Imo, the "goal" is still to mine, kill and create for all eternity for no specific reason.

But I guess getting to the End is some sort of final goal. It's pretty hard to get there as you have to find a Stronghold, and those are rare and only found underground.

The addition of the food bar, XP and The End felt pointless to me, so 1.0 was a bit of a let-down. Though perhaps my expectations were a bit bloated.

I've still played it more than most other games this gen, and I haven't even thought about touching the multiplayer.

So there's really no other missions or quests than getting to that final boss?

No, unless you count getting access to a Stronghold and all other parts of getting to the final boss as quests. That's why I think the final boss was kinda pointless as it won't add much for those that already enjoys Minecraft and it's not enough to attract gamers that wants bosses, quests, etc.

I've probably put more hours into Minecraft than any other game.

I remember it being called Minecrack at one point as it was so addictive.

Back when I bought the game in alpha, it was late afternoon. I went to bed the next day at 4am.

Minecrack indeed.

I was a Minecrack once, but I stopped since April. I tried to get into it again, but with 1.0, there are so many new features I feel quite overwhelmed.

I personally thought the step towards "realism" was frustrating, the need to sate hunger, retarded villages and all are really annoying. Although the food is a lot easier to acquire now since all friendly mobs drop meat, it's still a pain having to carry it around, and if you need some fast hearts you have to wait for regeneration.

I personally liked Beta a lot more, the only welcome addition to me personally are the ravines, since once you find one, you are almost guaranteed to find a decently sized underground complex to explore + diamonds. Also Iron is ridiculously common now - I got 4 stacks in about 2 hours yesterday with a friend, who also got about 3 and a half.