Broken Ranks tests report, ongoing work, 2D client – Currently working on… e. 209

In this post we would like to answer your most pressing questions about the 2D client. We’ll also tell you more about the playtests of Broken Ranks conducted by a consulting company. You’ve been asking us a lot about Guilds so as a cherry on top, let’s take a look at new guild building concept arts.

Desktop client

The good news is that the client for the English version of the game will be ready in about two weeks. Thanks to it, you’ll be able to continue your adventures in Taern even when Flash is disabled. When the client is ready, all you’ll need to do is install the launcher and it’ll automatically download all the files you need for the game. On the plus side, having a client will make patching the game much more comfortable for you.

Windows and Flash Player

While we’re talking about the client, we’d also like to mention something you might have read on other websites. Microsoft has released a new update (KB4577586) for Windows 10 that uninstalls Flash. In addition to that, the update makes it impossible to install Flash again. So far, the update is not part of the automatic Windows Update system but it will be at the beginning 2021. That’s why it’s so important for you to install the client once it is available. Otherwise you’ll not be able to play the game after Flash is disabled.

Launcher troubleshooting

As for the client itself, we’d like to address some issues so you know what to do when it is available. First of all, sometimes the installation process may stop dead and the installer will not be doing anything. If this happens, just download the file once more and try again. This issue is caused by an incorrectly downloaded package, e.g. due to the server being overloaded. The same goes for any errors after installation,during downloading, and after the gamefiles are unpacked. In most cases, uninstalling the launcher, removing any remaining files, and installing it again solves any issues.

We’re also trying to fix this on our end. We’ll be adding a file verification module that’ll check if everything has downloaded correctly and if any files are missing.

Zoom for high-resolution screens

We’ve also added a zoom function that you can access by clicking on the plus and minus symbols at the top of the screen. It is especially helpful with high-resolution screens because otherwise the game world becomes very small. You can use the zoom when walking across the world and in combat.

Faster loading and better performance

Thanks to the client, maps are loaded much faster and the game doesn’t slow down when you’re doing something else and minimizing the client window. We are very happy about this and we’re sure you’ll be too 😉

FAQ

What about players logging to the game with Facebook?

The issue here is more complicated that it may seem. We’re currently working on making it possible for people using Facebook to transition to the client without any issues. We’ll have more information for you soon.

What about people using a Windows version older than 7, Linux or an Apple product?

The game client is only compatible with Windows versions 7 and higher. It will not work on Windows XP. However, you shouldn’t worry about this. To quote Drygu: ‘Windows XP has the upside of not getting any more updates. This means that the browser version of the game will still work in 2021.’ The same is true about Linux – the launcher will not work but you’ll still be able to play in your browsers. As for Apple products, there will be no client for the current version of the game. However, Broken Ranks will most likely have a client for Apple.

Is there a mobile client?

There’s no mobile client. However, the game should continue working on mobile browsers (e.g. Puffin and Dolphin) without any changes.

Broken Ranks

Tests by TryEvidence

The most important thing we want to talk to you about are tests. We’ve received the second playtest report. They were conducted using the same techniques as before but on a larger audience. Of course, they were carried out after the issues from the previous report had been fixed. The analysis of these reports will dictate our priorities when working on Broken Ranks so some members of our team have been diving deep into them. The testers were told (like the last time) to finish the beginning of the main storyline, which means the prologue together with tutorials, some new quests and initial instances. Basically the starting area.

Test reports

So how did the tests go?
We’ve been praised for the excellent graphics, engaging quests, and interesting main storyline. However, the thing that’s been complimented the most is our combat system – it’s very original and creates interesting and immersive fights. It is our biggest asset.

As for complaints, we’ve been criticized for all the elements that we know are not yet ready but we’re working on them. The combat system and mechanics are much better explained than previously but still more advanced information is missing. We’ll be expanding the current tutorial system if it proves to be effective.

Other complaints:

  • no exploration elements – we’ve left the map component for the last stage of improvements.
  • no crafting – at the moment gathering is not implemented at all in BR (we’ve left the implementation of it for the end) but the current system will be fully transitioned from Taern before the release. A more extensive crafting system is something we’ll be adding in future updates.
  • character development at lower levels and platinum transactions – we need to rebalance the economy of a new server at lower levels and this is also something we’ve left for last. We need to discuss how easy it should be to get equipment, gold and experience. It’s something we haven’t touched for years. On the existing servers, you can buy anything from other players. New servers will not have this option. The testers were also under the impression that you can’t buy anything in shops without platinum – we’ll improve the UI to address this. Another issue was that pets can only be bought with platinum.
    Here’s a question for you: what are the other obstacles for new players? What do you think we should improve to make new player experience better? Especially at low levels? What would you change?
  • we’ve also received a lot of miscellaneous feedback and suggestions about UI: combat, interface. We’re still working on these elements and the current appearance of the game is not final – we leave these changes for last because later on we may add some new functionalities that may need to be included.

