Hey, Taernians!
May greeted us intensely, as the past few weeks were spent finalizing the content related to In Cold Blood. Now that the Monastery, with Volkhard hidden within its darkness, is available to the strongest Broken Ranks players, we’ll slowly start returning to the topics we mentioned in the April DevBlog. But for now… let’s talk a little about some other things we’ve been thinking about - for example, guilds.
Broken Ranks is an MMORPG in which many of you spend a huge amount of time fighting, managing your character, communicating, or trading with other players. And the more systems you engage with, the more important convenience becomes. One unclear screen, one button in the wrong place - each of these things alone may seem minor, but together… they can effectively distract from what makes the game great. The mobile version only raises the stakes, because the screen is smaller, a finger is not a cursor, and the margin for UI design errors is much narrower. That’s why we’ve recently been heavily focusing on UI and UX, making everything work as it should on every device. And this naturally ties into the MMORPG community aspect, and therefore guilds in Broken Ranks.
Guilds
The Guild system is currently one of the main topics the UI/UX team is focused on. This isn’t just about adapting it for mobile - we’re also implementing specific features many of you have been requesting for a long time.
Recruitment and Its Window
We are designing a new guild recruitment window. We want players to be able to easily find guilds with open recruitment and apply to them without any issues. On the guild side, a filter system will appear - Chancellors and Strategists will be able to define exactly who they are looking for. Filters will include things such as character class, power level, and character level.
We also don’t want the system to work only one way, where players search for guilds. We want to allow individual players to post advertisements as someone actively looking for a guild.
At the same time, we’re solving a pain point every Chancellor knows well: guild invitations will also be possible for players who are currently offline.
Transferring the Chancellor Rank
This is a topic that has appeared in suggestions for a very long time. We are working on the ability to transfer the Chancellor rank to a selected player. Importantly, the current Chancellor will also be able to choose which rank they themselves will remain at after giving up leadership, without having to manually rearrange permissions afterward.
Resource Management
We are also analyzing ways to improve resource transfers within guilds. The details are still being discussed, but the direction is clear: we want guild logistics to simply be less tedious.
We are also thinking about several features that would make everyday guild management easier. Among the ideas currently on the list are a contribution management system and shortening the process of accessing guilds through the Escort. And there’s one more topic some of you may be waiting for even more eagerly than certain new content updates. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome with thunderous applause… guild member online statuses. #greenDot - yes, that tiny little green indicator next to an avatar that makes such a huge difference is finally coming. ;)
Guild Notification System
We also plan to introduce notifications related to guild functionality. The goal is for important information to reach you automatically instead of forcing you to regularly check every building individually. Notifications will include things such as food running low in cages, completed constructions, or portals ready to be charged. Importantly, the system will adapt to the player’s specific guild rank, so you will only receive information about things you can actually interact with.
Building Action History
Chancellors will receive a tool many guilds have been waiting for - a history of actions performed within buildings. Yes, you will be able to check who used the teleport, who recharged the temple, who used the buffs, and so on. Useful both for daily management and resolving possible misunderstandings.
What If You Don’t Have a Guild Yet?
Players without a guild will receive a set of useful UI-level features. You will be able to browse guilds that are recruiting, advertise yourself as a player looking for one, create your own guild without unnecessary map-traveling, and learn how guilds actually work and what benefits they provide. We want entering this system to be as simple as possible, especially for new players.
Guild Coats of Arms
This topic is still in the internal discussion phase, but the DevBlog is the perfect place to mention it. We are considering whether and in what form to introduce guild coat of arms customization. As soon as we have more specific information, we’ll definitely let you know.
Teleportation Tower
Alongside these guild-related changes, we also decided to redesign how the Teleportation Tower works. Previously, charging the Tower unlocked a pool of scrolls available for collection. The problem was that if you didn’t claim them before the next charge cycle, they would simply disappear. This is neither a good nor intuitive solution.
The new functionality will closely resemble the Temple mechanics. The Tower will have a set number of charges available during a cycle, and the teleport will recharge regularly. No more disappearing scrolls, no more racing against time - you simply use it whenever you need it.
That’s all for the May DevBlog. Guilds are an important part of every MMO and just as important a part of Broken Ranks, so we want to make sure they are done properly - both on PC and mobile devices. Take care and see you next time!
