Two new Pre-Releases prep the Java Edition of Minecraft for 1.16.2

The Nether Update was a massive update for Minecraft, and as such there’s still plenty of work for Mojang Studios to do in order to make the release as polished as possible. This means a smaller update underneath the Nether Update branch, bringing bug fixes, enhancements, and even a new feature or two. Enter: 1.16.2, the next update for Minecraft (no, not the Mountain Update).

According to Minecraft’s blog, Pre-Release 2 and 3 are both rolling out to players of the Java Edition, bringing further bug changes right before the update comes out. Now that 1.16.2 is in Pre-Release, I only expect it to be a few more weeks before everyone gets to taste the numerous changes in store. These Pre-Releases are only for small tweaks and improvements, however, so don’t expect anything wild.

Pre-Release 2 brought a decent list of changes, as well as making it so crimson and warped roots no longer require shears to be mined. Pre-Release 3 built on top of this with more bug fixes, with an apparent focus on overall stability in comparison to Pre-Release 2. This isn’t very exciting, of course, but 1.16.2 will bring the new piglin brute mob to Minecraft, as well as make some improvements to netherite, chain blocks, and much more. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer now!