So I threw this idea around a bit on the official Minecraft Discord, but I figured for my first real thread on this forum I'd share it here too. I've heard complaints from some people that often the Wandering Trader has rather lackluster trades (and indeed, I've experienced a bit of this first hand) and I started coming up with ways to possibly make wandering traders more interesting. Inspiration suddenly struck me, and I had an idea! What if you could assign Villagers the wandering trader profession, give them items, and then have them visit other players' worlds? I know this might sound outlandish, but don't worry, I'll walk through it with you guys.
Part the First: Creating a Trader and giving him Items
This one's pretty simple: You'd create a WT as you would with any other villager profession. The item would probably be something unique, such as a sack or perhaps just a llama attached to a fence with lead, in general something that would fit the theme, and you'd get yourself a Wandering Trader! Now, this Trader would be special in that you don't actually trade with him. Instead, you'd be given a unique inventory screen where you can give the Villager items you currently have on you, up to five in total, and then set a price based on what you think is appropriate (there might be some way to curate it so you don't charge absurd amounts for lame stuff). When you're ready, you'll click a "Send Off" button, and the WT will take his Llamas and then leave your village. Where is he going, you may ask?
Part the Second: Trading Long-Distance with other Players
Well, he's going to trade with other players! The WT will appear to other players and offer the trades you gave them for sale. This goes both ways too, the Wandering Traders you'd encounter would have offers that others players put up also! When he returns to your village, either after completely exhausting his stock or after visiting a few players' worlds, and you'll get back all the things he didn't sell, as well as all the Emeralds players gave him from successful trades!! Then you can give him more items to trade and send him off again. So essentially, you're bartering and trading with other players all over Minecraft!
Now, a few things to note about this mechanic: First, who the Wandering Trader could appear to. There are a few options (which would be toggleable) as to who your WT can appear to and whose WTs you can encounter yourself. Here would be a few of the options:
Everyone: Allow everyone to encounter your WT/Encounter anyone's WT.
Realms: Restrict the WTs you send and receive to those who share Realms with you.
Xbox Live Friends (Bedrock Only): You will only send and receive WTs from your Xbox Live Friends.
Switch Friends (Nintendo Switch Only): Same as above, but for your friends on Nintendo Switch.
Next concern, what happens if someone kills your Wandering Trader? Well, you would have to get a new Wandering Trader, but your stuff is not lost. Instead of standing around aimlessly, one of the Llamas will disappear from the culprit's world upon his owner's death. The Llama will return to your village, carrying all the stuff you gave the WT that didn't get traded as well as the Emeralds he did collect. If the kill was deliberate, the killing player will suffer an infraction in the form of an Emerald Penalty, meaning for a time any emeralds he would receive is reduced, and prices he has to pay for other trades will be increased (though this doesn't direct the trader's income).
Lastly, you probably wonder what would happen if you have no friends or no wifi to do any of this. Well, in that case you would encounter regular Wandering Traders, as they are currently in Vanilla. You can still have a WT villager in your village and he will hold stuff to trade, but you won't be able to send him off until you properly connect to the internet.
So that, in short, is my idea to improve Wandering Traders. I personally think it would be a really cool mechanic that encourages giving away stuff you don't need anymore to other players who need them, but if you guys have any suggestions on how this could be tweaked let me know.
Trading with other people would make singleplayer, well, not singleplayer. Not to mention that it would be so OP (i.e. you would be able to buy diamonds/the dragon egg/anything only available in Creative at the very start of the game).
Trading with other people would make singleplayer, well, not singleplayer. Not to mention that it would be so OP (i.e. you would be able to buy diamonds/the dragon egg/anything only available in Creative at the very start of the game).
No Suppoet
You'd still need to pay for the stuff and it would probably be priced in such a way that you can't just get it immediately at the start of the game. You probably also wouldn't be able to use it in creative mode.
You'd still need to pay for the stuff and it would probably be priced in such a way that you can't just get it immediately at the start of the game. You probably also wouldn't be able to use it in creative mode.
