MMORPGs are still one of these most-well known genres of gaming. It’s a subset of video games that actively welcomes any amount of people, hence the MMO part. And, unlike a single-player game, each of you gets to feel as if you’ve inserted your own individual characters into the universe.
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You’re not playing a pre-made character, you’re playing your custom-made avatar. So, the art of customization options in really any game is something worth the developer’s precious time. And, with what we’ve seen of upcoming MMOs, it’s something they’re still struggling with. So, we’re here to look at the best that we could think of.
Updated February 27th By Jacob Buchalter: MMORPGs are still a big thing, no doubt. But, the pace of new ones coming out has sort of slowed down in recent years in favor of “games as a service” such as Destiny 2, the Division, and the upcoming Outriders. Still, there are a ton of them out there that are still getting expansions, updates, and new content. And, quite frankly, there were a few we missed when this was first released. So, let’s take another look, find some new MMOs with amazing customization options, and gush about them for a bit.
15 Destiny 2
Technically, Destiny 2 isn’t an MMORPG. It’s more of a live service game than an MMO, but it’s pretty close to being one, so we figured it’d work as long as we got it out of the way early. The game went free-to-play back in September 2020, so it saw a massive increase in concurrent players. That increase has kept up, as the game isn’t dead by any means. And those new players saw just how neat the character creator is. Sure, it’s simple, but there are a ton of different ways to build a Human, Awoken, or Exo character. And, once you’re in the game itself, the sheer amount of cosmetics for weapons, vehicles, and armor means that the customization keeps going. It’s missing some of the customization options from other MMOs, but it still does a pretty good job.
14 Kurtzpel
As an anime-centric MMO, Kurtzpel has a lot to live up to. Sadly, it sort of drops the ball in the gameplay department. It was originally thought to be an MMORPG, but fans quickly discovered it was more PVP action battle-oriented. But, relatively recently, the game made an effort to be more of an MMORPG by adding elements such as dungeons, levels, gear, guilds, and questlines. And while that’s great, there are still so many more flaws to fix. The combat looks nice, but it isn’t very engaging, the costumes look great, but they’re such a slog to grind for, and the PvP looks fun, but their servers constantly have issues. The biggest draw for Kurtzpel is its robust character creator that really makes you feel like you’re creating your own warrior that could easily fit into something high quality like Genshin Impact. Quite frankly, since the game is free-to-play, you could easily just download it to try out the character creator for yourself.
13 Crossout
If we’re talking about MMORPGs with cool customization options, Crossout has to be on here just for the sheer uniqueness of it. After all, this is a car-combat MMO released in 2017 that gives you full control over the design and build of your vehicle. When we say full control, we mean full. For reference, think of how much control you had over your “lifeform” in Spore, now multiply that by two or three. That’s Crossout. It doesn’t have a huge community, but the community it does have is insanely faithful. Plus, it’s also free-to-play, which is always great for bringing in new players.
12 City of Heroes
City of Heroes was one of the most memorable games of all time, at least to us, simply because you could create your very own hero with a shocking amount of control. From their power combination, their race, battle cry, background, archetypes, you could even customize your own cape past a certain level. And, while the character creator was pretty top-notch, it was the combination of powers, classes, and other customization options that really made this heroic game shine. When the servers finally fell back in 2012, CoH fans were heartbroken. But, then, finally, in 2019, a hero among gamers released the source code for the game to the public, and now there are several private servers you can check out if you want to see what this classic game had to offer.
11 Maplestory 1 & 2
Say what you will about how Maplestory or its sequel looks, but the games have an insane amount of customization options. Name one other MMO where one can get a helmet that’s just a bear who sits on their head? Or, how about another MMO that constantly has collaborations with anime series and/or K-Pop groups like BTS. Plus the amount of different classes and jobs you can pick from is unlike any other MMO we’ve seen. From Buccaneers to Blaze Wizards, Beast Tamers, Shades, Mechanics, and even a Demon Avenger, there are just so many classes to pick from.
Each class has a ton of different ways you could customize your build and experience. Then there’s the Cash shop, a place where you can buy a shocking amount of cosmetics for your characters, some of which are account-wide. This combination of factors is why Maplestory is still decently popular even to this day, though it’s sad that Maplestory 2 didn’t find the same success.
10 Elder Scrolls Online
Did you like the character customization in Skyrim? Well here it is again, but this time in an MMORPG format. Elder Scrolls Online has been around since 2014 but is still getting rather frequent updates and expansions. Of course, it’s not on the level of World of Warcraft or FFXIV, but this game is absolutely one of the top picks for MMOs to check out in 2021. The pure depth of the character creator absolutely helps with that reputation. Orcs, High Elves, Humans, Khajiit, Argonians, they’re all here and are all able to be modified to pretty minute levels. And for only $20 to get the base game, it’s a pretty cheap buy-in for hundreds of hours’ worth of content.
9 Tera
Tera’s Character Customization isn’t anything mind-blowing, but it’s the sheer number of variables combined with the unique races is what makes this creator amazing. In particular, the Popori is just such a winner in terms of a playable MMORPG race. Tiny round dog creatures, that you can customize and even pick the breed of? How adorable! It’s like playing as your own custom-made Palico from the Monster Hunter series. Now Tera has 7 races in total, the Amani, Baraka, Castanic, High Elves, Humans, and of course Popori. Say what you want about Tera’s overall gameplay loop as an MMO, but its unique combat combined with the immensely enjoyable character creator is what causes this MMO to live rent-free in our minds, even to this day.
