Minecraft lacks some things that can both be practical, non-overpowered and useful. I have come up with some ideas that fit these criteria.
Each of the things I suggest is in a spoiler so you don't have a wall of text.
Redstone to Copper
Redstone (from what I know) has similarities to Copper Oxide. So shouldn't we be able to get copper from it?
This isn't the most realistic but hey, we have 4 legged, green, no-armed, suicidal exploding creatures.
Anyway, copper can be generated underground. Copper ore appears in 2 varieties: Low-Grade and High-Grade. When smelted, Low-Grade produces copper nuggets. High Grade produces Copper Ingots.
Low-Grade can be found anywhere below layer 100. High-Grade can be found anywhere below layer 50.
Nuggets can also be obtained from smelting redstone dust. For those who don't use circuits, you now have a use for redstone!
Copper can't be used for tools. I don't think there is a need for something between iron and stone. However copper can be used for other things.
The nuggets can be combined with redstone dust to create enriched dust which can allow the current to travel twice as far. However, this will require a small change to the redstone mechanics. The charge can be as strong as 30. However each block the current travels reduces the charge by 2 unless it flows through enriched dust which has the charge decrease by one.
This isn't too overpowered since essentially you use twice the redstone (assuming you mined no copper. Also ignoring repeater cost and smelting cost) to travel the same distance. Essentially this only allows for faster circuits in large mechanisms.
Nuggets can also be crafted into coins to trade with villagers. This is so emeralds aren't the only currency. You can switch between trading with coins or emeralds, or a combination. One coin however is equivalent to a tenth of an emerald. Coins can be smelted back into a nugget.
Ingots can be used to create lightning rods. When lightning is about to strike somewhere in a chunk it is twice as likely to strike a lightning rod as opposed to something else. Plus, lightning will not create fire if it strikes a lightning rod. That means you can reduce the danger of lightning by placing a lightning rod every 16 blocks!
Copper can also be used to make pipes. Water flowing through a pipe will not spread, however it will not irrigate crops. This can be used to control exactly where water flows using less blocks and space.
I know some of these may not fit the theme of Minecraft to some people, but surely a metal rod isn't that complex and aqueducts have been used in ancient times, pipes probably weren't that far off.
Craftable clay
This idea is simple. Clay is very abundant in dirt in real life. I heard that clay is mixed in with dirt sometimes. You can apparently separate clay from dirt by placing dirt in a still body of water and allowing the clay to float to the top after a few days.
Of course in Minecraft you can create minecarts and rails by the dozen in less than a minute. So you should be able to craft clay in this manner quickly.
Basically in a crafting table place 3 blocks of dirt in a vertical line. Then place a bucket of water anywhere. You keep the water bucket and ONE block of dirt and you also get a single clay ball.
Essentially you are trading 8 blocks of dirt for a brick block.
Longer Note Block sounds
I think note blocks are limited when making songs because they can only play short, single notes. This is simple, if a note block is powered from underneath, it will play a note as long as it has that power. However when the note has been playing longer than 50 ticks (2.5 seconds) it will start to fade out.
Notes
These would be similar to signs and/or written books. They would be a shapeless recipe with a piece of paper, an ink sac, a stick and a feather.
Notes could be placed on either a wall or surface. Notes can hold 15 characters per line with 5 lines. However the font is smaller and the note appears as a vertical rectangle. Notes can be edited at any time by anyone. Note can also be destroyed instantly and offer no blast resistance as opposed to signs which offer 5.
Notes placed on walls act similar to signs, they constantly show their text.
However notes can also be placed on top of blocks. For aesthetic reasons they can also be placed on top of a pressure plate that is also on top of a fence. When this is done the pressure plate no longer is able to transmit power.
Notes placed on top of blocks do not show their text. They show up as a piece of paper flat on the surface. When right clicked you see the text it shows up as a GUI, stopping the game. You get 2 buttons too. Edit and exit. Edit is self-explanatory, exit allows you to play the game again.
Wall Clock
Wall clocks are basically clocks on a wall. They are not a block, they are an entity, just like paintings.
Think of them like animated paintings. These are good for either aesthetics or for an underground base so you don't go up just to find that it is night with skeletons camping by your door.
