Fixes & Changes:

• New achievements
• Amount of Experience Orbs dropped by a player on death now limited.
• The ability of Endermen to carry blocks reduced in some way.
• New Monster Spawner texture.
• Ghast fireballs have a different texture.
• On death, a proper score is given based on how many experience orbs the player has collected.
• When flowing lava hits a water source directly from above, it creates Stone where previously the lava would flow through the water.
• You can toggle between three states when pressing F5 (first person, third person back, third person front), having the addition of 3rd person view from the front.
• Ender Pearls have a unique ability. When thrown, the player will teleport to the Ender Pearl's impact location, but take 2 and 1/2 hearts of fall damage. They will not work in Creative.
• Golden Apples now glow purple in inventory.
• Fences no longer block you from moving onto their space. You can now stand next to them, like you can with glass panes and iron bars.
  • They will also connect to solid blocks.
• There is a slight delay between jumps when holding down the jump button, so that the player no longer bounces between ceiling and floor in two-block-high spaces.
• Labels for items have a blue border.
• Random loot chests in Strongholds.
• Blocking now moves the player's arm, rather than the sword just floating right in front of the player.
• Weapon and tool damage has been nerfed to make space for the increased damage enchantments (Diamond swords do 3.5 hearts now instead of 5).
• Some mob health has been changed (Sheep, Spiders, Zombies)
• Redstone Ore can now be mined much, much faster. It can be mined faster than coal ore and iron ore and is about the same speed mining as stone.

New Features:

• In the Nether:
  • Nether Bricks.
  • Nether Fence.
  • Nether Stairs.
  • Nether Fortresses.
• "The End" (unofficially called "The Ender", or "Enderlands"), which replaces the previously announced Sky Dimension.
  • End Portals take the player from the Overworld to The End. To go back to the Overworld, one must defeat the Enderdragon and jump through the portal that appears.
    • End Portal Frame (Name not confirmed)
    • End Portal Block (Name not confirmed)
    • Endgame/Credit screen (You can still play your world)
  • End Stone
• New Items:
  • Ghast Tear
  • Blaze Rod
  • Nether Wart
  • Gold Nugget
  • Glass Bottle
  • Spider Eye
  • Fermented Spider Eye
  • Blaze Powder
  • Magma Cream
  • Glistering Melon
  • Eye of Ender
    • Activates Ender Portal Frame blocks.
  • 9 new Music Discs.
• Finished Biome code and new Biomes.
  • Snowy Biomes.
  • Swamp Biomes adjusted to appear "swampier."
    • Darker Grass
    • Darker Water
    • Lily Pads
  • Mushroom Biomes.
    • Naturally generated Huge Mushrooms.
    • New Mushroom Cow, the Mooshroom.
    • Mycelium blocks.
• New sound effects,^{[citation needed]} including:
  • Minecart sounds.
  • Shears sounds.
  • Additional Bow sounds.
  • Big Slime sounds.
  • The true sounds of Endermen and Silverfish.
• Changes in already existing sounds:^{[citation needed]}
  • A change in the sound of Rain.
  • New sounds for Doors.
  • New sounds for the Skeletons' walk to make them sound more skeleton-y.
• Bow models now appear in third-person larger and in 3D.
• If water or lava is above a ceiling that is a single block thick, particles of water or lava will drip through, provided you are within 13 blocks of the ceiling.
• 6 New Mobs:
  • Enderdragon (Boss Mob)
    • Enderdragon eggs
  • Mooshroom Cows.
  • NPCs in Villages, as Villager Mobs.
  • Snow Golem mob.
    • Can be crafted.
    • Melts in hot biomes.
    • Spreads snow around when it walks.
    • Passive, but throws snowballs at enemies.
  • At least two new aggressive mobs for the Nether.
    • Magma Cube
    • Blaze
• Experience (skills) is now enchantments.
• Each Experience Orb is worth one Score Point.
• Animal Breeding.
  • Wheat Bundles feed animals and make them come towards you.
  • Feeding animals makes them enter "love mode".
  • Hearts will come out of animals while in love mode.
  • Breeding will produce Baby Animals. Smaller versions of the parents with large heads that have a faster animation and a higher pitched sound.
• Unlimited Strongholds per map (changed from three).
• New/Improved Armor system.
  • Increased armor durability.
• Sun and moon changes:
  • Moon phases.
  • Sun and moon now rise in the east.
• Game mechanics changes:
  • Hardcore Mode – Locks the difficulty to Hard and forces you to delete your world if you die. The health bar changes appearance to indicate you are playing in Hardcore mode.
• Item Repair
• Potions, Splash Potions, Potion effects, Brewing Stand, and Brewing.
• Enchantment Table, and Enchanting