5 modded Minecraft features Mojang needs to add
Minecraft has been out for over fifteen years and is still relevant, something not many games can do. One of the biggest reasons for this is its modding community, which has added features that completely change how the game looks and feels, sometimes even making it hard to return to the vanilla experience.
While Mojang regularly adds new content, many fans feel that some modded features deserve to be part of the base game — not because they’re flashy, but because they improve how players interact with the world. Despite great updates, such as the Spring to Life game drop, many areas of the game still need improvement.
Thankfully, Mojang Studios can look to the modding community to get some inspiration for their next update. Here are five modded features the developers should consider adding to Minecraft natively.
5 modded features that Minecraft should have
1) Smoother animations (Actions and Stuff mod)
Animations in vanilla Minecraft haven’t changed much since the early days. Players swing tools the same way, mobs move in a very stiff manner, and everything feels a little robotic.
Mods like Actions and Stuff take a different approach. They bring more fluid animations for walking, running, jumping, and even fighting. Small changes like a proper block animation or a realistic tool swing don’t break the game, but they add polish that makes the entire experience feel more modern.
Looking at the game with the Actions and Stuff mod will make it difficult for you to go back to the native game, and that shows how much Minecraft needs this smoother animation update. This improvement wouldn’t change core gameplay, but it would enhance immersion.
2) LOD (Distant Horizons mod)
Perhaps one of the most popular mods out there is Distant Horizons. Minecraft’s render distance can be limiting, even on powerful systems. At some point, everything disappears into fog. That’s where Distant Horizons comes in. It adds a Level of Detail (LOD) system that renders terrain much farther away at lower quality.
This small change makes a big difference, completely transforming the blocky world. Mountains can be seen from dozens of chunks away. Forests and valleys don’t suddenly pop in as you walk. It’s one of those subtle things that completely changes how exploration feels.
The improvement in immersion is worth the hit this feature takes on the processing power. Adding a system like this to the base game would make large builds more impressive. Mojang could even make it optional or scalable based on hardware.
3) Tree motions (Dynamic Trees mod)
Most Minecraft trees are just cylinders with leaves slapped on top. They serve their purpose, but mods like Dynamic Trees make forests look — and behave — more natural. Trees grow over time, sway slightly, and have better branch structures. They fall when chopped, and regrowth is handled more realistically.
It’s not about making trees look “cooler.” It’s about making forests feel alive and adding more interaction to resource gathering. Considering that most of the landscape in Minecraft is filled with trees, this small addition would be noticeable in every biome.
Mojang has made visual upgrades before (like the cherry blossom biome), and the previous game drop added the dynamic leaf falling effect as well. So the developers are on the right track. All we need are realistic trees that behave like, well, trees.
4) Mini maps and waypoints (JourneyMap mod)
Minecraft is all about exploration. You are presented with a massive world with nothing at your disposal. All you need to do is look around and gather resources. However, it is very difficult to take a long expedition because of how poor the game’s navigation features are.
Making maps takes effort and time, and even after you get the best map, it is still not very intuitive. Many players already use mods like Xaero’s Minimap or JourneyMap to help with navigation, especially in survival or hardcore mode. These mods let you place waypoints, track your death location, and get a bird’s-eye view of where you are.
The fact that players rely so heavily on them shows a gap in the vanilla experience. Mojang could add a basic minimap and waypoint system without ruining the exploration aspect. They could make it toggleable in settings and tie it to in-game items like a crafted compass or enchanted map. The goal isn’t to simplify gameplay — it’s to make long journeys and large bases easier to manage.
The Chase the Skies update drop will add the locator bar feature that helps you find where other players are if they are nearby. This is again a right step towards making exploration more fun.
5) Inventory sorting (Mouse Tweaks mod)
Vanilla Minecraft’s inventory management has always been a little clunky. Mods like Inventory Tweaks or Mouse Tweaks allow you to sort chests with one click, move items faster, and auto-stack things. They don’t change how anything is crafted or collected — they just cut down the busywork.
This kind of quality-of-life feature is long overdue. A simple “Sort” button in the inventory screen wouldn’t make Minecraft any easier but would make it less frustrating. Mojang has already made slight improvements (like crafting recipe books), so this feels like a logical next step.
With the addition of bundles, fans expect the developers to come up with something to make this tedious task of managing inventory easier so players can focus more on the game.