The Wild Update has finally arrived, giving Minecraft players all-new swamp adventures and cave dives to look forward to. Mangroves and frogs offer players a more dynamic swamp experience than ever, while the Deep Dark biome offers a spooky new adventure that not even the End or the Nether can quite compare to. Of course, now that the latest Minecraft update is out, fans are starting to look to the future. Mojang has a lot of delayed features in development, and although any one of them could inspire the inevitable 1.20 patch, it's possible that Minecraft's teased combat update will take the 1.20 slot.

Mojang has said before that it's interested in reworking various elements of Minecraft's combat, which sounds like a great way to go. Combat is a core part of Minecraft Survival gameplay, so it needs to evolve regularly alongside the rest of the game. However, swordplay isn't all that Mojang should focus on. Fletching tables have gone without any player-side functionality for many years now, which is tantalizing for Minecraft fans who favor the bow. This archery-related block ought to finally get some special crafting abilities in the next major Minecraft update, especially if the next update is all about combat.

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Minecraft's Fletching Table Has Been Neglected

Minecraft fletching table

The fletching table was added to Minecraft as part of the 1.14 patch, better known as the Village and Pillage Update. As the name implies, Village and Pillage was largely focused on adding more functionality to Minecraft villages; this involved adding lots of new blocks that served as job sites for villagers. Many of these blocks are extremely useful even outside a village, such as composters that turn plant waste into bone meal or stonecutters that craft stone blocks more efficiently, but fletching tables launched without any use to players, aside from employing fletchers.

After 1.14 came out, Mojang promised that fletching tables would someday get a use outside of villages, but about three years later, fletching tables are still nearly useless. It's a shame to see that fletching tables have fallen by the wayside, especially considering how useful many of Village and Pillage's other blocks have proven in the years since. Admittedly, the existence of tipped arrows in Minecraft makes it a little harder to envision a new use for fletching tables, but there are still a few clever ways that Mojang could encourage Minecraft archers to put a fletching table in their workshop.

Possible Uses for the Minecraft Fletching Table

fletcher, bow and arrow, and a fletching table.

Perhaps the simplest possible use for a fletching table would be to make tipped arrows craftable only with the help of a fletching table. Minecraft similarly made a new avenue for crafting banners in Java Edition through the loom. However, it would be more interesting if fletching tables helped players make new arrows that didn't involve potions. For instance, fletching tables might allow Minecraft players to make "trick arrows" that place certain blocks on impact with a mob or the ground. Players might spend redstone in the way that a Minecraft enchanting table spends lapis lazuli in order to make trick arrows that place webs, cacti, or even lit TNT.

Alternatively, fletching tables might be used to modify bows and crossbows in some way. For instance, players might find ways to reinforce these weapons, increasing their durability or range without the help of an enchantment. Weapon modding in Minecraft would be a little unorthodox, but since bows and crossbows don't have material tiers like swords or axes, a modification system could give these weapons a leg up. Whatever Mojang decides to do with fletching tables, though, these blocks seem like an ideal feature to return to in a combat-focused update. Mojang may have mainly discussed plans to rework melee weapons, but ranged weapons are just as important, so it's time for fletching tables to get the functionality they deserve.

Minecraft is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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