lol "they changed it so it sucks now," the thread. This happens literally every time they add anything at all to the game, having failed to get approval from the "bought it ten years ago and been bitching about it ever since while still playing it regularly" committee, because [thing they added in this update] isn't exactly and precisely [thing I once thought of, mentioned once on some unofficial forum thread somewhere, ergo they fucking owe me], so it's "the worst change ever." This remains the most modding-friendly and easily-modded sandbox game of all time. You can literally add whatever you think is missing yourself if Mojang/Microsoft keep "missing the mark."
First part is true, Minecraft players are utterly obsessed with complaining and whining about how the game isn't perfect, IIRC that's a big symptom of why Notch himself sold the game. But, using an excuse of "IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT MOD IT" has been used to silence ANY modern criticism about the game and does nothing to help Minecraft.
I do note the troon-coded color scheme, but expect that murdering fucking everything in this new dimension will be immensely satisfying, much to their utter shock and horror as players invade this new "uwu" aesthetic and lay waste to it in their private sandboxes. It was the same as with that troon-coded bee thing they added. You could kill those too.
I will take pleasure in killing the cute animals, but for the amount of time involved in getting to the dimension to do that, it's not a worthwhile investment for the 15 seconds of joy you'll get. People don't play Minecraft for killing cute animals, that's just a fun feature depending on the player.
You can always still play older releases or mod the new shit out if you want, too.
I play 1.12.2 all the time, and I'm happy that they've maintained the older versions' accessibility. But like I said, saying that "there's always old versions chuddy" is a dumb excuse.
I've already discovered a foolproof way to avoid this new dimension too. It's a similar tactic to how The Nether can be avoided completely by failing to build a rectangular "portal-like" shape out of obsidian blocks and opting out of the "ignite it with flint steel" process. This method works, even 100k blocks away from spawn. I've evaded being kidnapped by The End in several sandbox instances by ignoring the game's sneaky psychological warfare trying to trick me into hunting down an End portal, hunting and killing Endermen, slotting their eyes precisely into the activation slots and leaping into the mystical portal that emerges.
What is a game when you don't need to interact with things at all? I mean, yes, you're right, Minecraft IS INDEED a sandbox game, but the Nether and the End were designed and created with the intention of people interacting with it, therefore, other gameplay mechanics were shaped around that intention, and from that, the gameplay progression was changed. Survival Mode is Minecraft at it's best, a great mix of sandbox and SURVIVAL. You want to do the things you believe is the right way Minecraft players should treat the game? Play Creative mode. Most things modern Mojang puts out is shit they advertise as "improving game progression" or "making the game more interesting" while it has zero reason to be made, found, interacted with, or even acknowledged, unlike the additions of the older versions which were mindful.
Minecraft is a GAME, and often times in designing a game you make everything serve a purpose, and purpose is not complete without a NEED. Why get something like say, armor, when you don't NEED it, the thing is, you DO need it. Armor is needed to survive the challenges the game makes you face. Why go through those challenges? So you can have better capability to do shit in this sandbox. Progression isn't everything like some people try to make it, but it's vital to Minecraft's whole gameplay outside of Creative Mode.