone
Pointed dripstone
Axolotl
Glow item frame
Lightning rod
Bone meal
Player
Experimental Features
Amethysts & geodes
Spyglass
Smeltable ore drops
Raw ore blocks
Tuff
Bug fixes
Vanilla parity
Technical updates
Actors
General
Scoreboards
Stability & performance
Available everywhere you play.
Minecraft is an inarguable and complete success. It has sold copies in the hundreds of millions, has a huge following of dedicated players, and lets you unlock your every creative desire. It’s also available on every platform imaginable, including Xbox One, Windows 10, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Play with anyone, and play anywhere.
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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.
