After introducing harnesses for Happy Ghasts and a recipe for saddles inMinecraft’s latest update, it might also be time for Mojang to look closer and rebalance one of the resources needed to craft these and many other vital items. While the new features and changes planned forMinecraft’s upcoming content drop have been well-received, especially given thefifteen-year wait for craftable saddles inMinecraftand newfound potential with Happy Ghasts, the update may have highlighted another underlying issue with an unassuming item. More specifically, leather’s ever-increasing use in several keyMinecraftrecipes contributes to a growing imbalance that Mojang ought to address.
Though Mojang’s intention is for players to freely approachMinecraftthrough its open-world, sandbox design, various items, mechanics, and features discreetly influence their progression, ranging from farming crops to upgrading armor and weapons. As one of these items, leather continues to serve an integral, albeit indirect, role throughoutMinecraft, as proven by the newest crafting recipes for saddles and harnesses. Despite this, Mojang hasn’t updated how leather can be obtained to keep pace with these changes, either by improving existing methods or by adding new ones, which could become increasingly frustrating for players if left unchecked in future updates.
Minecraft Should Revisit Leather After Its Next Update
Compared to many other resources and blocks inMinecraft, leather is not typically seen as a rare item, especially when players can easily obtain it from a variety of sources:
However, given that some of these methods require defeating raids or traveling to the Nether, obtaining leather might not be as straightforward as it seems, particularly if players are new toMinecraftor have just started a new world. IfMinecraftplayers want to saddleand ride mobs or enchant their armor and weapons at the highest level possible, securing a reliable and steady source of leather is a must.
This is because leather is used in various crafting recipes that are ultimately connected to some ofMinecraft’s most useful and arguably essential features and mechanics, such as:
But while the likes of saddles and bundles can be found naturally as loot, it goes againstMinecraft’s open-ended gameplay philosophy when players are virtually locked out of key features unless they painstakingly farm leather or get lucky. Even when players can increase their chances of obtaining leather from mobs using weapons enchanted with Looting, this still puts the cart before the horse by requiringMinecraftplayers to improve their enchantmentsby crafting enough bookshelves.
Balancing How to Obtain and Use Leather in Minecraft
Moreover,Minecraftappears to complicate things further by potentially steering players away from obtaining or using leather in certain instances. For example, while horses and llamas can drop leather, their high health, in-game cries, or retaliatory attacks might discourage players from killing them, ultimately pushing them to specifically farm cows. Alternatively, with a likely limited supply of leather during early gameplay, players may skip overMinecraft’s odd and underused armor typeslike leather and focus on crafting iron gear due to its higher strength and greater abundance in the Overworld.
While ensuring any changes to leather remain balanced with the rest ofMinecraftmight be tricky, Mojang could explore several possible solutions that range from the technical to the creative, such as the examples provided below.
Ideally, by improving existing methods or by introducing new ways to obtain or craft leather in an upcoming content drop,Minecraftcould hopefully avoid this small discrepancy from growing any further. However, should Mojang keep adding new leather-based recipes without addressing this imbalance, thenfuture updates toMinecraft’s gameplayand progression might begin to seem increasingly inflexible and formulaic.