What’s next?

It’s easy to guess what our next steps are:

  • finishing the tutorials – we know that enfranchised players don’t really care about tutorials. However, they are extremely important for those players who’ll be joining us when Broken Ranks is released. It’s the first moments that often decide whether a player continues to play or abandons the game entirely. Our new tutorials that focus on gradual and precise explanation of various game mechanics have received much praise. We still need to finish them – create advanced combat tutorials that players can replay whenever they want.
  • exploration – we definitely need to improve this feature. There are two parts of it:
    1. finishing the world map with its additional features (uncovering newfound areas, adding a list of NPCs with quests/tasks, shops and various other information).
    2. adding a basic feature that promotes exploration and adds incentives for completionists – the game world will be divided into parts and each part will have a number of quests to discover, tasks to take, instances to do, etc. It will be very tightly related to the map.
  • improving UI – finalizing every detail of the interface.
  • balancing the starting areas focusing on new player experience (ways to earn gold, get equipment, potions, pets, leveling pace, quest rebalance, etc.).

In addition to the points above, we’re also working on two major improvements indirectly related to chats:

  • party finder
  • and (this is not a joke!) a marketplace. Yes, this one is mandatory. Really!

That’s all as far as the things we’re still working on. As for the whole transition from Taern to Broken Ranks, a majority of the work is done.

What are we working on?

We are still in the middle of the boring process of transitioning and improving hordes of mobs, NPCs, quests, animations, art, etc. We’ve also started working on one of the major undertakings – redesigning the avatars of NPCs and mobs. However, this one doesn’t need to be fully implemented before the release. We’ll do as much as we can. In short, we want them to be bigger, more pronounced and drawn consistently in a more modern style. Below you can see examples of how the new style will look in practice. This is how we want all avatars of NPCs and mobs to look. Here are the faces of two guards you’ll meet in Trentis – Ollte and Enas:

After clipping to the right size, Ollte’s avatar will look like this in the game:

Quests

And while we’re on the subject of quests, let’s explore it a bit more. We are in the process of transferring existing quests to Broken Ranks. At surface level, this may seem easy. Copy + paste and we’re done. 😉 However, implementing them like this would make them compare very unfavorably to the new ones. That’s why we’re making minor or major changes to most of them. We are also going to simply remove those that are the most badly designed and add nothing to the lore of the game. Walls of text, lots of descriptions, too much tell and not enough show – these are the things we know well from 2D and it’s especially true for the oldest quests. Their refreshed versions will be more dynamic, both in conversations and mechanics. They’ll be more interesting and include more eye candy.

Main storyline

We are currently finalizing quests in the area of Trentis. Most of them have been tested and their development is finished. At the moment we are working on quests from two other big regions: Alaril together with the caves as well as Khold Forest and Mountains. We’ve also begun checking the main storyline. We want to treat it with special care. In the end, fighting for Taern is the greatest and most important task. We want players to feel even more involved.

Of course we haven’t forgotten about adding new content. Recently we’ve added a new boss quest (in the end we want every boss in the game to have some story behind them) – something for those who like to spend hours in the Bear Den. Is it possible to use the setting of Romeo and Juliet for a quest that involves the bloodthirsty Bear? Of course it is. We’re also going to twist and turn the story a little bit, and add some magic… In Broken Ranks you’ll be able to acquaint yourselves with this slightly strange yet very engaging story. 😉

Graphics

We’re also working on improving the visuals of the most important elements of quests. One of the most memorable characters in the main storyline is undoubtedly Kadri. She’ll be helping us in Broken Ranks too. Not just with her words but also with two swords. She’s young and attractive. On top of being a battle-hardened warrior of course. You’d better not mess with her! And here you can see her unique model:

We could be asking you if you like Kadri’s model but with the next mob whose appearance we’ve managed to finalize, this question seems superfluous. Here’s the new ogre in its full glory:

Guild arts

In the previous post, we added some concept art of guild buildings. We are still working on them and we would like you to see how the concept art of the teleporter and deposit is evolving:

Cages are on the next stage of development. Here’s a render of a 3D model created based on the concept art from the previous post:

And that’s all from the world of Taern. Thank you for reading the whole post and see you next month. And don’t forget to let us know what you think about the content of today’s post in the comments below!

16 thoughts on “Broken Ranks tests report, ongoing work, 2D client – Currently working on… e. 209

  1. You guys when u can, put others languages in game, if you guys need a free translator i can be for portuguese language as well.
    Another stuff, put more pets if you can, to make it dynamic.
    ty

  2. All feels so fine, visible and great, 3D at the last!. it makes me remember my prince of persia sands of time gameplays. back at 2009or was it 10

  3. “Here’s a question for you: what are the other obstacles for new players? What do you think we should improve to make new player experience better? Especially at low levels? What would you change?”

