Despite many improvements, the combat system in the newly released Throne and Liberty never reaches the top level of the genre. But which MMORPGs actually have the most fun fights? MeinMMO editor answers this question with his personal power ranking.
While the new Throne and Liberty uses an at best okay mix of tab target and action combat system (noticeably improved since the first presentations, but still) the developers of ArcheAge Chronicles promise an action-packed gaming experience that, despite the MMO framework, is up there with the best should be able to keep up with single-player action games.
But what about the established genre representatives? Which MMORPGs have the most fun combat? And by fun I mean that, for example, the controls feel wonderfully direct, the attacks have a certain force and you can implement interesting rotations, combos or synergies.
Below I present you my personal power ranking of five MMORPGs that I can recommend to you based on their fights alone. How would your top 5 compare? Put it in the comments!
Who is writing here? Karsten Scholz is the MMORPG expert at MeinMMO. He has been dealing with the best genre in the world almost every day for 15 years and has played all the important (and some of the less important) new online role-playing games since the launch of World of Warcraft – often right into the endgame or over many months and years away.
When it comes to the question of “Tab Target or Action Combat,” Karsten answers with a clear “It depends.” In cooperative group challenges, he prefers the more old-school tab-target system. In pretty much every other combat situation, complex combos, manual aiming, hard shots and targeted parries are welcome.
Platz 5: Tera
When I was able to test the MMORPG Tera in 2012, the “True Action Combat” system was THE big highlight for me. With just a few buttons I was able to unleash powerful combo chains while at the same time having to avoid the attacks and maneuvers of opponents, some of whom were very mobile.
Every attack left an impression, the hit feedback was really good and it was much more fun to level up to the maximum level than the actually extremely boring kill quests deserved.
When Tera was released on the console in 2018, the game was already a few years old, but I found the battles even more fun with the controller than with the Western PC launch. The good news: The PC version is no longer available, but you can simply download and play the free2play MMORPG on PlayStation and Xbox.
Tera’s PS4 trailer:
Platz 4: Blade & Soul
Due to the Wuxia setting as well as some peculiarities and weaknesses, NCSoft’s MMORPG was never able to move out of a niche in the West, which means that many players may have missed out on one of the best combat systems in the genre.
Blade & Soul basically complements the action-packed framework of Tera with many wuxia elements and, in direct comparison, feels a bit more grippy, more varied and better staged, but it also seemed significantly more complex to me.
If you’re a kung fu master, for example, and want to counteract other players in a direct duel, knock them off their feet and then spin them through the air, you need a lot of skill and quick reactions. In addition, the martial arts artist’s skills change depending on the situation.
This can be frustrating, but also incredibly satisfying. In which other MMORPG is it possible to throw your victim to the ground and beat him there in the best fighting game style? By the way, there was an exciting update in September 2024: The new MMORPG BNS Neo Classic is set to come to Europe with better graphics.
On the next page we continue with places 3 and 2 in the power ranking for the MMORPGs with the best combat systems.
