Download Minecraft Snapshot 12w41a - Repair & Name Feature, Anvil Block

Minecraft 12w41a is another beefy update on the way towards Halloween and Minecraft 1.4. The snapshot includes the new repair and name feature for all you black smiths out there, along with the new anvil and hide cape option.

Even though Jeb's been away in Seoul for the KGC2012 show, it's been a surprising active week for Minecraft. Nathan's taken the helm and dished out our weekly snapshot right on time. He's also been doing a series of twitchtv live streams together with his development partner - Grum.

So, in this weeks snapshot we get to see the new anvil block which lets players repair items by forging two similar items together. During repair, the durability and enchantment level(s) of the resultant item are increased depending on original two items used. The exact algorithm for enchantment levels is still under development but we covered some of this in our previous discussion about the repair and name feature. Repairing items isn't cheap though so expect to wade through your experience points (XP) quite quickly.

How to craft an avil

It's not as obivous as you might think, but it does only require two types of raw resource. You'll need iron blocks and iron ingot to craft the anvil.

1. Place the iron blocks in a row of 3 along the top, and a row of 3 along the bottom of the crafting table.
2. Then slot your iron ingot in the middle of the crafting table.

Note: Leave the left and right middle spaces empty

12w41a Features

Repair & Name functionality
Anvil block
Level up sound only plays every 5 levels
Beacon effects are less intrusive on the screen
Lots of bug fixes

Anvil traps?

With the introduction of the anvil, many fans are dying to know if the anvil can be used as a classic roadrunner style trap. This trap was commonly used by the crafty coyote to capture the speedy roadrunner. As we all know, none of them succeeded.

Nathan hasn't dismissed the idea of anvil mob traps, a positive 'maybe' was used in reply to the question. So hopefully, sometime in the near future we'll be able to dream up some crafty anvil traps to crush some of the less friendly mobs out there!