Hey Taernians,
Late February means a new Dev Blog.As announced during our birthday - on March 3rd we're launching the mobile Early Access (Android) in Poland. In this Dev Blog you'll find out what to expect at launch and why we decided to go with this format in the first place. We'll also share our thoughts on changes to the out-of-combat resource regeneration system, and we need to have an honest conversation about what's happening with our roadmap and what we're planning for 2026.
Let's dive in!
Mobile Early Access PL on Android - what you're getting at launch
The mobile version will be in a very advanced state at launch. All boss instances, quests, tasks, champions, daily and weekly challenges will be available - basically everything you're used to from the PC version. The fate of the Marketplace is still being decided. It's currently being tested, but all signs point to it making it in time for launch. We're optimistic.
The Trials of the Lodge are the biggest question mark. We can't guarantee that feature will be ready for the EA launch. The UI for that mode just entered development. We don't yet know if we'll have enough time to fully finish, test, and debug it before EA starts. If we're not confident in the quality - we won't force it out.
Regarding the new PL server — we’ll share more details in the next news update this Tuesday (24.02).
What else will be missing at launch:
- achievements window
- drop history/statistics UI
- improved marketplace logs and history tab
- final UI polish
- Legends (weapons) crafting UI
- arena and tournaments
- faction shop
Things that will be in prototype form:
- Guild UI and guild plot view
- Messages (inbox) window
- dynamic events view
- Friends window
- chat
- news module on the Character selection screen
Last changes
Together with a 186-person tester group, we compiled a list of the most annoying things in the mobile version - missing features compared to PC, rough UI elements, bugs.
The biggest ones are now taken care of:
- missing player-to-player trading in the depot and in the guild plot view at the quartermaster
- simplifying how you leave a party and trade with party members
- issues with displaying linked items in chat
- targeting problems in crowded areas
Still in progress:
- creating notification filters for selected chat channels
- the game restarts after switching to another app - we need to fix this
- improving movement smoothness in narrow passages (characters can get "caught" on things)
Why Early Access?
A lot of the hard work is done, but there are still things that need polishing. We had two paths to choose from: either finish everything completely - which would mean you'd keep demanding mobile access (fair enough, you've waited a long time) - or just put it in your hands. Now. We decided the second option was the better way to go. The game is already in genuinely solid shape, and we're confident that together with you we'll reach the finish line faster and better than if we did it alone.
The second advantage of EA is that we get to see how the game behaves across a wide range of Android devices. Testing in the Philippines covered mostly newer phones, but lower-end ones, and models you don't really see in Europe. We're curious whether all that optimization work will translate 1:1 to Polish conditions.
And third - we'll be closely watching brand new players who have never laid eyes on Broken Ranks on PC. We want to understand where we're losing them during the Early and Mid Game.
What happens after Early Access?
Once we've caught and resolved the biggest issues together, we'll close EA and move on to the global launch with a full promotional push.
How long will that take? Honestly: it depends. Early Access operates by its own rules - some things to fix will only surface once we're in it with you. We can't plan for what we haven't seen yet. But we're optimistically counting that time in months. ;)
After that, we're tackling the iOS version. That's our absolute priority for this year. For Broken Ranks, 2026 is #theYearOfAMobile.
What's the deal with the 2026 Roadmap?
Up until now we built our roadmap for the entire following year using a set process:
- pick the key topics and goals we wanted to hit
- estimate each task by complexity, priority, and required resources
- arrange them into a schedule with realistic deadlines
- publish the annual plan
This approach has one major flaw: a single delay pushes everything else on the roadmap back. The whole plan starts to fall apart at the first big stumble. If something unexpected happens - a delayed feature, a serious incident like an exploit, DDoS, or critical server error, or sudden rebalancing needed after new changes - the entire roadmap goes out the window.
On top of that, this approach seriously limits our flexibility. We can't react to your feedback fast enough. Even when something like Trials of the Lodge balance clearly needs more attention and fixes, it's hard to give it that extra time because the next big topic is already waiting in the queue.
The pressure of hitting deadlines also sometimes pushed us to wrap up work on a topic early just to stay on schedule, even when we could clearly see that one more month would let us sort out the details and fix the most important problems.
As a result, even though the whole team gave 100%, the end result never felt quite satisfying.
