Recent Villager changes. [Spoilers]

[DesLien]

Has anyone else reached occupied villages with the recent patch? I just did and I want to make sure what I experienced is in fact the recent changes to villagers. After a few hours time tunneling through the nether I finally found a village close by, to which I was so excited I sprinted towards it. Due to using a new texture pack I'm not used to, however, I didn't notice until too late that the multiple villagers standing around were all zombiefied. 4 zombie villagers made it quick and painless. I am assuming the whole village was infected, from what I could tell. It felt dubious that FC would re-add in zombie villagers without a purpose and it makes sense to leave village hunting until you get soul urn tech. I HCS'd in a place I haven't before so I won't be able to check until I return to base. Anyone else have experience with this?

[Psion]

I have, indeed. I've seen 7 villages so far myself. 1 was abandoned, being too close to spawn. 1 had no crops for whatever reason, only being a blacksmith house (with dead weight) and two tiny huts. the last 5 all had wheat only. Of the 6 nonabandoned villages, every single one was infected. I suspect curing them is required now.

On a bright note, they do not despawn that i've seen, do not burn up in sunlight, and run as fast as baby zombies while having more hp than adult ones. So uh.... i guess instead of using a diamond to lure them to your home you can run away screaming while they try to murder you? :P

I am a bit suspicious of the lack of carrots and potatoes too. I highly suspect that FC removed them in world gen and we now have to trade for them through high level villager trades. I'm going to assume it's a level 5 peasant trade but who knows?

Or maybe I just have horrible luck.

[DesLien]

I think you may be on to something Psion since during my exploration I found tons of jungle, but no cocoa beans (or none that I noticed). The villager trade tweaks may now include all the different food items like carrots, cocoa, etc. Have to see what someone further in says.

I really like this update on the exploration side since usually I would hunt villages as soon as I got a compass. Now instead of trivializing food by finding wheat early I have to prioritize sustaining off of chickens and cows until urns. Food progression!

Now I wonder if abandoned villages will spawn normal peasants or zombies? That could change everything early game. So far I've had terrible building generation, but once I get back to base it'll be testing time.

[Psion]

Well, for cocoa beans at least, i can say they still spawn in jungles. mayhaps you're just too scared to wander in deep enough to find one? ;3

No one on my server's found carrots or potatos yet though so i'm pretty suspicious of that. pumpkins and brown shrooms still are generated too, i found pumpkins in the plains and shrooms in the caves, while another person found melons in a mineshaft. So that pretty much just leaves those two crops, both which happen to be villager related.

[FlowerChild]

Because they are so hard to find, will just drop a note here that carrots, potatoes, and even the elusive cocoa bean, have not changed in terms of where they spawn, and I have not added any trades to bypass finding them in the world.

I know that hunting something that rare can drive a person nuts if they aren't even sure they exist, so just wanted to save you guys a few sanity points and assure you that they're still out there :)

[MisterFister]

...just wanted to save you guys a few sanity points...

1) Thanks (no sarcasm)

2) Who are you for being so nice to our sanity and what have you done with our beloved spikey overlord?

[mc_isaac]

I can confirm that all villages I've found recently were also zombified. I also can confirm that these zombies don't seem to be slowed on sand... Which made getting away an experience in luck. (a hole opened up as i ran away which caused the zombie to fall...)

In my experience of finding about 6 villages, the first time the village spawns it has a plethora of zombified villagers, so many I didn't attempt to get close after my first encounter above... The next time i visited these places there were only 2-3 zombified villagers left, the rest were all gone...

All the above did happen on a multiplayer server. I was shocked to find these "super zombies" all vanished when I had to go back for wheat seeds or starvation would have gripped me.

Curious if this is intended.

Also FC thanks for these "super zombies" it freaking scared the crap out of me when I realized how fast he was as he came after me. I had to sprint and continually jump while on sand to stay ahead of him at all. I fully intended to do this until i went peckish and then die, but Lady Luck decided to save me instead.

[Psion]

those zombies haven't dissapeared. they've wandered off to nosh on any animals they saw. They behave just like normal zombies in that way, as i've seen to my amusement at the flying zombie circus. as far as movement, they are slowed down by water...if you can find any nearby <_<; of course you are too, but it does put you on somewhat more even footing for a fight if you're forced to stab or flee.

[jakerman999]

those zombies ... they are slowed down by water...if you can find any nearby <_<;

I tend to get in the habit of carrying a water bucket on my hotbar fairly early. Haven't met these new guys yet, but I'm terrified to find out if it will be enough to take one down.

[DesLien]

Well the saga of the terror village is over. From my HCS I got my compass and made my way back, prepared 16 soul urns for the villagers and set out. Thanks to some vines from a nearby jungle biome I entrapped most of the zombies in pitfalls (lost one to a cow, hoping it wasn't the priest). Found some potatoes for my troubles. Never had so much fun wrangling zombies before! Thanks FC for keeping the game exciting, this patch has been a blast.