8 Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is one of the biggest comeback stories of all time when it comes to gaming. The original release of this MMO was not well received, at all really. But, thanks to director Naoki Yoshida and his fantastic team, they managed to save and re-release it to get to the eventual 16 million+ registered users they have today. Guess people really do love story-heavy MMORPGs.
Plus, since the re-release, the game has benefited from a constant stream of expansions, updates, and returning fan-favorite characters. It’s one of those MMOs that just keeps getting more and more unbelievably huge as time goes on. Just look at Endwalker! This recently teased expansion is the fourth one for the game, and each one has added so much to the overall experience. And, one of the best aspects of the game is just how varied the create-a-characters can look thanks to an obscene amount of tools, races, classes, cosmetics, crossover items, and plenty of other things.
7 Blade & Soul
Blade & Soul is one of the more unique MMOs on this list. B&S is heavily based on Chinese/Korean folklore, with the four playable races (the Gon, Lyn, Yun, and Jin) being based on the Chinese constellations like the Azure Dragon, The Black Tortoise, The Vermillion Bird, and The White Tiger.
The combat is also pretty unique, taking nods from fighting games and forcing you to combo your attacks together. But, the character creator is what this game on the main stage. It might not be as complex as some of the insane MMORPGs, but it does give you the tools to make just about any character you want. And, with new classes and content still coming out every once in a while, this is a game that actively benefits those of you that have stuck with it.
6 Warframe
Warframe is a different type of MMO, in just about every sense of the word. It’s made by Digital Extremes and was originally a launch title for the Playstation 4, where it bombed pretty hard. Since then, the team has put in the time through updates, dev streams, and massive expansion all in order to improve and build this weird mish-mosh MMO where you control bio-synthetic space ninja’s meant for destruction.
The style of Warframe is probably one of its most obvious draws, and while you can’t design their own Frame, they can massively augment just about everything else. Outside of their wearables, they can also augment their weapons, load-outs, ship, pets, and more. Honestly, it’s a bit overwhelming at first and causes a lot of new players to bounce off it. Still, no two players have similar-looking frames, and that’s a pretty big achievement. Honestly, out of any game out there, the developers at Digital Extremes really put the work in and experiment with new things.
5 Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is another long-time fan favorite MMO. The original release was way back in 2012, and the game is still pretty well known. And, it has one of the best character creators we’ve ever seen. Not just visually, but in terms of characterization as well. You pick your character’s past, their personality traits, and their future goals all at once.
While other games might have a more in-depth physical creator for their avatars, GW2 still has by far the best personality creator, and that’s not something many MMOs can brag about. Seriously, the races the game allows you to choose from are incredibly unique in their designs and backgrounds, so adding our own backstory and visual touch on top of that makes for some avatars you really get attached to.
4 Phantasy Star Online 2
Phantasy Star Online 2 is another one of those MMO’s that will just last forever. The original game came out in 2003, and it’s been one of Japan’s most consistently popular MMOs ever since. Why? Well, the gameplay is a bit different from the standard MMO in that it’s action-oriented. You chain combos together and fight big creatures sort of similar to Monster Hunter World. But, again, this was back in 2003, so they were one of the first to try it. On top of all that, the character creator is outstanding for the time it was made.
The amount of variables allows you to make all their favorite creations, and the sheer number of equippable customizables in-game leads to limitless possibilities. Thankfully, it’s finally coming out in the West, after what felt like an eternity of waiting.
3 EVE Online
EVE Online is what No Man’s Sky wanted to be — a gigantic connected universe where you’re free to do either a million different things or nothing at all. You can all band together, spend all your income (both in-game and real-world money) on gigantic ships to make an armada, and go to war against another group.
Or you can buy a small ship to smuggle cargo, all while avoiding any conflicts whatsoever. Eve Online is complex to the highest degree, but that complexity also allows you to customize almost anything in the game in a staggering amount of ways. But what’s really surprising is its character creator. This thing is way too detailed and amazing for a game where you spend almost no time looking at your character. But, this dedication to detail is why it’s still so popular and so much hard-earned cash has been spent on it by the devoted fanbase.
2 World of Warcraft
Finally, we’ve made it to the Grand Poobah of MMORPGs, World of Warcraft. This game defies all logic, building an unsurmountable throne at the peak of all other profitable titles. Until the age of mobile games, there was nothing that could even come close to dethroning WoW in terms of money made. And, this was in no small part due to its incredibly deep pool of races, well-known characters, and cosmetic options.
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There have been more updates, expansions, hotfixes, patches, and DLC dropped than we could ever possibly count, especially in 2020. Regardless, the customization each character has available to them makes sense for a game that’s been building on itself since 2004, but it’s still awe-inspiring. Still not convinced? Well, there are tons more reasons why the game is still popular today.
1 Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online is the insane MMORPG we mentioned in regards to peak character customization. It’s not brand new, we even reviewed it back in 2016. But it’s another MMO that innovates in terms of combat. And while that’s all well and good, the character creator is the stuff of legend. When it comes to insane character creators, BD: O is always near the top of those lists, if not at the peak. The pure amount of variables you can play with when creating your OC is staggering. And for those players who like to make their characters just right, careful not to spend 10+ hours on the creation screen!
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