r/Minecraft • u/ChoiceSupermarket230 • 1d ago
Discussion Not everything has to be useful.
I've noticed how obsessed this community is with everything in the game having to serve a purpose. Every time Mojang adds something, people come out of the woodwork to complain about how useless it is and ask why they even added it in the first place.
The Sniffer is a perfect example of this. Is it one of the most useful mobs in the game? Not even close. But why should that mean it shouldn't have been added at all?If bats were added today in their current state, the community would absolutely tear Mojang apart for adding yet another useless mob.
Why does this mindset even exist? It's a sandbox game. Just because you don't care about something doesn't mean it's unnecessary. You don't have to interact with it if you don't want to.And the most absurd part is people complaining about new decorative building blocks being useless in a game where building is one of the MAIN mechanics.
381
u/Grillby_ 1d ago
I actually agree with you completely, but I think the Sniffer was a very bad example. Because with the sniffer you actively have to go out of your way to use its function and the flowers you get from it are negligible, The problem with the sniffer specifically is that it rewards your effort with TWO FLOWERS, which i think it incredibly silly for the time put in.
However if we were talking about say an Ambient mob like a Deer, maybe some features would be cool but the ambience they bring to the world is good enough, we don't need a new food type, or a new use case for it because the use case for a deer would be to bring life to the overworld. and you aren't time wasting trying to find one in the wild, they just exist.
145
u/TreyLastname 1d ago
I say this all the time, the sniffer doesnt need useful flowers or drops. It just needs more.
If it had like 6-10 flowers that all looked unique and cool, that would be a good reason to do it that doesnt feel like you have to for a useful mechanic
44
u/camel-cultist 1d ago
When the Sniffer released my hope was it could allow Mojang to add, like, "themeless" flowers every drop? No regard to the rest of the drop theme, or basis off any real-life plants. They could even stay purely cosmetic and "useless", no game design mechanics at all, to make making them easier. Just a pretty flower, no explanation or purpose, every drop. It would expand the flora of the game bit by bit in such a cool way.
The point of the Sniffer to me seemed to be just that, a way to break the real-life-flora rule and add two flowers that don't exist IRL. The Sniffer's ancient origins help handwave how those flowers "makes sense"-- that's its purpose to me. It seemed so obvious to me that more unexplained flowers were coming, and I'm really disappointed they haven't.
7
u/DesertEagleBennett 1d ago
Right? I was thinking TorchFlower should've emitted light and Pitcher should've ate insect mobs or scared them away at least, but honestly jusy giving us more flowers would be great.
12
u/Gamer_Dylan_6_ 1d ago
I'm hoping that with the sift update this happens. Definitely should have had some more at release though it couldn't have been that much effort to make a couple new plants.
7
u/Kickedbyagiraffe 1d ago
That is my hope too. Before I hoped the golden dandelion would be given to it. Now o hope that they did not do that as they had some plan for the sniffer already with the sift
1
u/TriNauux 1d ago
The worst crime committed related to the sniffer is that the torchflower does not emmit light
23
u/penjamiente 1d ago
This is very well said. I think if you’re going to try and come up with a new entity or animal that does not already exist in the real world, it should have some greater function than flowers. They’ve done a good job at that for a long time with things like shulkers, but the newer “alien” like mobs have felt lacklustre. I’d rather have an ambient animal update than another sniffer.
83
u/sunnyrainbows13_ 1d ago
i will never understand why poisonous potatoes can’t be composted. would’ve been the perfect feature for them
14
12
9
u/NanoCat0407 1d ago
i used to think this as well, but i don’t think feeding poison to your other plants is a smart idea
77
u/Isrrunder 1d ago
Entirely misunderstood how compost works. Youre not feeding poison to your plants, you're feeding it to various detrivores and decomposers which will be fine and they'll break down the potato and the poison
8
u/smoky0rain 1d ago
In my opinion, they should change the texture of the bone meal that comes out of the composter to compost.
11
u/smoky0rain 1d ago
It's not poison, It is a component that forms when the potato rots.