There is no such thing as "priced in such a way that you can't just get it immediately at the start of the game". It's possible to get arbitrarily many emeralds without ever crafting tools. With this, the entire progression system is optional.
So I threw this idea around a bit on the official Minecraft Discord, but I figured for my first real thread on this forum I'd share it here too. I've heard complaints from some people that often the Wandering Trader has rather lackluster trades (and indeed, I've experienced a bit of this first hand) and I started coming up with ways to possibly make wandering traders more interesting. Inspiration suddenly struck me, and I had an idea! What if you could assign Villagers the wandering trader profession, give them items, and then have them visit other players' worlds? I know this might sound outlandish, but don't worry, I'll walk through it with you guys.
Part the First: Creating a Trader and giving him Items
This one's pretty simple: You'd create a WT as you would with any other villager profession. The item would probably be something unique, such as a sack or perhaps just a llama attached to a fence with lead, in general something that would fit the theme, and you'd get yourself a Wandering Trader! Now, this Trader would be special in that you don't actually trade with him. Instead, you'd be given a unique inventory screen where you can give the Villager items you currently have on you, up to five in total, and then set a price based on what you think is appropriate (there might be some way to curate it so you don't charge absurd amounts for lame stuff). When you're ready, you'll click a "Send Off" button, and the WT will take his Llamas and then leave your village. Where is he going, you may ask?
Part the Second: Trading Long-Distance with other Players
Well, he's going to trade with other players! The WT will appear to other players and offer the trades you gave them for sale. This goes both ways too, the Wandering Traders you'd encounter would have offers that others players put up also! When he returns to your village, either after completely exhausting his stock or after visiting a few players' worlds, and you'll get back all the things he didn't sell, as well as all the Emeralds players gave him from successful trades!! Then you can give him more items to trade and send him off again. So essentially, you're bartering and trading with other players all over Minecraft!
Now, a few things to note about this mechanic: First, who the Wandering Trader could appear to. There are a few options (which would be toggleable) as to who your WT can appear to and whose WTs you can encounter yourself. Here would be a few of the options:
Next concern, what happens if someone kills your Wandering Trader? Well, you would have to get a new Wandering Trader, but your stuff is not lost. Instead of standing around aimlessly, one of the Llamas will disappear from the culprit's world upon his owner's death. The Llama will return to your village, carrying all the stuff you gave the WT that didn't get traded as well as the Emeralds he did collect. If the kill was deliberate, the killing player will suffer an infraction in the form of an Emerald Penalty, meaning for a time any emeralds he would receive is reduced, and prices he has to pay for other trades will be increased (though this doesn't direct the trader's income).
Lastly, you probably wonder what would happen if you have no friends or no wifi to do any of this. Well, in that case you would encounter regular Wandering Traders, as they are currently in Vanilla. You can still have a WT villager in your village and he will hold stuff to trade, but you won't be able to send him off until you properly connect to the internet.
So that, in short, is my idea to improve Wandering Traders. I personally think it would be a really cool mechanic that encourages giving away stuff you don't need anymore to other players who need them, but if you guys have any suggestions on how this could be tweaked let me know.
*laughs in Phantom*
Defender of the 1.14 Textures/Bedrock Edition
Trading with other people would make singleplayer, well, not singleplayer. Not to mention that it would be so OP (i.e. you would be able to buy diamonds/the dragon egg/anything only available in Creative at the very start of the game).
No Suppoet
My suggestions: Enhancements - Throwable Fire Charges - On Phantoms and Elytra. Also check out The Minecraftian Language. This signature is not here to waste your space.
You'd still need to pay for the stuff and it would probably be priced in such a way that you can't just get it immediately at the start of the game. You probably also wouldn't be able to use it in creative mode.
*laughs in Phantom*
Defender of the 1.14 Textures/Bedrock Edition
There is no such thing as "priced in such a way that you can't just get it immediately at the start of the game". It's possible to get arbitrarily many emeralds without ever crafting tools. With this, the entire progression system is optional.
My suggestions: Enhancements - Throwable Fire Charges - On Phantoms and Elytra. Also check out The Minecraftian Language. This signature is not here to waste your space.