So as you might know Minecraft 1.3 has been on hold for ages, but it has finally been revealed! Just read below for the entire changelog
Changes:
Confirmed via a weekly build:
General
Improved overall stability and performance Reduced CPU, RAM & bandwidth usage
[*]Made Singleplayer internally use a Multiplayer server
[*]Added optional single-player commands called "Cheats" on non-hardcore worlds
Type / and then hit tab to autocomplete & get help on various commands
Most commands from MP are available
[*]Added option to let LAN friends join SP games
You can choose which gamemode players join in and whether they are allowed to use cheats
[*]Added demo mode for non-premium users
Lasts 5 game days per world
[*]Added chat options
Change which parts of chat are shown and how opaque it is
Toggle chat colors, links being clickable and warning prompts for links
Option to rebind the command key, which opens the chat with / in the textfield
[*]Mobs can now spawn on top slabs and upside down stairs
[*]Improved F3 mode:
Truncated coordinates to 5 fractional digits
Removed frame rendering time history graph (bottom-left)
3 new values: ws: Walking speed (constant) fs: Flying speed (constant) g: Boolean value, true when you touch the ground
[*]Updated language files
Added tooltips for all types of Monster Egg blocks and the End Portal Frame
Added more descriptive tooltips for different types of tree-related blocks, sandstone and stone bricks
Localized server commands
Added missing commands-related strings
Added missing double chest GUI caption
[*]Fixed many bugs
Fixed texture packs in folders not showing their icon and description
Fixed Stallion-in-the-middle attack allowing hackers to log in as you when you visit their server
Fixed the Open texturepack folder button not working on OS X
Gameplay
Added Adventure mode
Only playable using commands
Building, setting things on fire and using buckets is disabled
Players can only interact with mobs and the environment
[*]Added trading
Screenshots
Using emerald as currency, villagers will, depending on profession, offer different trades to players
There are three kinds of trades: Selling, buying and enchanting
As displayed in the top-most part of the trading GUI, villagers take one or more items or item stacks and give back something
After trading, villagers will sometimes emit purple particles for a few seconds to indicate that their trades changed
Otherwise unobtainable bottles o' enchanting and chainmail armor can be obtained by trading
[*]Improved Creative mode inventory
Screenshots
There are categorized tabs for various groups of items and blocks
Added a search tab which will automatically be switched to when the chat key is hit
Added survival inventory tab, which shows the full inventory, a 'Destroy item' slot, armor slots including a preview of your character and a 2x2 crafting field
Items can now be deleted from the inventory by shift-clicking them
Added layered snow block, Monster Egg Blocks (Silverfish spawning blocks), Ender Portal frame and all potions
Now shows potion effects' timers like in Survival
[*]Improved experience collection
Depending on ore type, experience now drops from ores that drop items
Taking smelted items out of furnaces gives experience now
Destroying mob spawners gives experience now
Adjusted experience level progression: Levels 1-15 cost 17 XP points each Levels 16-30 cost 3 more XP points than the previous (cost = 17 + (level - 15) * 3) Levels 31-∞ cost 7 more XP points than the previous (cost = 62 + (level - 30) * 7)
[*]Improved enchanting
The new maximum level with bookshelves is 30, without 8
15 bookshelves are enough to reach level 30
The 3rd slot shows the most expensive possible enchantment more often
Increased chances for multiple enchantments at once
Adjusted enchantments' rarity for the new system
[*]Added writing in books
New crafting recipe for books: 3 pieces of paper and one piece of leather in any possible shape
New item: Book and Quill - Crafting recipe: 1 ink sac, 1 feather and 1 book in any possible shape
Right-click to write on & edit up to 50 pages or read
Click 'Done' to save the book, 'Sign' to choose a title and finalize the book
Screenshots
[*]Improved Multiplayer
Made entities less likely to glitch through blocks - Comparison: before and after
