Why didnt they just adjust trade prices? you could easily charge emerald block for high end items, while also reducing trades to something brutal like 64/1.
the problem is that on top of adding a logistical nightmare to standard worlds, a biome dependent trading system alienates everyone whos on a non standard biome world. superbiome and amplified are going to be way harder, and neither superflat nor skyblock will even have mending tools at all without using commands. which to be honest, is exactly how im to be getting mending books in the future if this nerf remains.
it also completely destroys the concept of the village style build. why would i bother build a bunch of huts for different trades if im limited on my trades? i want to concentrate my builds in one area. if i now have to do it in 4 seperate locations that are thousands of blocks apart im just not going to do it at all.
overall, i suspect this nerf was aimed at the kind of players who would rather see a pick as a trophy than an actual tool. the kind of player that sees The End as literally the end of the game, and not the ironically titled real beginning of a long term world.
i didnt say it was less building. Its that im forced to build in a specific way that i dont want to just to solve a non issue that could easily have been solved in other ways. I like to build centrally and thematically around my starter base. the mason gets a mason themed house, the toolsmiths get a forge. the farmers get a farmers market. etc etc. this is a common way to play and by far the most obvious intended use of villagers. why would it make sense to nerf this style of play into uselessness or force players to make multiple villages? most people i know can barely finish one village, much less 7.