Yipeee! Travian 4 BETA Started

Hey Guys,

Well it's been a couple of hours since I activated my BETA account and I think I've had time to come to grips with the basics of the game so I thought I'd do an update. Unfortunately I'm banned from posting up images (for the time being) but I am allowed to say whatever I want which is good. I'll start with the basics of my own account and work my way upwards. After reading all the developer blog posts I decided I'd start as a Roman, simply because it didn't seem to get nerfed in the developer posts and I think it's my strongest tribe anyway. I've worked my way all the basic quests and interestingly there's a set of quests passed the basic ones which can be done in whatever order you want and the rewards can be collected in an order of your choice. Some of them are more long term like 'Second Village', a quest which as a reward for you receive over 5000 resources.

However I get a head of myself considerably here so let's go back to the beginning. The first thing you'll notice when you log on is that the graphics have been VASTLY improved and look pretty stunning for a strategy browser game; unfortunately because they are so detailed the first time you play takes positively ages to load which would be a turnoff for me if this wasn't the BETA. It took me about 30 seconds to a minute to load each page for the first 25 minutes I played the game. However it does improve over time (caches & the like) however I did find it still takes longer to load than the current graphics pack on Travian 3.6. I believe however, if they can reduce loading times for the first play then people will love the new graphics. Things are set out wonderfully with buttons taking you direct to the places you actually want to go. The top navigation bar has been changed from 5 buttons to six buttons, as messages and reports have been split up. When you recieve a message or report the button cleverly shows how many unread messages or reports you have remaining which will be a godsend as the game progresses. 

As I mentioned above there are quests in the game but they have been split up into two sections. The first section progresses similar to how we know it, one quest after another. However this part has been made a lot easier, gives decent rewards and seems like a new player would benefit from playing the quests and a more experienced player would lose nothing from them and would feel the benefit of the extra resources. The second section is like a pick & mix, you are shown what quests are available and you can do them in any order you please and still receive the rewards. The rewards for these quests feel more thought out and they are also quite hefty for the harder tasks which I think really encourages completing them. For example for the 'new village' quest I mentioned earlier it becomes something more players will be likely to rush to especially in combination with the much reduced cost of settlers.

I was able to ask a couple of questions as well as read the developer blog in depth before starting the game so I came up with a kind of short term strategy for what to do with my account and I'm pleased with the results. The game still allows for players to build up troops quickly and I already have a number of troops and am raiding an oasis (hopefully going to clear another soon) which although slow is quickening my growth slightly. Raiding is easier with the ability to repeat raids from inside reports (it'll send off the exact same attack if you have the troops); as well as this in a scout report it'll take you straight to the combat simulator with the enemies troops filled in, saving a lot of time and removing the need for multiple tabs. This is something seen across the interface, ideas to improve and make the interface easier to use have been taken in and used to good affect, sorting, reading and deleting messages is massively easier and painless to use.

Some people however have raced a head in all statistics, I'll put their names up here as well as link to them but the link will only be useful to those playing the server:

First to 10k Raiding: Facepalm
First to 20k Raiding: Facepalm
First to 85 Pop: lgnd707

First to 25 Off Kills: sadira

I've got to say I'm impressed with Facepalm and others for there quick rise to achievements, Facepalm himself is about 9k raiding totals about his nearest runner up. Some of you may suggest he is using a bot but none of the current bots work on Travian 4 because of it's vast differences so that's out. I'd like to congratulate all four of them and wish them the best for the rest of the server.

Overall I have found the server to be exciting to learn about with an interesting and useful web 2.0 layout. I think some of the design has been overdone however and that will annoy people with slow internet, mobile users and people who want clear minds. But this is a beta server so I am sure things will be improved as that is the point and I hope that loading times will be dealt with as a priority. There's a number more things I want to talk about (like adventures and Gold Club features) but this post is already long enough and I think it'll be killer to make it any longer so I'll do another one on the beta in a few days.

Steve
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