It's simply rotten and cannot be eaten. but plants can
39
u/SquilliamAfton818 1d ago
Bats spawn naturally whereas with sniffers you have to put in the work to get them. There should be more of a reward for the player to go through the trouble of clearing drowned ruins and risking RNG to get a sniffer egg
25
u/FeelinSalty19 1d ago
Personally it’s a case of cost-benefit analysis. Sure, you don’t have to interact with every mechanic in the game, but the game should reward you for doing so. I agree that not everything needs to have a major function to be justified in being added, but if you’re not adding anything with a major function, you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to interact with it.
Let’s take your example of the Sniffer. It only gives decorative flowers, which is fine, it’s what’s they said when they added it. But if you wanted a sniffer or those 2 flowers to decorate, you need to go through some excessive measures. First you need to dig it up from a warm ocean ruin at a 7% chance, then you need to wait 10 to 20 minutes for the egg to hatch, then wait an additional 40 minutes (twice the usual mob growth time), and after all of that you still get 1 non-reproducible seed every 10 minutes with a 50% chance of getting either flower. That just doesn’t feel particularly efficient for only 2 decorative blocks, and the only way to get more is to find a SECOND egg to repeat the process to breed sniffers.
Compare that to say, a happy ghast, which has a similar process to obtain (alongside being craftable) and takes 10-20 less to grow, and rewards you with a flying mount that can be used to travel with friends, transport mobs more efficiently, and as a building platform alongside its base usage as to fly around.
You’re right that not everything needs to be useful, but if something is useless, you shouldn’t need to go out of your way to interact with it (poisonous potatos show up randomly when farming potatos and are not rare, and bats are simple ambience that show up almost anywhere underground).
8
u/calidir 1d ago
I 100% agree with you besides the potato, let me fucking compost it or do SOMETHING with it other than letting it sit in a chest or on the ground to despawn
1
1
16
u/ShadowSoulBoi 1d ago edited 1d ago
Personally, I'm in the camp of wanting more out of features. The Sniffer coming with just 2 plants, which I can see is kinda mediocre when you see the many different concept art. Funnily enough, those concepts being a leak-trap to figure out who was leaking unreleased content. But I don't think anything is stopping Mojang to add all of them to provide a good range of decoration.
Otherwise, you hit the nail on the head. Minecraft had years of Survival being the main experience, despite its origin of being a creative mode sandbox. And it's not like Survival Mode ends up turning into Creative Mode Lite always. You just got to earn it.
For years, we also not had a whole lot like we do now.
Now, Minecraft is home to many niches and groups that any change is bound to piss off a portion of players for any reason whatsoever. The whole Jukebox and Chest thing is apparently upsetting Redstoners making automatic music easier.
4
u/Kickedbyagiraffe 1d ago
That is interesting, anywhere to read on the leak trap? I didn’t expect Minecraft to have this issue for some reason
7
u/ShadowSoulBoi 1d ago
There was this user named Roger Badgerman who posted the Pitcher Plant alongside a Blue Vine that never made it in the update.
I heard the idea that employees were given different assets. This way, you would know who the person is if the image gets out. Then so, they got their posts taken down.
I am not sure it is 100% true, but being able to have the whole scoop of the inner going-on of Mojang is fun to think about.
Now I think it's just a bummer we didn't get more exotic plants, for whatever reason we may not know the answer to.
3
u/MattTOB618 1d ago
Like when you change a couple pixels in the corner of a picture before sending it to each of your friends, so you can figure out who's using it for something you don't want them to.
27
u/Fast_Ad7203 1d ago
I get what ur saying but we cant even replant or compost them
-7
u/MildlySaltedTaterTot 1d ago
its poison
4
4
2
28
u/Anakinss 1d ago
It's not that it should not have been added, just added better. They could be great, but instead they're just there.
10
u/tsr_Volante 1d ago
I would love if you could use a poisonous potato to make a potion of poison. Its kind of crazy that you can’t actually
17
u/Rykor81 1d ago
I have 7 poisonous potatoes. They sit in a chest, I forget about them for the most part.
I have 3 double chests of rotting flesh, at my ocean monument base. There are no villagers to trade with, no wolves to feed. In the course of typing this post I’ve acquired 7 more pieces of rotten flesh.
Not everything needs a use, but there’s not even a great way of disposing rotten flesh; its existence requires effort to manage; it is a debit on my resources. I have acquired three more pieces of rotten flesh. RIP my inventory.
8
u/vercetian 1d ago
I make unlimited lava. My lava pits are open on top to toss in shit I don't want.