    Lack of content. Need more maps, more mobs, and even more gear to drop to remove frustration. So is needed to add new “average/intermediate” gears, between usual (grey, shop) and rares ones. The system of quality (stars) can be used with those items.

    There are two big issues for new players : farming and lack of drops.
    If we keep the farm because it’s the base of the game, we have to change the dropping system. So adding new intermediate gears. This would result in more drops, less frustration and so people can still farming for rares.

    ” We need to discuss how easy it should be to get equipment, gold and experience. ”

    The big problem is gold, experience should be multiplied at least by 2 or people will flee.
    Concerning gear, a new type of gear would fix the problem (as mentionned previously). A new type who would have a real drop rate, not a drop rate made to hide the lack of content. Increasing grey items drop rate could be a interesting thing too. The game generates too much frustration due to the lack of drops, lack of rewards for killing a boss, so the new players would leave.

    Except the game system itself, there’s no other barrier for new players, in my opinion.

    Important thing to take in consideration, very important : The gaming “community” has… evolved, or regressed, and so people want everything faster and immediatly. At the moment, the game is designed to be a hard and farming game. As farming is the base of the game, adding comfort is needed to keep new players, at least a little. If Taern manages to keep something like 10k international players, it would already be a great success. And as I said, to keep players, a big part of the frustration has to be removed.

    Concerning graphics : I’m happy to see the new Kadri, she’s perfect ! The ogre has a good look too but on the screen, there’s something worrying me/making me “tick”. The render with the ogre and the herb of the floor. It’s… not natural… I mean, we don’t see the shadow, or the render shows two too much different things, as if the ogre has no place there. How to put it… I have this problem with 3D renders and using HDRI. Maybe adding some 3D herbs layer to hide a part of the foot or something like this could help adding more realism. Actually, it’s like two superimposed textures.

    Models still good ! Continue like this !

  4. I personally think the grinding is the base too, but xperiencing must not be made too easy.. dont give the new players the tought of finishing the game fast!
    gears ok whatever, can make sets that dont even work for a thing, like a fisherman set or firefighter or ogre killer set (like a rogue double shortsword fatt gutter) xd

  5. 1 problem. the game has no advertising and by chance a person finds it..secondly, the texts of tasks and missions cannot be copied to be translate by people who do not know English…a task can be invented to give 5 or 10 platinum for player incentive…a 10-day free VIP and random event can be introduced every few months, for example, a recurring box with a certain reward…for the starting players there is not much opportunity to extract gold.can in trentis invent a new farm..it would be good if the levels were raised to 160 and a new location with new bosses and champions and a set of 150 respectively…why do they stop people from playing. simply the drop prices are too high and are not on everyone’s finances and to buy from the players’ market..must have a maximum regulated price from the game

  6. I answered this question on the Polish post so I’ll add different details here, following Elementis’s lead, exp in groups make no sense, a lower level player gains no exp, so playing with someone stronger than you gives you 1 or 0 exp. Why should i play this game with a stronger friend or nice player if i gain nothing in return, yet if i die in battle i lose 90-300 exp depending on penalty RNG, and if i have no gold i lose even more exp, i lost 25 friends to this because they had no gold, tried to fight the wrong mobs and lost all their exp in 1 death.

    Also—- 2 skeleton archers(lv 14) gives more exp than 2 ogres(20,22)… why is that? What kind of exp formula does this game use, it needs to be re calculated so farming and proper mobs give proper exp, BOAR only gives 100 exp and it has 800 HP, fix these early game mechanics you all are ignoring, aren’t your testors reporting this in Broken ranks???

    >increase exp rate in parties by 60-80%, for lower levels/pets. ( or remove exp splitting period, so partying isn’t a mood killer)
    >Create better gear drops from mobs level 4-16, Skeletons drop nothing at all but potions, why should we fight them when you can get to level 20 off spiders and black widows? Now here’s the downside, by the time i farm to level 20 i got no gold to buy level 20 gear, no friends to help me enter Alaril because the cave grants no recovery or tips on ogres who guard the entrance who’re truly level 30, but says level 20, and give weak exp for a big mob.

    >Crafting is limited to pay 2 win only, or remaking the same character over to level 15/20 to gain plat just to buy incubators to craft +1 stat…. 1 stat does nothing for a new players appeal lol, imma 6 year player and i never touched crafting at all because you have to do way to much for 1 stat point, that’s not difficult thats a waste of time.

    >Older players enjoy making new players quit because this is a pvp intense game, You just got a rare/ loot, you get pk’d you lose said gear you quit….Players only care about being greedy and selfish and if they can’t feel accomplished than they just won’t touch the game, and will go play fortnite… ( literally).

