With 1.19 we received a new swamp biome, but the original biome stayed about the same which is a shame because I think swamps are super cool.
There's several small fixes I believe could make the biome way more immersive and fun to base in, as a swamp enthusiast myself.
Mud
Mud shouldn't be exclusive to mangrove swamps. Mud is basically everywhere in the real world, especially in swamps. Nothing more than a couple patches of mud spread throughout swamps would make a big difference I feel.
Cattails
As a modded player, basically every biome-modifying mod has cattails, so large modpacks are cluttered with them. Aside from just aesthetics, cattails would be able to be crafted into string. Cattail fluff has been historically cultivated for things like clothing and insulation, so I think in-game they'd make another good method of getting wool when you just can't find any sheep. Cattails could also spawn in rivers which would just make them a little more exciting.
Trees
The regular oak trees in swamps can be somewhat boring. Changing the shape of oak trees in swamps to more closely resemble the shape of real life cypress trees would give swamps a more unique identity when it comes to trees, which every biome pretty much has a unique version of.
Skies
Additionally, swamps could take a few notes from the upcoming Pale Gardens. Some moss hanging off of leaves would be nice, but I believe what would be better for the immersion of swamps is giving them a unique sky color like the pale gardens. Just changing the skies to have a slightly greener hue would make swamps feel murky and overgrown. This could also be well implemented in jungles, making the greenery-dense biomes a little greener.
For some examples, I linked images from the Java mods Swampier Swamps and Regions Unexplored, respectively.
Mud being exclusive to mangrove swamps, and not having any real way to amass it quickly, is a struggle. Being available in swamps would be welcome, but I wonder if they might be cautious to do this specifically because it makes mangrove swamps a bit unique and worth visiting (I think these also need adjustments). Basically, I'd rather see mangrove swamps lose that unique aspect, have the trees less dense, and have the swamps become closer together so that they feel like two different variations of the same thing. Mangrove swamps can remain the "warmer" variation with different trees.
Cattails are an interesting idea. It's even more interesting because where I live, marshes and that type of foliage are super common (along with ducks and geese, haha), yet it never crossed my mind that this is a glaring omission in Minecraft. Back in 1.6 and 1.7, I used a mod that added some visual features, and cattails were one of them. I really like them. Even if it was just a visual type of grass in swamps that didn't have any real unique feature, I'd be happy (but then people complain it's useless).
The traditional swamps definitely needs trees beyond it's current "oak trees plus one foliage" method. They're not even reproducible, and it makes it feel like a glaring placeholder that just still exists for whatever reason.
Swamps (and most biomes) already do have a unique sky color. It's subtle, and I'd argue it should be, but it is there.
Mud being exclusive to mangrove swamps, and not having any real way to amass it quickly, is a struggle.
Can't dispensers using water bottles work? Just have a bunch of chests of water bottles feeding into it via hopper and mine and place stacks of dirt with a fast shovel.
With 1.19 we received a new swamp biome, but the original biome stayed about the same which is a shame because I think swamps are super cool.
There's several small fixes I believe could make the biome way more immersive and fun to base in, as a swamp enthusiast myself.
Mud
Mud shouldn't be exclusive to mangrove swamps. Mud is basically everywhere in the real world, especially in swamps. Nothing more than a couple patches of mud spread throughout swamps would make a big difference I feel.
Cattails
As a modded player, basically every biome-modifying mod has cattails, so large modpacks are cluttered with them. Aside from just aesthetics, cattails would be able to be crafted into string. Cattail fluff has been historically cultivated for things like clothing and insulation, so I think in-game they'd make another good method of getting wool when you just can't find any sheep. Cattails could also spawn in rivers which would just make them a little more exciting.
Trees
The regular oak trees in swamps can be somewhat boring. Changing the shape of oak trees in swamps to more closely resemble the shape of real life cypress trees would give swamps a more unique identity when it comes to trees, which every biome pretty much has a unique version of.
Skies
Additionally, swamps could take a few notes from the upcoming Pale Gardens. Some moss hanging off of leaves would be nice, but I believe what would be better for the immersion of swamps is giving them a unique sky color like the pale gardens. Just changing the skies to have a slightly greener hue would make swamps feel murky and overgrown. This could also be well implemented in jungles, making the greenery-dense biomes a little greener.
