When copper was first introduced in Minecraft in its 1.17 version, the usefulness of the new resource was very limited. While it provided an additional range of building blocks and a unique dynamic of colors due to oxygen exposure ranging from bronze to teal, there were only two other uses for copper: a lightning rod and a spyglass. Since then, two new updates have been given to Minecraft with no further additions to copper despite player demand. Specifically, the Caves and Cliffs update expanded Minecraft's y-axis capacity and increased the frequency of ore generation, leaving players with lots of copper and little to do with it.
But Mojang could actually pull off a "two birds, one stone" solution if it revisited the functionality of copper and combined it with the use of gold equipment. Gold armor, tools, and weapons have some very slight edges over other alternatives, such as gold pickaxes and axes being faster than diamond by a fraction of a second and gold armor can help protect against Piglin hostility. But gold's overall durability makes gear functionally worthless compared to the likes of iron and diamond. If copper gear isn't going to exist in Minecraft, Mojang could instead consider using copper to improve gold and create rose gold gear in its place.
The Science Behind Rose Gold
Though most people who hear "rose gold" think of the trendy metallic pink color popular in the tech world and across every gadget or device available, rose gold is an actual alloy that exists. It is created through the combination of both copper and gold, typically as a fifty-fifty split, and rose to prominence among jewelers as an alternative to the older white and yellow gold coloration traditionally seen. Not only is it now a popular color and metal for jewelry, but rose gold actually has the added benefit of counteracting gold's natural malleability with the introduction of copper.
This is where rose gold could tie into Minecraft with gold and copper. Since gold is the weaker metal used for equipment, players are discouraged from crafting it, instead saving it for its many other uses from golden apples to powered rails. But with the introduction of rose gold, players could craft this new metal through the combination of gold and copper ingots, and the resulting metal could have the durability of iron but with the benefits of gold. Though it appears more long-winded to craft and obtain as opposed to other options, this would improve players' natural transition through the game's available gear types.
Iron to Rose Gold To Diamond
Currently, players progress naturally from one material type to the next, first starting with wood before quickly jumping to stone. The next step players make is moving from stone to iron, even though they will likely have encountered copper ore before or alongside iron ore. By this point, they will have likely seen gold gear as loot or will have tried crafting it themselves, only to consequently realize how weak the gear is. Beyond this, the next step in gear progression is to eventually find diamonds, with players obtaining enough to create full diamond gear, which had been the peak of gear until the introduction of netherite.
This means that for a substantial part of early gameplay in Minecraft, players are settling for iron gear due to its relative abundance as well as its versatility and durability. Rose gold, however, could help improve this, as by the point which players have fully transitioned to iron, they will likely also have gold and copper saved. A more durable form of gold that has greater efficiency than iron could insert a new step between iron and diamond. It would provide a new block for Minecraft building, a new use for copper, and a reason to save iron for other purposes such as building iron golems or activating certain beacons at later stages.
Additionally, introducing rose gold wouldn't necessarily disrupt any of the current established gear types currently available. Iron could still be seen as a useful and versatile resource given how it factors into a range of resources and equipment, and in a pinch players would still view iron as a decent substitute in the absence of rose gold gear. Further, diamond gear could still be a better alternative to rose gold with higher durability, but with diamonds being harder to find since version 1.18, players might save diamond gear for when they really need it and use rose gold more frequently.
Minecraft is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.