I see alot of confusion on this, so I'm dropping some links where you can get free content.

You don't ever have to spend money at the marketplace if you don't want to.

http://mcpedl.com

http://mcpeuniverse.com

https://mcpebox.com

http://ift.tt/2sCCr5R

There are more places, these are just a few, just Google mcpe maps, or textures, or skins, or whatever you want.

Have fun and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I've been playing this game for years now so this topic evokes a lot of angered passion in me. This is me venting my frustration and is not an attack on the Mojang devs who have made the game what it is today.

When Microsoft acquired Mojang they stated how they wanted Minecraft to be a '100 year game' which sounded like they really cared about its future. However with the 'Better Together' update and the new marketplace they have made their true intentions known.

First of all I knew the java edition would be left behind because it isn't possible to include it in the cross-play version. Its future seems hazy after Jeb stated that he wants the java version to be a 'community edition' and 'experimental' which sounds an awful lot like Mojang won't be supporting it and will leave it to community mod makers. Its clear the new cross-play edition is becoming the dominant edition.

So why is this a problem? It shouldn't be because Windows 10 edition could replace the Java version and it is almost caught up feature-wise. So why is this new 'Minecraft' a problem? The marketplace. Aspects of the game that have been free for years are now behind a paywall in order to fleece kids out of their money who don't know any better. I have no problem with mapmakers setting up a Patreon, Adfly link or Donate button where the Microsoft parasites don't get a cut but this marketplace pisses me off. Furthermore mapmaking is now less accessible than ever as people won't want to pay for a simple map like Skyblock so these survival maps die out, same for people who make more simple maps that they just want people to play. And then there's skin packs, resource packs and shaders: once again taken out from the original game and put behind a paywall. I can understand paying for maps that have had hours poured into them but paying for skins and textures is outright extortion. They don't change the game or add any content but Microsoft wants to charge kids for them. In short what pisses me off about this is that they are putting our creativity behind a paywall.

This is a masterclass in how to kill a game people, I don't even consider the 'better together' version to be the same game as the original. This is Microsoft, once again, screwing over their customers to milk a valuable property for as much early profit as possible. They don't care if 'Minecraft' lasts for 100 years and frankly I hope it falls flat on their face so more people turn to the original version and we can become more tight knit as a community.