Added automagical downloading of standard sized texture packs when joining servers
Made server commands more descriptive
Added reason parameter to /ban
Added /seed command to show the map seed
Added /defaultgamemode command to choose the gamemode new players start in
Added /debug command to enable and disable profiling
/kick messages can now contain "\n" to force a new line
Blocks other players are mining now show cracks - Screenshot
/tp can now be used to teleport to specific coordinates
Made server list re-orderable: shift+click or shift+arrow keys move selected servers
Server list now scans for LAN servers - Screenshot
Added hardcore difficulty: Players are banned upon death
[*]Added many minor things
Individual, stackable items near each other on the ground now become one item stack
Added shift clicking support to armor slots, brewing stands & enchantment tables
Added setting to disable servers offering you texture packs
Made the stars smaller and brighter - Screenshot
Villagers spawned from spawning eggs will get a random profession now
Removed the downwards knockback while drowning
Doors being broken by zombies now show their damage - Screenshot
[*]Improved the Pick Block key
You now get the actual block
You can now pick paintings, boats, minecarts and mobs, which will give you their spawn eggs
Picking huge mushroom blocks now gives mushrooms
You can no longer pick portal blocks
[*]Fixed many bugs
Fixed flying slowly in liquids
Fixed blocks with the same id but different data/damage values stacking in Creative inventory
Fixed boats & minecarts not being one-hit breakable in Creative
Fixed raw fish, dyes, saddles, potions, milk buckets and tools depleting in Creative
Fixed water destroying non-solid blocks when breaking them from above
Fixed Silk touch giving you only one slab from double slabs
Fixed redstone updates not propagating through unloaded chunks
Fixed arrows scooting up to the top of the block they were shot on in MP
Fixed repeaters getting stuck when loading their chunk
Fixed endermen not opening their jaws in MP
Fixed tools taking damage when breaking insta-breakable blocks
Fixed fully charged arrows not showing their particle effect in MP
Fixed many sounds not playing in MP
Fixed magma cubes' and slimes' jumping animations not showing in MP
Fixed thunderstorms not darkening the sky in MP
Fixed weather not fading in or out in MP
Fixed enchanted armor and tools not glowing to other players
Fixed ender pearls and eyes of ender not being aligned in the inventory
Fixed explosions not pushing players back in MP
Fixed TNT not knocking back players in MP
Fixed pistons not pushing back players in MP
Fixed the arrow representing players on held maps being offset
Fixed being able to duplicate sand, gravel and powered rail
Fixed placing a piston in front of another powered, but not extended one resulting in a glitched piston with the head's texture on all sides
Fixed TNT dropping as a ressource on creative mode
Fixed powering specifically glitched pistons crashing the game
Fixed players on minecarts, boats or pigs and spider jockeys not being displayed in the correct location
World Generation
Made sub-biome type mountains like Desert Hills or Ice Mountains taller - Screenshot
Made cocoa beans appear on some small jungle trees - Screenshot
Added optional starting chest on non-hardcore worlds
Screenshot
Contents: wooden & stone tools, bread, apples, logs, planks and sticks
[*]Added large biomes world type, increasing biome sizes immensely
[*]Added desert-specific villages
Screenshot
[*]Added desert temples
Screenshots
Built out of various kinds of sandstone and wool
Include hidden chest room and TNT trap, with loot including rotten flesh, bones, iron ingots and gold ingots, diamonds and emeralds
[*]Added jungle temples
Screenshots
Built out of various kinds of cobblestone
Contain multiple tripwire traps triggering dispensers filled with arrows
Loot chests include bones, rotten flesh, gold ingots, iron ingots, diamonds and emeralds
[*]Added emerald ore
Only generates in Extreme Hills biomes
Occurs up to 8 times per chunk in veins of 1
Generates between layers 4 and 31, inclusive
Blocks & Items
Emerald Ore
Screenshot
Drops Emerald
[*]Emerald
Screenshot
Is used to trade with villagers
[*]Block of Emerald