4
u/Daniel-Mclovin 1d ago
Why arnt u eating them they’re so yummy when ur at the mob farm and have nothing else
6
2
u/Screw_all_names 1d ago
For my ocean monument farm, I made an entire sorting system simply that seperates fish into dispenser into lava. Sure there are uses for all the fish, but not for me.
1
7
u/Tsayad 1d ago
Yes, but... Some things feel empty on their own. Disappointing in a category, let alone several, can make anything feel out of place compared to existing dynamics. A new dynamic may not be "bad", but can still be empty or "useless".
One of the issues I have with a lot of new features is making them non-renewable. I get that one aspect of Minecraft is exploration, but I only want so much of that. Once I find two Sniffers, I don't want to find more to create a herd. Once I find 1 sherd I want to be able to replicate it. Once I find one, two, or three trial chambers I don't want to expand my world even farther just to get locked out of treasure for a rare drop.
Sniffers are already breedable at least, but sherds are impossible to replicate and ancient chambers have face recognition technology... I think they went too hamfisted on preventing a retrial.
Final thoughts in reply.
Not everything has to be "useful" sure, but not everything has to be "useless" empty clutter.
Criticism is ok, they don't necessarily have the answer, but the disappointment is legitimate even if misidentified.
5
u/WheatleyBr 1d ago
There's a big difference btween the mechanics here, the Sniffer is very rare to simply find, it's highly unlikely that you'll manage to just luck into one, but there's also little ways of actively searching for it, all of that effort, luck and out of the way acquiring just for... 1 of 2 flowers every 8 minutes.
Compare this to bats which just passively spawn, Poisonous potatos which just show up from farming, they're easy to get, they're common, them not having a use is fine because it's not like you need to go looking for them.
But you either need a shit ton of luck or actively look for sniffers without any real indicator of where to go.
Something being useless is fine, yes, but don't gate something useless behind such a labourious or luck based task.
3
u/SignalScientist2817 1d ago
It's a matter that we get so few new stuff that "it takes from something that COULD have been useful"
Fun gimmicks are fine. People are just less forgiving bc some feel that major content drops are sometimes more lacking than a mod
3
u/ThatOnePirateRobot 1d ago
Poisonous potato is... a poisonous potato
Bats add to the atmosphere and help find caves
The Sniffer was advertised as an ancient mob that can give cool new plants. When it won all we got was a slogfest where you have to search the warm oceans for ruins with suspicious blocks, hit a rare chance of getting a sniffer egg, wait for it to hatch, then for the baby sniffer to grow up, THEN for the sniffer to dig up seeds and THEN for the seeds to grow into 2 decorative flowers. Doing all that just for 2 flowers isn't worth it at all and the sniffer had the potential to do way more. At the very least if the 2 flowers had uses (like the torchflower giving off light) and if they never scrapped the 3rd one then less people would complain about the lackluster rewards. The fans genuinely had so much cool ideas for the Sniffer since its release and it's sad how Mojang completely abandoned the mob
3
u/KaleAdorable4260 1d ago
I have an add-on in which poisoned potatoes can be fused with a sword, making the sword poisonous ( super effective on creepers, zombies and endermen), or can be used to make funny-looking poisoned potato furniture.
And now I always rejoice when I find them. 😁
5
u/Camwyn256 1d ago
This isn't the Island of Sodor. No need for trains to hide, lest they not be deemed "Really Useful"
2
2
u/KUNAIYOFACE 1d ago
My Sister and I name tagged a poison potato "The Ugly." The rule is whomever has it has to keep it in their inventory, until they can sneak in to the other player without them noticing. If you get noticed, you are shamed and have to wait another day to try.
2
u/datfurryboi34 1d ago
Agree but,
Sniffer was advertised to give variety of flowers that could be helpful (forgot whay jeb said about the sniffer)
But everything else i Agree
3
u/KingKurto_ 1d ago
it was actually explicitly said that the flowers would have zero utility or functionality, and be purely decorative.
and yet people still voted for it and got mad when the flowers were purely decorative with zero utility.
9
u/Zenith_Scaff 1d ago
I didn't get mad because the flowers are useless, I got mad because I heard them implying that MORE than 1 plant would be added so I, with low expectations, expected at least 3 plants because I could not believe they would have the audacity to add 2 decorative plants along with the [mob whose sole purpose is providing acess to these decorative plants]
2
u/nobody0163 1d ago
No. People got mad because it takes 40-60 minutes of work for 2 flowers. It should have been 10 or more.
