Hello Taernians!
We’re launching something new for you – the Dev Blog (or old, for the dinosaurs who still remember blog.taern.com). This is a different format than the usual news posts with a fixed list of changes. We see your great involvement in the game’s development, and that’s why we want to share what’s currently happening in production and what we’re planning for the future. In this series, we’ll talk about our plans and thoughts so you can better understand the process behind making the game.
The changes we share here are not yet set in stone. Some may change, some may never make it into the game. But we want you to know what we’re working on, what directions we’re considering, and what decisions lie ahead.
When creating an MMO, every decision affects other elements of gameplay. Sometimes we need more time for testing and careful consideration of the next steps. At the same time, we feel it’s worth inviting you into these reflections, because your feedback is often very valuable.
So, let’s get into the details.
PTR – Public Test Realm
For a long time, we’ve been thinking about launching an open server where all engaged players could test changes before they’re introduced. Many of you have asked for such a possibility. Since it’s quite a lot of work and we’ve always felt the pressure of the roadmap, we postponed it for a long time. But now the time has come!
In about two weeks, we’ll open the PTR – the public test server. You’ll be able to help us test the changes described below. This will be your chance to give feedback, tell us what works, and what you think needs improvement. Your opinions matter.
The PTR will have its own client, with an installer and instructions available on our website. Using it, you’ll be able to log in with any character from any public server onto the test server. At the moment of logging in, your character’s current state will be imported into the PTR.
New Stat – Intelligence. New Buff System
One of the new features we’re working on is the introduction of a new stat – Intelligence. It will now determine the difficulty of casting buffs (taking over this role from Knowledge) and will also increase their duration.
Why this idea? Let us explain.
As you know, relying on Knowledge provided a certain advantage to mages, since it was a stat they naturally invested in. Characters built on physical stats were at a disadvantage here. This was especially noticeable for the Knight, whose role in team play is to buff allies, and having a lot of Knowledge made this easier. Unfortunately, it didn’t translate into effectiveness in solo play.
How it’s gonna work:
- Intelligence reduces AP costs and extends buff durations.
- Most buff durations will be shortened, and extending them will require investing in Intelligence or leveling skills higher.
- Intelligence can be increased only by allocating stat points obtained through leveling – for now, you won’t be able to increase it with gear or flasks.
- Buffs will get varying difficulties, so Intelligence requirements will depend on the strength and usefulness of a given skill.
What this means in practice:
- Casting buffs with 1 AP will become more challenging and require investing in Intelligence.
- Mages won’t automatically have an advantage over physical builds.
- Everyone will have to decide whether to develop Intelligence or focus on other stats, at the cost of higher AP requirements for buffs.
Analyzing your suggestions, one proposal often came up: balance the discrepancy so that mages cast buffs with Knowledge, and physical classes with Dexterity. Indeed, that would level the playing field. But we see a few problems here:
- Autopilot: buffing would become completely routine. You’d invest only in the same stats that already boost damage and accuracy, so there’s no real choice.
- Lore vs. design: the old model of “buffs = magic = Knowledge” made sense in terms of lore, but it wasn’t fair design-wise. On the other hand, tying buffs to Dexterity feels forced – suddenly magic would depend on a purely physical stat.
- Role separation: we want every stat to have a clear, precise purpose, instead of being “good for everything.” (This is also a small teaser for further stat system changes we’re loosely considering, but nothing more we can say yet 😉).
That’s why we’re introducing Intelligence as the stat responsible for buffs (for all professions). It’s our way of reducing discrepancies: it levels the playing field, stays true to the theme of “magic = mental attribute,” and restores decision-making, which is key in games – buffs require conscious investment, instead of just “coming along for free.”
Maybe you also have an interesting idea of what else Intelligence could influence in combat?
Knight Overhaul
The Knight is a class we’ve been planning to rework for a long time. The changes aim to make every Knight feel more impactful in combat. A well-developed Knight should make a real difference in a party.
