Minecraft - Is Getting A 4th Dimension
One of Minecraft's biggest mysteries right now is this strange structure in the middle of ancient cities. Mow hasn't really said much about it, but the prevailing theory is that this is a portal to a new dimension. Today we're going to go over a bunch of theories on what this thing is if we're getting a new dimension and, if not, what the purpose of reinforced, deep slate might be in the game.
So subscribe if you like what you see. I will be your host. I'm simply suckered. Let's try and guess what this thing is supposed to be. In theory, it is a portal. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if this did just turn out to be a regular old portal. It follows the same exact format as the nether.
In the end, you activate it and it takes you to some new dimension. It's not likely, but I do think there are a few flaws in this idea. When you look at the dark warden, nature, cities, and skulk, there's a clear theme Moyang is playing to. This is different. All of these features feel like they're making a real effort to be unique and individual.
The warden and the vibration mechanic, for example, really stand out as their own things. They're breaking from tradition. It could be a portal to a new dimension, but that would be what we're expecting. I reckon, like the deep dark and all its features, they'd want this to work differently too.
There's also the question of what this new dimension would do. The nether is all about fast travel, and the end was, at least initially, a battle arena. If we do get a fourth dimension, what is its purpose? What sets it apart from all the others? Theory number two: it's not a portal, it's all about the reinforced, deep state.
The biggest piece of evidence that this thing isn't just for decoration is that, because of the reinforced deep slate, it can't be moved by pistons, and while it can be mined, it doesn't actually drop itself, even with still touch. That brings the question: if you can't move it and you can't obtain it, that probably means it's supposed to stay put.
Why does it need to stay put? Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I actually quite liked the idea of reinforced deep slate just being a really hard to mine block, and maybe that's why it doesn't drop itself. Maybe it's because it can only be picked up in a specific way if you take a look at the texture.
It kind of seems like it's supposed to be a rotatable block like logs, but maybe it just isn't yet. Perhaps the way it'll work is that this will be the first block that has variable mining speeds depending on which face you target, so these five outer reinforced faces are almost unbreakable. This inner softer face allows you to mine the block as normal.
As you can see, this would mean you could create extremely tough defensive walls that make it hard for outsiders to get in but easy for insiders to get out. Theory number three: it's not a portal, it's a teleporter. This is actually a fairly popular one. The idea is that this doesn't take you to a new dimension, it teleports you to another ancient city, so you could basically instantaneously travel between cities.
This would obviously be super useful in some ways, but there are definitely some issues with this idea. First, while the thought of being able to jump from one location on the map to another sounds good on paper, it might not be as handy as you think. That said, it could just work in a different way.
Maybe it warps you back to your spawn point, sort of like how end gateways work, but the issue there is that the end portals pretty much already do that, and when it comes to fast travel, that's sort of the nether's whole bread and butter, so I'm not really sure it would end up being that useful. You either make the network redundant, or you get super fast travel to places.
If you don't care about three or four, it really is just for decoration, so I wouldn't put it past Mo Yang to possibly do this, but there is, of course, the chance. There's nothing special about this structure, and it really is just there for aesthetics. If this were the case, this would introduce a big, big problem.
Something a lot of people have commented on is that the ancient cities aren't currently rewarding enough, and I would tend to agree with this. The recovery compass feels like something that would be useful in the cities and the deep dark, but in most other settings it's hard to see why you would want to sneak away quickly.
In fact, it might even be a bit of an inconvenience because you don't necessarily want to be zooming around abruptly. When you're bridging over lava, the recovery compass, on the other hand, does have some applications. But the way it works doesn't really make much sense. It faces the same problem that the Totem of Undying had when it was a woodland mansion exclusive.
You have to go to one of the most dangerous places in the game to get an item that is only useful when you die. If you survive the ancient city and manage to take a compass home, you kind of don't need it because you're not the type of player who dies easily. And if you have a compass and you die, it's completely useless because the recovery compass has also been lost.
I definitely think for the compass to be useful, you should get to keep it on death so it can actually be used as intended. The point here is that ancient cities are dangerous and the warden is oppressive. There's got to be an irresistible prize down there to force players to take the risk. That's why I don't think this can just be for decoration.
As if the entire basis of ancient cities were flawed. Theory five: It's not a portal, it's a gateway. This is probably one of the most interesting theories. We've gotten used to the idea of a portal taking us to another dimension, but this spawner might actually do something new instead. It'll take us to a new plane.
A plane isn't like a dimension because it still occupies the same space as the dimension. You're in the world. In this case, think of it as something like the spirit world. Overlaid on top of the regular world is a hidden layer of content that you can only see and interact with if you've passed through the gateway.
This would allow you to bypass one of the biggest hurdles that comes with adding new dimensions: filling them with content. The nether, in the end, has both been plagued with the complaint that they're too empty. Adding a new dimension is hard because you basically have to create a whole new world with gen biomes, mobs, and content just for that dimension.
But with a plane, you can reuse the overworld's content without having to design an entire new world from scratch. Of course, the problem here is logistically. Having two different worlds occupy the same space might be difficult to achieve, but how does it all sync up? Though Minecraft might not even be able to support that sort of feature, Theory six is actually just a question.