For some examples, I linked images from the Java mods Swampier Swamps and Regions Unexplored, respectively.
I've got no issues with fancy tree shapes or new plants so long as it isn't a mess to navigate or laggy to load in. Mangrove swamps are quite a dense biome and normal swamps should be lighter by contrast. I would love to see more ground variety in them though (podzol alongside mud? Mycelium even?) as the solid ground in swamps is still supposed to be squishy and inconsistent/unreliable.
Can't dispensers using water bottles work? Just have a bunch of chests of water bottles feeding into it via hopper and mine and place stacks of dirt with a fast shovel.
Yes, there are ways to create mud blocks manually, and thus ways to automate it at scale, but that's not how I prefer to play. I don't have a problem with such methods being possible, but it'd be nice to also have better natural availability. You know, for those of us who are odd and like using large quantities of mud stone bricks...
With 1.19 we received a new swamp biome, but the original biome stayed about the same which is a shame because I think swamps are super cool.
There's several small fixes I believe could make the biome way more immersive and fun to base in, as a swamp enthusiast myself.
Mud
Mud shouldn't be exclusive to mangrove swamps. Mud is basically everywhere in the real world, especially in swamps. Nothing more than a couple patches of mud spread throughout swamps would make a big difference I feel.
Cattails
As a modded player, basically every biome-modifying mod has cattails, so large modpacks are cluttered with them. Aside from just aesthetics, cattails would be able to be crafted into string. Cattail fluff has been historically cultivated for things like clothing and insulation, so I think in-game they'd make another good method of getting wool when you just can't find any sheep. Cattails could also spawn in rivers which would just make them a little more exciting.
Trees
The regular oak trees in swamps can be somewhat boring. Changing the shape of oak trees in swamps to more closely resemble the shape of real life cypress trees would give swamps a more unique identity when it comes to trees, which every biome pretty much has a unique version of.
Skies
Additionally, swamps could take a few notes from the upcoming Pale Gardens. Some moss hanging off of leaves would be nice, but I believe what would be better for the immersion of swamps is giving them a unique sky color like the pale gardens. Just changing the skies to have a slightly greener hue would make swamps feel murky and overgrown. This could also be well implemented in jungles, making the greenery-dense biomes a little greener.
For some examples, I linked images from the Java mods Swampier Swamps and Regions Unexplored, respectively.
Mud being exclusive to mangrove swamps, and not having any real way to amass it quickly, is a struggle. Being available in swamps would be welcome, but I wonder if they might be cautious to do this specifically because it makes mangrove swamps a bit unique and worth visiting (I think these also need adjustments). Basically, I'd rather see mangrove swamps lose that unique aspect, have the trees less dense, and have the swamps become closer together so that they feel like two different variations of the same thing. Mangrove swamps can remain the "warmer" variation with different trees.
Cattails are an interesting idea. It's even more interesting because where I live, marshes and that type of foliage are super common (along with ducks and geese, haha), yet it never crossed my mind that this is a glaring omission in Minecraft. Back in 1.6 and 1.7, I used a mod that added some visual features, and cattails were one of them. I really like them. Even if it was just a visual type of grass in swamps that didn't have any real unique feature, I'd be happy (but then people complain it's useless).
The traditional swamps definitely needs trees beyond it's current "oak trees plus one foliage" method. They're not even reproducible, and it makes it feel like a glaring placeholder that just still exists for whatever reason.
Swamps (and most biomes) already do have a unique sky color. It's subtle, and I'd argue it should be, but it is there.
Can't dispensers using water bottles work? Just have a bunch of chests of water bottles feeding into it via hopper and mine and place stacks of dirt with a fast shovel.
Pale gardens are intended to be startling by comparison, then.
I've got no issues with fancy tree shapes or new plants so long as it isn't a mess to navigate or laggy to load in. Mangrove swamps are quite a dense biome and normal swamps should be lighter by contrast. I would love to see more ground variety in them though (podzol alongside mud? Mycelium even?) as the solid ground in swamps is still supposed to be squishy and inconsistent/unreliable.
Yes, there are ways to create mud blocks manually, and thus ways to automate it at scale, but that's not how I prefer to play. I don't have a problem with such methods being possible, but it'd be nice to also have better natural availability. You know, for those of us who are odd and like using large quantities of mud stone bricks...