How it will work:
- Battle Fervor will be replaced by Shield Strike – a melee attack (with crushing type of damage) that also applies a debuff significantly reducing the enemy’s mental damage if they were previously affected by Calculated Strike.
- Mighty Blow and Calculated Strike will be improved. Mighty Blow will hit harder, and Calculated Strike will weaken defense instead of accuracy, and will further boost Mighty Blow’s damage.
- Sacrifice and Power of Unity will no longer stack hit and damage modifiers from drifs. Instead, they’ll boost stats. Sacrifice will raise Strength and Power, while Power of Unity will raise Dexterity and Knowledge. Scaling will depend on the Knight’s level and attribute distribution.
- Aura of Purity at master levels will provide additional resistances calculated differently: partly a fixed amount, partly a bonus based on the target’s max resistances.
- Shield Block debuff will deactivate when HP falls below 40%.
- Shields will finally be able to hold offensive orbs.
In practice:
- Fewer Knight buffs, more offensive action – Knights will be more active in combat and less dependent on buffing.
- Solo play will be easier thanks to stronger Mighty Blow and Calculated Strike.
- A well-built Knight will provide better team support.
Sheed Adjustments
We also plan changes for Sheed. We feel that Front Kick is currently too powerful, and this has also been a concern raised by other classes. We want to tone it down while opening new synergies with other classes.
How it will work:
- Front Kick will reduce melee defense less but will add an effect that increases melee damage from Sheed’s skills and any ranged attacks, regardless of profession.
- Chi Punch damage will be reduced.
In practice:
- Sheed won’t be able to strip all melee defense with one skill anymore.
- Ranged characters will gain more advantage thanks to synergy with Sheed, balancing out the debuff timing.
Other Balance Changes
- Thick Skin at master levels will also give percentage-based resistance (like Purity Aura).
- Dispersion Aura will be reworked for endgame relevance. Instead of stacking with alorn drif, it will share the effect with orbs that reduce zone damage, bypassing the cap.
- The per-level growth of elemental damage in drifs will be nerfed from 0.5% to 0.35%.
- Voodoo’s Pierce Doll will have reduced damage to balance debuffer DPS.
- Fireball will get a damage boost to reduce the gap between the two main DPS classes.
Quality of Life
Balance aside, we know you’ve long asked for changes that simply make daily play easier. We get tons of great ideas from you every day, and while we can’t add them all at once, here’s what’s coming soon:
- Challenge re-rolls – rerolling a challenge will push it to the end of the queue, preventing the same tasks from repeating too often. (But!) The cost will increase with each reroll.
- Skill & stat presets – save your build and switch with one click. Reset costs stay the same, but switching between saved configs will be quick and easy.
- New Greater Hawk and Wendigo instances – available periodically in dynamic events, increasing access to rare items and adding variety.
- Daily quests – we’re improving rewards so they feel more worthwhile.
Instance Rewarding – A Tough Nut to Crack
We often discuss how to make instance rewards more balanced. Ideally, level-appropriate instances should always be the most profitable choice, but we don’t want to remove the option of farming easier, favorite bosses.
For now, we don’t have a fully satisfying solution. That’s why this won’t make it into the next update yet. We’re still working on it and testing different approaches to find the sweet spot.
We want you to know this is still under consideration – no concrete declarations yet. But it’s on our radar, and we’ll keep returning to it.
Summary
That’s it for now regarding our near-future plans. As you can see, some changes are already detailed, some still need testing, and others are just ideas we may expand… or abandon if they don’t work out.
That’s exactly why we launched the Dev Blog – so you can be closer to the process and better understand the work behind balance and new features. It’s important to us that you know some decisions are tough, and some solutions may change many times before reaching the game.
We encourage you to test everything on the PTR and share your feedback. The more feedback we get, the higher the chance the final changes will match what you truly need.
See you on the trail!