[FlowerChild]

Thanks FC for keeping the game exciting, this patch has been a blast.

Big smiles man. Glad you enjoyed the adventure. You don't know how hard it was to bight my tongue for about a week before anyone noticed the changes I had made :)

[Fret]

Well the saga of the terror village is over. From my HCS I got my compass and made my way back, prepared 16 soul urns for the villagers and set out. Thanks to some vines from a nearby jungle biome I entrapped most of the zombies in pitfalls (lost one to a cow, hoping it wasn't the priest). Found some potatoes for my troubles. Never had so much fun wrangling zombies before! Thanks FC for keeping the game exciting, this patch has been a blast.

So did you have success with the soul urns? I spend 16 on one zombie villager, and .... nothing. I had to kill him to make sure I would live. Or does it take a long time for the change to take effect? In hindsight, maybe I was to impatient.

EDIT: Oke, nvm. I was indeed too impatient.

[DesLien]

EDIT: Oke, nvm. I was indeed too impatient.

Yep, they need some time to turn back. I didn't think about it either so I got chased around some before making pitfalls. Ive got a second group of zombies to check how many urns a villager needs and if they truly have aoe. (Plus if zombie villagers will kill regular villagers, I had multiples in a pit but they either reverted simultaneously or they ignore each other)

[ion]

saw the new villagers in action today and was really impressed about it. a village was in a plains biome and all the zombies ran after some cows. FUN resulted! i still don't know how you'll get your priest yet or if the villages are just for food for now. maybe you can transform normal zombies like in vanilla. testing is required in my necromancer tower.

[dawnraider]

It was in the patch notes that you can turn zombie villagers back into villagers using soul urns.

[MisterFister]

It was in the patch notes that you can turn zombie villagers back into villagers using soul urns.

If you didn't read the rest of the thread, then I suggest that you might not know da wae.

[dawnraider]

Probably should've quoted but I was responding to ion. I've read the whole thread though I guess I did miss the "normal" zombies in ion's post. So I don't know if that's saying non-villager zombies, which afaik in vanilla you could never do either.

[TheGatesofLogic]

Zombie villagers are now the most stressful part of the game. My heart races every time I try and cure one. It's amazing.

[FlowerChild]

Zombie villagers are now the most stressful part of the game. My heart races every time I try and cure one. It's amazing.

Woot! That makes me very happy :)

[FlowerChild]

Grabbed this from the suggestion thread to try and help avoid spoiling this for anyone with extended discussion over there:

Regarding the new villagers would you consider removing their taste for animal flesh? I had lost a villager to a cow it was chasing and while I will never know if that one was a priest, having lost a villager like that feels demoralizing, especially after hunting for a village for so long.

Well, the survivability (or lack thereof) of the zombies is kind of a key aspect of this change, so I'd be very reluctant to remove that. It's what makes early game exploration outside the HC Spawn radius a risk, as you may be losing villagers that wind up wandering off or getting killed before you are able to effectively deal with them.

Once you come within range of a village you are essentially on a ticking clock to get in there and deal with the problem before they wind up hurting themselves, and that is very much part of the intent with this feature.

[DesLien]

Ahh okay I get where you're coming from with villagers better now, FC.
The reason I suggested the idea was because villagers dying to a cow feels more detrimental to newer players than the experienced ones.
An experienced player who understands the new changes will bring provisions they know will work to trap the zombies until they can be cured. A newer player may not be aware of the best way to deal with them or that they have a pseudo time limit to capture the villagers, which may demoralize them when they realize their villagers have flocked out or been killed.
Essentially I'm coming from a point where sometimes building generation can kick a persons ass and have a lower chance to spawn villages, as well as when they are found also having the issue of losing the villagers.

I really like the idea that villages now need to properly be prepared for, but like with wither skulls if you're unlucky it just feels awful. Especially if you'd have lost a high tier villager.

[FlowerChild]

No doubt things got harder with this change. That was intentional.

[Gilberreke]

I already know of one player that is still going nomad, willingly decimating a few villages to get that wheat. People really love that wheat :D

[ion]

can someone know if the blacksmith and the butcher still have scroll as a tier 5 trade?

[Soaplegs]

I'm currently in the slow and terrifying process of curing a desert village. I feel like everything, even the sand, is trying to kill me. And those sounds... I'm amazingly terrified, thanks FC!
Slightly less related: Does anyone know if a village spawns with one villager per house? I found four houses but only three villagers, and fear the last one is hiding somewhere close waiting for a opportunity to strike.

EDIT: Found him! Last villager was waiting for me out in the middle of the desert. Managed to "free him from his curse", and he will now happily trade with me for the rest of his happy life