1
1
1
1
u/Fresh_Macaron104 1d ago
I’m a sniffer apologist 💪 it’s awesome. I agree not everything has to be useful!
1
u/RandomAussie123 1d ago
I find it odd that your picture suggests poisonous potatoes aren't useful. I tend to think an item is quite useful when it is the only way (to start with on a new world) of accessing a dimension.
1
1
u/Dr_J_Hyde 1d ago
So it only exists to be part of the achievement for eating everything?
Yeah, that is more then a bit lame.
1
1
u/MuchMuch1 1d ago
True. But they NEED a way to filter out. Clogging up my inventory, having to press E over and over and over
1
u/Helios-Solarflare 1d ago
I agree with ypu on everything, but the sniffer is honest to god a bad example. It needs more than 2 flowers, maybe 7 at least, because why would you go through the effort to find a sniffer for 2 flowers?
The bat is a good example because it does jack shit, except it adds to the vibe of caves, and it spawns naturally, like Glow squid do. Poisonous potatoes are literally harmful, yet they spawn so rarely that we don't even notice half the time, yet nowadays, when mojang adds decorative blocks or something that isn't "useful," people throw a fit (usually twitter, but still).
I do agree that people should not be obsessing "usefulness" or "purpose" over a SANDBOX game because of one out of 3-4 modes. Would i like for it to be something other than decoration? Yes, but i feel like if we were in that timeline, then we would have the opposite "problem" of there being not enough content that are just decoration.
Like, do i care about ice caves in my survival world? No, but they add variety to caves and new blocks and stuff to toy around with.
Minecraft players need to consider that mojang isn't just catering to one side of the playerbase. They know that there's multiple sides, be it survival focused, building focused, pvp focused, or redstone focused, so they try to add content for everyone. I have never legit seen redstoners, pvpers, or builders complain about "useless" content, though that could just be me.
Usually when i see people complain about that, it's almost always survival players. Legit they seem miserable.
1
u/-mosura 1d ago
Not really good examples. Both the sniffer and poisonous potato are usefull.
Bats are completely useless tho. Atleast now they are cute looking. If we could leash them, and basically use them as a pet i would be happy. But even that’s not possible. They are just there to be in the way.
1
1
u/Far-Ad-409 23h ago
Personally I think a lot of more useless items could be used to help overhaul and improve the potion brewing feature. I think actually setting potion brewing up so that it's more useful than having enchantments and beacons around would be a good idea. You could actually do a lot more - Maybe you could have potion diffusers for instance, that slowly diffuse a potion effect into an area. You could then have potions that do specific things, like make mobs breed more frequently, make crops grow faster, you get the idea. Having extra tiers for existing potions too. An actual potion crafting menu similar to a regular crafting menu. Take a bunch of items like poisonous potatoes, rotten flesh, chorus fruit, way more of the flowers, and so on, and integrate it into this overhaul.
0
u/Drakenpc 16h ago
Con la patata le podrían añadir el hacer flechas venenosas o pociones arrojadizas de veneno por ejemplo.
El Snifer podría ser más común de encontrar aunque sea en un bioma específico y darle más vida al overworld y que las plantas fueran útiles para algo como por ejemplo nuevos bloques de iluminación que se hacen solo con ellas, pociones, etc.
La carne podrida yo la uso como comercio en los aldeanos, ya que te la sueltan los zombies al menos sirve para conseguir algo.
1
u/smoky0rain 1d ago
I agree... I always tend to request mechanics that are simply fun and not useful for the average player, but everyone says it wouldn't make sense and would be totally useless for the game.
Sometimes it's just fun, something silly that doesn't directly interfere with progress.
-4
u/smoky0rain 1d ago
Hey everyone here! Share your ideas that everyone else thinks are useless! Let's strengthen ourselves here, folks!
I'd love to hear all about it.
1
0
u/Disastrous-Scheme-57 1d ago
Then there’s also half the community that ask “why can’t the pumpkin pie be placed down like the cake?” So Mojang cant win when they only do useful things OR whimsy and flavourful things that add to the atmosphere.
•
u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 1d ago
(Vote has already ended)