Guild Wars 2
Blade and Soul
Neverwinter
Dauntless
World of Tanks
Warframe
Champions Online
Elder Scrolls Online
What is an Action Combat MMORPG?
Full of high adrenaline gameplay, action combat MMORPGs provide players with real-time combat where reflexes count. The first MMORPGs focused heavily on character progression, world building, and questing. The gameplay in those required very little skill with some exceptions such as Asheron’s Call in the early 2000s. Instead, the norm was using your abilities in the correct order. The RPG experience was rich, but combat tended to feel rather dull.
Although MMO games improved from this standpoint over time, the culmination of hotkey based battling was created in World of Warcraft. There is certainly more skill involved in playing World of Warcraft effectively than Ultima Online or EverQuest, but most of that comes from class knowledge and positioning. It’s simply not a game that rewards twitch movement very heavily. And that’s fine, but there is a certain class of gamers that do enjoy more reflex/twitch based combat. A number of those people also enjoy playing MMORPGs and the sense of progression that they bring to the table. For those people, there are there action combat MMORPG games on this page.
Perhaps the biggest draw for enthusiasts of action MMORPGs is that skill plays a larger part in overcoming both PvE and PvP challenges. It can be frustrating to be beaten purely because one’s gear or level simply isn’t high enough. To be fair, lot of these action MMORPGs do still place a lot of weight on both equipment and leveling. However, all of these titles offer a combat system where a certain degree of player skill is noticeably beneficial.
The way that twitch based player skill comes into play varies greatly by game. Some of the more recent MMOs blend the old with the new. In these systems, combat moves are often telegraphed with a red line, circle, cone, or other shape. The moves may be dodged or used offensively in a way to gain better positioning. Some of the MMOs actually play similarly to classic action titles such as Devil May Cry. Others may give button mashing a whole new meaning. And of course, there are the classic shooter based action MMORPG games.
Due to these differences, we offer a myriad of subcategories in the action MMORPG genre. Options that we list separately include MMOFPS and Shooter MMOs, Beat ‘Em Up MMOs, and Hack and Slash MMOs. These subcategory pages are presented for players to find more niche games. As such, those offerings are smaller. For gamers who simply want a game where reflexes play a role, the aggregate page of action combat MMORPG games will be plenty sufficient.