Each of the things I suggest is in a spoiler so you don't have a wall of text.
Redstone to Copper
Redstone (from what I know) has similarities to Copper Oxide. So shouldn't we be able to get copper from it?
This isn't the most realistic but hey, we have 4 legged, green, no-armed, suicidal exploding creatures.
Anyway, copper can be generated underground. Copper ore appears in 2 varieties: Low-Grade and High-Grade. When smelted, Low-Grade produces copper nuggets. High Grade produces Copper Ingots.
Low-Grade can be found anywhere below layer 100. High-Grade can be found anywhere below layer 50.
Nuggets can also be obtained from smelting redstone dust. For those who don't use circuits, you now have a use for redstone!
Copper can't be used for tools. I don't think there is a need for something between iron and stone. However copper can be used for other things.
The nuggets can be combined with redstone dust to create enriched dust which can allow the current to travel twice as far. However, this will require a small change to the redstone mechanics. The charge can be as strong as 30. However each block the current travels reduces the charge by 2 unless it flows through enriched dust which has the charge decrease by one.
This isn't too overpowered since essentially you use twice the redstone (assuming you mined no copper. Also ignoring repeater cost and smelting cost) to travel the same distance. Essentially this only allows for faster circuits in large mechanisms.
Nuggets can also be crafted into coins to trade with villagers. This is so emeralds aren't the only currency. You can switch between trading with coins or emeralds, or a combination. One coin however is equivalent to a tenth of an emerald. Coins can be smelted back into a nugget.
Ingots can be used to create lightning rods. When lightning is about to strike somewhere in a chunk it is twice as likely to strike a lightning rod as opposed to something else. Plus, lightning will not create fire if it strikes a lightning rod. That means you can reduce the danger of lightning by placing a lightning rod every 16 blocks!
Copper can also be used to make pipes. Water flowing through a pipe will not spread, however it will not irrigate crops. This can be used to control exactly where water flows using less blocks and space.
I know some of these may not fit the theme of Minecraft to some people, but surely a metal rod isn't that complex and aqueducts have been used in ancient times, pipes probably weren't that far off.
Craftable clay
This idea is simple. Clay is very abundant in dirt in real life. I heard that clay is mixed in with dirt sometimes. You can apparently separate clay from dirt by placing dirt in a still body of water and allowing the clay to float to the top after a few days.
Of course in Minecraft you can create minecarts and rails by the dozen in less than a minute. So you should be able to craft clay in this manner quickly.
Basically in a crafting table place 3 blocks of dirt in a vertical line. Then place a bucket of water anywhere. You keep the water bucket and ONE block of dirt and you also get a single clay ball.
Essentially you are trading 8 blocks of dirt for a brick block.
Longer Note Block sounds
I think note blocks are limited when making songs because they can only play short, single notes. This is simple, if a note block is powered from underneath, it will play a note as long as it has that power. However when the note has been playing longer than 50 ticks (2.5 seconds) it will start to fade out.
Notes
These would be similar to signs and/or written books. They would be a shapeless recipe with a piece of paper, an ink sac, a stick and a feather.
Notes could be placed on either a wall or surface. Notes can hold 15 characters per line with 5 lines. However the font is smaller and the note appears as a vertical rectangle. Notes can be edited at any time by anyone. Note can also be destroyed instantly and offer no blast resistance as opposed to signs which offer 5.
Notes placed on walls act similar to signs, they constantly show their text.
However notes can also be placed on top of blocks. For aesthetic reasons they can also be placed on top of a pressure plate that is also on top of a fence. When this is done the pressure plate no longer is able to transmit power.
Notes placed on top of blocks do not show their text. They show up as a piece of paper flat on the surface. When right clicked you see the text it shows up as a GUI, stopping the game. You get 2 buttons too. Edit and exit. Edit is self-explanatory, exit allows you to play the game again.
Wall Clock
Wall clocks are basically clocks on a wall. They are not a block, they are an entity, just like paintings.
Think of them like animated paintings. These are good for either aesthetics or for an underground base so you don't go up just to find that it is night with skeletons camping by your door.
Oh wait! There is!
I thought the definition of a wishlist was simply a list of ideas with no detail whatsoever.
Oh wait! There is!