Nether Creatures

The Nether, in my opinion, is an extremely annoying obnoxious excuse for something that is so hard to reach. The only rewards are some glowing stones and light-able blocks. You can make it somewhat more enjoyable by having some background knowledge on the monsters that dwell within.

The Ghast
A flying menace, it has the ability to shoot fireballs. These fireballs vary on strength, but are deadly and can destroy bloodstone. It's imperative to your survival that you put up some kind of wall. Cobblestone is the best. Dirt has a chance of breaking once shot at, but cobblestone doesn't. The best two ways to deflect the fireballs is to either shoot the fireball with an arrow, returning it to it's sender, or switch into 3rd person. The ghast aims at your camera. So it aims at you in 1st person, but will shoot aimlessly above your head in 3rd person.

Zombie Pigmen
Zombie pigmen are neutral mobs. Don't attack them. If you attack them, the whole group will swarm you. At that point your chance of survival becomes very slim. If you do engage, make a temporary home to get some height on them If you manage a kill there drops are 0-2 cooked porkchops, effectively making a renewable source of food within the Nether.

"Farm" Animals

The first mob I will be covering is the only non offensive mob types in the game, animals. The five animals are pig, sheep, cow, mooshroom and chicken. Each offer unique rewards and serve a unique purpose in the game. They spawn on grass, and are attracted to light. The animals are also extremely humorous as well, and have been known to walk on water, hump walls, and jump off the side of mountains.

Pigs
The pigs main purpose is to supply a renewable source of energy. They've been around since Survival Test. They drop 0-2 pork, which feeds 1 1/2 hunger raw, and 4 hunger after being cooked in a furnace. They currently are the only animal ridden via saddle, but one cannot control them. If you are lucky it will fall into a minecart, and the player and the pig we'll be able to ride around.

Sheep

Sheep are mostly useless. They've been around since Survival Test, and the wool they drop can only be used as a building block, or to make a painting. When hit, they will drop 1-3 pieces of wool.

Cow
Cows have been around since indev. There main purpose is to supply a renewable source of leather, which can be used to create armor. They can also be used to get a bucket of milk. If you go up to a cow and milk it by right clicking it, you get a bucket of milk. This is useful for making a cake.

Mooshroom

Mooshroom have been around since Beta 1.9. They are cows that have mushrooms on them, essentially. They "moo" and have "shrooms". They only spawn in the mushroom biome though, but serve a very awesome niche if you can find them. Using a bowl on them gives you unlimited amounts of mushroom soup, shearing them gives you 5 mushrooms, and breeding them with normal cows gives you either a normal cow or a mooshroom.




Chicken


The chicken has been around since alpha, and are one of two sources for feathers. Another chicken drop is an egg. An egg may be thrown, and after being thrown has a 1/8 chance of spawning a chicken. Eggs are also part of the cake recipe.