Players felt frustrated because:
- it seemed like we weren't listening to key feedback or fixing the most important issues
- delays appeared in the second half of the year and some announced features didn't get delivered
- some new content shipped with obvious rough edges that needed further work
We felt that frustration too, because:
- we were shipping things we ourselves saw problems with, but had no time left to fix
- we worked under constant deadline pressure with a feeling of always being behind
- we couldn't pick up an important, urgent topic because it would cause even more roadmap delays
- we had to drop interesting ideas that came up mid-development simply because there was no time to implement them
So this year we're changing our approach a bit. We'll announce plans 1-2 updates ahead, as a list of topics we're working on. We'll only announce an exact patch date when we're at least 90% confident we can hit it. This will give us more flexibility to listen to your feedback and improve the quality of what we deliver. Internally we'll also keep a close eye on making sure the whole process doesn't drag on too long.
Our focus areas for 2026
Below are the areas we're concentrating on this year - things we plan to deliver as well as topics we want to start or continue developing:
- New zone, new boss instance, new enemies, new quests for level 140 characters - to expand end-game content
- New zone, new boss instance, new enemies, new quests for level 90 characters - to fill content gaps at lower levels
- Starting work on a new zone for the strongest characters - to build a new, proper end game
- Party Finder and other QoL improvements - to make the game more accessible
- Pet reform - to give our companions new purpose and support solo play
- Community update
- Early Game optimization - mechanic tutorials and an in-game help center
- Improved Early and Mid Game experience
- Improved rewarding for characters 100+
We know this is a significant shift in how we communicate, but we're hoping the mobile version and the content we deliver will make up for it - and that we can count on your understanding.
New zone [140] - a little taste of what's coming
The next major addition to Broken Ranks will give you two things: cold vampires and blood. The new zone will take you to the ancient crypts of an order that is no longer what it once was. You'll take part in a crusade against the undead, who turn out to be surprisingly... alive. A great threat looms over the world, its source a mysterious artifact of divine power that would be far better off never seeing the light of day. It all takes place at the heart of the most powerful empire the world has ever seen - Haligard. A paradox? Only if you underestimate the power and role of the vampire bloodlines.
If everything goes according to plan, it will be released in April. We’ll inform you about the exact date in upcoming blog posts.
Rest and Potions
Working on the mobile version has got us thinking about various ways to make Broken Ranks more accessible. One thing we have in mind is the out-of-combat resource regeneration system, because let's be honest - it has its issues.
We'd like to share our thinking with you: how we see it and which direction we might want to take it. These changes will affect every one of you, so before anything goes live - we want to hear what you think. Jump on Discord and let us know.
What are we dealing with?
Resting requires you to stand still, which eats up your real time and tempts you into spamming R while running - leading to that classic "sliding" effect (yes, we see it :D). On mobile this will become an even bigger problem, since fullscreen windows will cut off your access to the HUD.
Potions require waiting through a cooldown after every click. When you're running a bigger deficit, healing turns into a festival of frantic clicking and cooldown-watching. That's not how it should work.
The common thread between both problems? You lose time and energy focusing on something that should just happen in the background.
We want to keep the hierarchy - it works pretty well as it is. Resting will still be the slowest way to restore resources, small potions faster, and large potions the fastest. What we want to change is how much active involvement the process requires. Our guiding principle:
Less clicking. Less micromanaging. More playing.
What solution are we considering?
We'd like to turn Resting into a passive out-of-combat regeneration. Running in the background, not blocking movement, no need to monitor it. You'd be free to focus on actually playing the game, and your resources would fill up on their own. The regeneration rate might be slightly slower than it currently is (potentially), to keep things balanced.
Potions - we're considering replacing the current cooldowns with a healing-over-time system. Instead of:
click - wait - click - wait
it would be:
Click a few times in a row, or hold once. The game uses as many potions as needed and the healing happens in the background.
Example: you have 2000 HP to heal and potions that restore +200 HP each.
Currently: 10 clicks, 10 seconds of cooldown. You spend 10 seconds focused entirely on that one task.
Potential solution: 10 clicks in a row, or one hold, and the game handles the rest while you keep playing.
The foundation stays the same - what matters is the time it takes to heal, not the number of clicks. That time could be shortened with potions (weaker or stronger ones), buffs, and bonuses. But you'd no longer need to stand around, watch a cooldown, or spam keys.
Of course this raises more questions, like:
- what happens if I have healing queued from potions and then get pulled into combat?
- what if I accidentally queue more potions than I meant to?
- what if I queue smaller potions and then change my mind and want to use larger ones instead?
- how should alternating between different resource types work?
- how should healing yourself and your pet at the same time work?
There's a lot more to think through and we want to land on the best possible solution. One thing is certain - we want resource regeneration to be an intuitive part of the system, not a tedious obstacle to actually playing. We encourage you again to discuss this on Discord.
That's it from us for this Dev Blog.
We want to thank you for your engagement, your feedback, and for sticking with us. We appreciate that you're here with us, building the unique spirit of Broken Ranks.
See you in game.