Screenshot
Crafted by putting 9 emeralds on a crafting table
[*]Ender Chest
Screenshot
Crafted by surrounding an eye of ender with 8 pieces of obsidian
Stores each player's contents across dimensions and all Ender Chests
Contents are preserved even if all Ender Chests are destroyed
Explosion-resistant
Emits light and purple particles
Unless mined using a Silk Touch-enchanted pickaxe, they drop 8 obsidian
[*]Tripwire Hook
Screenshots
String in between needs to be placed manually
Breaking the string triggers a redstone signal, cutting it using shears doesn't
Entities like boats, mobs, arrows or players touching the string trigger a redstone signal
String can be up to 40 blocks long
Crafting recipe: Iron ingot on top of a stick on top of a wooden plank
[*]String
Can now be placed on the ground decoratively
[*]Furnaces
Can be fueled by wooden tools now
Return an empty bucket when using lava buckets as fuel now
[*]Ice
Instead of melting in the nether, it now disappears
Can be obtained using Silk Touch-enchanted gear now
[*]Glass Panes
Can be obtained using Silk Touch-enchanted gear now
[*]Nether portal
Leaks into the Overworld now: Depending on difficulty, zombie pigmen rarely spawn in them
[*]Half slabs
Added all wood types
Wooden slabs crafted after the update act like wood
Will now be top slabs when placed on the upper half of a block's side
When placed upside down, rails, pressure plates, levers, doors, torches, redstone torches, repeaters, redstone dust and beds can be placed on them - Redstone dust behaves like on glowstone - It transmits power horizontally and upwards, but not downwards. Redstone torches don't power redstone placed on slabs/stairs above them.
[*]Stairs
Added Sandstone Stairs - Screenshot
Added wooden stairs for all kinds of wood - Screenshot
Adjusted hitbox - Screenshots
When placed upside down, rails, pressure plates, levers, doors, torches, redstone torches, repeaters, redstone dust and beds can be placed on them - Redstone dust behaves like on glowstone - It transmits power horizontally and upwards, but not downwards. Redstone torches don't power redstone placed on slabs/stairs above them.
[*]Leaves
Water slowly drips through them when it's raining
[*]Cauldrons
Slowly fill up when it's raining
[*]Dispensers
Minecarts & boats will now be placed if there's rails/water in place
Instead of dispensing buckets, dispensers will now suck in or place water or lava in front of them
[*]Gravel
Changed texture - Screenshot
[*]Jungle leaves
Have a 1/200 chance to drop a cocoa bean when destroyed now
[*]Lever
Can be placed on the ceiling now - Screenshot
[*]Wooden pressure plates
Are triggered by arrows now
[*]Pistons
Changed a few things to fight bugs, which now causes them to appear to update slightly slower - some contraptions may require changes to signal timing
[*]Cocoa beans
Retextured item - Screenshot
Can be planted & grown on jungle wood nowimg
Can be grown instantly using bone meal
[*]Cookies
Give a full hunger point now
[*]Empty buckets
Stack up to 16 now
Stacked buckets work just like stacked glass bottles do
[*]Signs
Stack up to 16 now
Crafting now gives 3 signs instead of 1
[*]Golden Apple
Has two crafting recipes now, the new one replacing gold nuggets with gold blocks
Second tier gives Regeneration IV, Resistance and Fire resistance effects
Only second tier glows like enchanted tools
[*]Spawners
Added NBT tags to further customize spawned mobs
Only changeable using map editors or mods
[*]Boats
Are not broken by lilypads anymore, instead they run straight through the lilypad now, breaking and sometimes dropping it
Are less glitchy and more responsive now
Increased maximum speed
When exiting, players will be moved from the boat
When broken, they drop a boat now
[*]Minecarts
When on rails, they can be accelerated a bit while sitting in them
When exiting, players will be moved from the minecart
Mobs
Pigs Drop 1-3 meat now
[*]Slimes
Reduced spawn rate in superflat maps
[*]Silverfish
When suffering from poison potions, they will now spawn more silverfish from nearby silverfish blocks more often
All hostile mobs Become aggressive towards the last mob or player that hit them now
I believe that is everything. Now when can we expect this massive update? Well it's been confirmed to be released on
August 1st!