For those who don't know, attacking with a sword while standing still now damages all mobs in a 1 block radius of your target. This means that if you attack one zombie in a crowd, other nearby zombies are also damaged.

However, there is the serious possibility that you don't want to damage all nearby mobs. If you have a wolf near some zombies that you are fighting, attacking the zombies may attack the wolf. If you want to pick a certain amount cows out of a crowd after you bred them, you may kill too many cows and possibly end up slicing up the baby cows in the process.

It's incredibly annoying making sure that your attack meter is empty or deliberately moving while attacking so that you don't screw up and hit the wrong thing. I could only imagine the chaos that would occur if you were to play team PvP and accidentally damage one of your allies.

The solution is simple: Require the player to sneak to use the sweep attack. If you wanted to preform a sweep attack on a crowd of mobs, it's simple enough to hold down the shift key. For those who don't want to damage everything nearby, then they can simply not use the shift key and happily slice whatever they want, taking solace in the fact that they won't chop their beloved pets in half. This already appeared in the snapshots, but was removed for some reason.

How hard would it be to add it back?

This post will be updated in sync with Minecraft Forum's FAQ Thread. Please do not ask for tech support here; use #minecrafthelp IRC Chat for that.

1. Downgrading

As always, downgrading is not, was never and will never be officially supported! Please do not run 1.9 worlds in 1.8.

2. Intel Integrated GPU and Random Crashing

Some people with Intel integrated GPUs may see the game crashing from memory access violations. The crash log looks like this:

# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment: # # EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x00007ffb84b1172c, pid=7928, tid=9892 # # JRE version: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (8.0_25-b18) (build 1.8.0_25-b18) # Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (25.25-b02 mixed mode windows-amd64 compressed oops) # Problematic frame: # C [ig8icd64.dll+0x60172c] # # Failed to write core dump. Minidumps are not enabled by default on client versions of Windows # # If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit: # http://ift.tt/19dgsTD # The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code. # See problematic frame for where to report the bug. # 

This is because of a memory leak caused by Intel's drivers (i.e. faulty drivers). This mainly affects 7th to 9th Generation Intel HD Graphics (ig7xxxxx.dll, ig8xxxxx.dll, ig9xxxxx.dll) which ships with 3rd Generation to 6th Generation Intel Core Processors. In layman's terms, if your Intel CPU is Ivy Bridge (Model number ix-3xxx), Haswell (4xxx), Broadwell (5xxx) or Skylake (6xxx), you may be affected.

Until Intel fixes their drivers, to work around this issue, make sure you have the latest drivers installed and set VBO and VSync to On in Video Settings (Options -> Video Settings). Additionally, try allocating more RAM to Minecraft.

(Bug report here)  

3. OpenGL Requirements

The OpenGL requirement for 1.9 stays at OpenGL 1.3 (according to internal sources). Please report back if you have a OpenGL 1.3 only system that refuses to run Minecraft even at very low graphics settings.

4. Graphics Glitching For No Reason After Upgrading

Minecraft 1.9 makes use of even more advanced OpenGL features than before. If your graphics suddenly started giltching since upgrading to 1.9, chances are that your graphics drivers are out of date.

Make sure you have the latest drivers installed and set VBO and VSync to On and set Mipmap to 0 in Video Settings (Options -> Video Settings -> Use VSync/Use VBO -> On) If you are on a laptop with switchable graphics, you may also want to check that your computer is indeed using the dedicated graphics card.

Nvidia Optimus Instructions

AMD Switchable Graphics Instructions

(Bug report pertaining to AMD GPUs here)

5. Getting random block lag?

If you are suddenly getting block lag in 1.9, try lowering your render distance in Video Settings (Options -> Video Settings) to something below 16 chunks. Also, try allocating more RAM to Minecraft.

Common Issues We Are Aware Of

Here are some common issues we are aware of that is not listed above. We at #MinecraftHelp are constantly investigating the cause; if you think you have more information, please drop by #minecrafthelp and ask to speak of one of the ops. Thanks!

• Chunk Swapping (MC-74762)
• Block breaking / doors / pressure plates lag (MC-89262)
• Slow chunk load/generation (MC-98994)
• Entities missing after upgrading to 1.9 (MC-65040)

OK, I wasn't going to mention this when i thought about it last year, since we were so close to a 2.0. Now how ever with a 1.10 coming out, and possibly 1.11 and above as an option, I would like to draw attention to stairs, slabs, chiseled, pillar, and fences/wall variants. I'm not saying we need glowstone pillars and netherrack stairs, but clay stairs and slabs, among others, would be a great addition. So would a (smooth)stone wall, and chiseled Nether brick. The best part is, the base code is all there, add the art and you have an easy update (compared to say changing all of combat), that (almost) all players will love. And this, from a guy player who doesn't really do much aesthetic building, so I can only imagine how well this would go over with builders.