    > Remove the exp cap on pets!!!!…. Allow your pets to reach a higher level than the player, so what if you get less exp, this would make pets useful in a well kept players hands, especially if they die but the pet finishes the fights a lot. Why does this system exist….. and before you say ” BECAUSE you get less exp if the pets higher level, WHY DOES this system exist as-well these are useless systems that ruin your own game, stop limiting players progression!!!” This is why new players quit, your not making a difficult game your making their efforts laughable in the eyes of some person who just spends 20$ and buys all the pets/gear and fights mobs way stronger than them and buys 100 potions so they never die, pay 2 win = TAERN, otherwise no need to even play, which is why they do not play lol.

  7. If the Devs make ‘partying’ rewarding with more xp, then people will have the easier time to level up, this game isnt designed that way.
    Grinding is the base of this game, imagine getting all of the levels in a year, and all the items in that same year.. finish the game fast as a mobile game.. I have left this game many times due to no friends to party with, not because of ‘how’ difficult items are acquired or the leveling. Yet i have to agree to the point of losing big portion of XP when you reach 0HP is bad!
    Imagine if lower level player gets BOOSTED! by a higher level player, with XP while killing higher level mobs. It will absolutely bring booster profiting. Theres already lempo baits and such + theres ALT XP BUFF… +Guild XP buff, what else?

    “Alba” – there is already game marketing price on the items, yet it is not profitable for some.. acting by how much you need it, and how much you are willing to pay for it is more how it goes with everyone. Best is to form a family and stick at runnin the boss yourselfs.

    BTW wth is incubator?
    “mindblown”

    Selling items and getting rewarded with platinum at Halloween event.
    then theres also way to craft INHIBITOR with gold. Even if the higher tiers require plat and are expencive non-craftable INHIBITOR’S. That can be something for the devs to think on. Ive seen those drop, yet harder to drop Ingredients required to craft those can be good!

    In my opinion the PLAYERS you guys want so much to stick with the game are going to stick if they really like it. 2D is shit, 3D is Gold.. so add some real promises, maps and gear, sets.. that they can look good in, instance’s of bosses that dont drop air. Like the bear boss, he always drops some damaged but atleast items that give gold when you sell..so it was worth the time?!

    If boar gives you 100 xp you overleved it, time to move?
    all is according to your level, imagine yourself level 30 and you kill boars as easy as noding your head.. and there is another player that wants to kill a boar and his level is 15.. u get 100 xp, he gets 400 or more, but he gets no boars because of you? this is an issue coming from lack of maps or servers, or less mob types. Depending where you play that is, polish servers have this issue because they got loads of players.. I believe the game is enough for all In the moment, after starting to advertise it as in 3D, i believe there is going to be loads of them pouring in it to test. Would like to say that its important to make impression as easily, then make difficult for items of middle tier and the higher tiers to drop. How important is to have lots of low level items? not much, so making ‘Geomorph’ and up to ‘Garthmog’ and ‘Ghadira’ items drop %+ is important i think.

    Also you dont lose any gear that is rare, even those that you bought from shop and upgraded to +3.
    Potions are not usable IN-FIGHT, can use them when your done the fight, died or won. On red or purple ground, yellow and green you rest, i know people that didnt pay 1cent to this game and still have MORANA/SELENA/ ADMIRAL/EPIC items 😛

  8. The post above me must be in some form of mockery it seems because he had helped where’s a player like me did not, ( this also leads to less new players playing early on BTW).

    I’ve tested all mobs levels 1-20 solo with 4 different classes/alts and different battles/tactics to trigger the exp ranges. BOAR (level 14) has 600 hp, insane stamina and mana, high resistances and gives 78-94 exp regardless of your level or party/team. This is a huuge example of what you devs did wrong with taern, creating strong mobs with weak rewards, these mobs are not fought in polish or EU or USA servers people always say skip them their “useless” mobs to this game. This has been a thing for almost 8 years, and no change has been made nor have they been addressed. Hunters- are slightly behind Boars on this list of mobs with no purpose in this game, fix the rewards of drops and exp or expect to lose more and more players in this modern day where killing a stronger mob rewards better exp not the same amount as killing a level 6 mob (bald bandit).

  9. Hi, everything is great, but if it is not too laty, can u put some more locations in teleportation tower… For example glade, beirn forest, or mountineside!Tit entranse will be great ????????

  10. Another suggestion of mine is to replace the mass buff of firemage, which is useless yet with this 8% at 7lvl, with some really good debuff because the fm is the the only class with only warcry for help against the enemy out of party, somethig that less damage of the enemy and gives more chance to hit for example

Leave a Reply to Alba Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *