Minecraft 1.11 Brings Llamas & Magic Inventory Boxes

Everyone’s favourite block-based build-em-up contines to grow, like an unstoppable monster. A few months ago we saw polar bears introduced to Minecraft as well as underground fossils. Before that, the combat update brought skeleton riders and creepy block-mimicking creatures called Shulkers. Now Mojang has added the exploration update which adds llamas that can carry inventory and a very useful magic box.

The llamas live in mountain regions and can be equipped with your items and a piece of carpet to look snazzy. Not only will they follow you on their travels, they’ll also form a “caravan” if there’s more than one, and spit globs at any hostile mobs you meet, allowing you to transport items over large distances. The ‘Shulker box’ meanwhile is something that even I - as someone who hasn’t played Minecraft in years - think is pretty nifty. It’s a container that keeps all your items inside even when it is knocked down. No more busting up your chest and watching all the coal spill out, like coins out of a Sonic.

You’ll also find a new villager character called the cartographer, who will sell maps that lead to Ocean Monuments (the game’s already-existing underwater ruins that house treasure) but also to newly-introduced Woodland Mansions, a building deep in the woods that contains “Illigers” - hostile, winged mobs who spawn tiny flying versions of themselves and who are guarding their own treasures.

Here’s the full changelog, including bug fixes:

Added cursed enchantments

• Added the Observer block
• Added escape portals in The End
• Added the Shulker Shell and Shulker Box
• Added exploration maps
• Added the Woodland Mansion
• Added Illagers, and the Vex
• Added Llamas
• New command: /locate
• Removed Herobrine

Bugs fixed in 16w39a:

• [Bug MC-58677] - GUI has inconsistent capitalization
• [Bug MC-92139] - Too many tipped arrows in the “Combat” section of the creative inventory
• [Bug MC-106077] - Missing sound files (largeblast1.ogg / largeblast_far1.ogg) because of CamelCase in 1.11.json
• [Bug MC-107154] - Junk potion from fishing is uncraftable potion
• [Bug MC-107165] - Brewing icon displays the incorrect color in Creative inventory tab
• [Bug MC-107166] - Experience bottles produce pink particles.
• [Bug MC-107170] - writeString method of PacketBuffer is not creating correct exception text
• [Bug MC-107284] - disabling shields with axes doesn’t work
• [Bug MC-107320] - Sort order of command autocomplete confusing

So there you have it. Llamas, baddies, maps, boxes. What will they think of next? My bet is on super-rich Minotaurs, guarding emeralds and buckets of delicious fried chicken at the centre of rare, procedurally generated mazes. What do you reckon?