Minecraft Xbox 1.3 Features - Enchanting, XP, Potions and Breeding

The Xbox version of Minecraft is due for another beefy update according to 4JStudios. The creators have let slip that we'll be getting some game changing features such as enchantments, XP, potions and breeding, possibly in version 1.3 (if not sooner).

For those of you who are not avid PC players we'll give you a quick run down of what to expect..

Enchanting

Enchantments are special powers that you can apply to tools, armour and weapons. These special powers change the behavior of the item depending on the type of enchantment. There are enchantments to increase the durability of an item or increase the damage a sword will inflict.

Each enchantment comes in a variety of levels, with each enchantment having a maximum level. The levels roughly equate to the strength of the enchantment. Higher levels mean stronger affects.

Examples:

Blast protection, feather falling, sharpness, smite, knockback, efficiency, fortune, power, flame..

XP

Experience points are the currency used to pay for enchantments. You collect experience points when you complete achievements or perform certain actions in the game. For example, when you kill a mob you earn experience (depending on the type of mob). Ender dragons provide the largest amount of XP.

Just pick up the experience orb and the new points are added to your total. The experience bar is shown at the bottom of the screen, below the health and hunger bar.

Brewing

The brewing stand is the primary component used to create potions. Combining ingredients with glass bottles you can craft up a variety of potions. Some potions are good and some are bad. There are poisonous potions and health generation. Splash potions are another variety of potions that you can throw at mobs.

To create potions you'll need these:

Brewing stand crafting recipe

Blaze rod + 3 x cobbelstone

Glass bottle crafting recipe

3 x glass blocks

The minecraftwiki has a great chart showing all the potion combinations:

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/File:MinecraftPotionsClean.png

Breeding

Minecraft farmers will know all about breeding animals to create self-sustaining resources. Simply get animals of the same type (e.g. cows) into a confined space and feed them a particular food. The animals will change into love mode and will breed. The result is baby animals which are small versions of the mob.

On the PC version of Minecraft you must choose the right food to make animals breed: