Summary
An averageMMOis built for progress—it’s designed to make players feel like they’ve become stronger and more skilled throughout the course of their gameplay. However, some MMOs take this a bit too seriously, and make character progression realistic, in the sense that it makes character building very slow-paced and honestly pretty unnoticeable for the most part.
While this creates a sense of realism in playing MMOs, trying to level up a character eventually becomes exhausting if the player cannot actively sense that character’s growth and gradually-increasing power. Certain games, likeWorld of Warcraft Classic, while very popular in the MMO scene,are a bit too slow and complicatedwith their progress. So, it’s perfectly understandable to want a progression system where players can become the strongest, deal the most damage, and possess the best skills. These MMOs stick to the latter ideal, allowing players to create overpowered characters that get visibly stronger on a regular basis.
While not exactly an MMO,Warframeis basically a power fantasyonce players get the hang of it. It’s known for its intense action and short-burst playing sequences that make it feel more like a storm passing by than a gradual, slow experience.
Once players get past the learning curve, the progression becomes pretty wild. The entire gameplay loop is based on mindless grinding and dealing as much damage as possible without dying—to put it loosely. Leveling up and gaining experience naturally makes the player stronger, and in turn, enhances their equipment and weapons. These weapons can be further amplified by mods and made even more overpowered, allowing players to essentially faceroll and completely dominate the game, especially around endgame content. There are certain AOE attacks in the game that can completely obliterate enemy mobs in an instant.
Final Fantasy 14does not make a character overpowered in the traditional sense; in a way that, regardless of the character’s class or skill, it’s bound to become powerful. Rather, itfocuses on particular classesthat are much stronger than others.
While character progression in the game itself is very satisfying and rewarding, classes/jobs like Black Mage, Samurai, and certain tank classes like Dark Knight, Gunbreaker, and Warrior, have a lot more punch to them than others. They have massive damage outputs, and are just as good with their defense mechanisms. Tanks like Gunbreaker and Warrior are perfect for players looking to burst through enemies with massive critical attacks.
3MapleStory
Extensive Character Building With A Lot Of Diversity
MapleStoryis a 2D side-scrolling MMORPG that may not give off very ‘godlike’ or ‘broken’ vibes at first glance, but is dramatically hardcore once players get the hang of it. It has some of the most diverse gameplay out of a lot of MMOs out there, andcan be extremely versatilewith its character building. Additionally, the game has adorable characters and irresistibly gorgeous graphics that just pull players in.
Players can create multiple characters, all with their own classes and skills, and can progress them however they want. The game offers 11 classes in total, with 8 of them belonging to specific branches. All the classes are further divided into more categories (or job types), and all of them have their own mechanics and builds. Although, ultimately, the core gameplay can essentially be simplified to skipping around, one-hitting countless enemies, leveling up, and repeating, it doesn’t change the fact that, when well-planned, characters can trivialize the game’s combat.
Guild Wars 2is another F2P MMORPG that has noticeably diverse gameplay that caters to almost all players. Like most MMOs, this one also has a class system, and each class has its own strengths and weaknesses. Again, like most MMOs, some classes and professions offer more skill and character building, which eventually translatesinto a very strong character.
AlthoughGuild Wars 2has pretty balanced gameplay because of its downscaling, certain elite specs are still more overpowered than others. For example, playing Weaver, Mirage, or Daredevil will feel significantly more fluid and ‘godly’ than others. SinceGW2features more skill-based combat, a significant portion of the character’s progression relies on the player’s skills and decisions.
Black Desert Onlineis a gorgeous MMORPG that’s known for its flashy action sequences, which look similar to anime fights, and an extremely satisfying combat system, with the ability to one-shot enemies at a certain point in the game. Certain classes and characters can be built tonot only dominate PvE modes, but also PvP as well.
While all of this sounds great,BDOis also known for being one of the most “grindy” MMOs on the scene. The majority of a character’s power and ability to take on multiple enemies at once is based on their gear, rather than their level—so naturally, the more one grinds, the better gear they have. Once players get used to the grinding and get better at the game, they spontaneously become more powerful, and are much better equipped to take on PvEas well as PvP.
