In MMORPGs, there are many ways to die. But I bet everyone of you has met their demise in these 10 variants?
In MMORPGs, death is simply part of the game. No matter how good you are, eventually, every hero faces defeat at the spirit healer, a graveyard, a chapel, or some other place of resurrection.
But what happens before that is often the exciting part. How did you actually meet your end? Although MMORPGs are so different, there are recurring methods to kick the bucket.
Of course, not all ways to die can be applied to all MMORPGs, but most should at least sound familiar to you.
1. Drowned
Simple and straightforward. You miscalculated while questing and spent a few seconds too long submerged in a shipwreck. Or you just wanted to quickly answer a call while your character gasped for air just a few inches below the water’s surface.
As fate would have it, you barely miss the water’s surface. Thus, your hero lies lifeless in the sea, a lake, or just a small pond. Not a glorious death – but they’re rarely glorious in MMORPGs anyway.
2. Auto-Running to Death
Long distances are part of the everyday life in MMORPGs. Running routes that take several minutes, traversing entire areas or even half continents are just part of large, immersive game worlds. But where the first leg was interesting, the second and third are already far from it.
How convenient it is that many games have an “Auto-Run” feature where our brave hero continues to run straight ahead until we tell him otherwise. This is great because you can tab out of the game and watch a quick video on YouTube. After that, there’s still time to respond to that one impatient friend on Discord. Oh, and there’s the next YouTube video already.
It happens as it must. Only after many minutes do you switch back to the game and stare at the screen. The hero has diligently followed his task with meticulous precision and has run to the ends of the world – and beyond. Now his lifeless body lies far, far into the exhaustion zone or at some enemy camp.
3. Walked Between Two Enemy Groups
Fights are an essential part of MMORPGs. However, not every fight needs to be fought. Many enemies can simply be avoided as long as you don’t draw aggro from them, they’ll leave you alone.
But MMORPG players can be greedy. Too greedy. Where you can bypass one mob group, you might think you can safely ride between two of them if you just find the right middle ground…
And indeed, you find the golden mean.
However, it is so perfect that you don’t bypass either group, but rather get both involved in a fight. Quickly brought back to the limits of reality by this overwhelming force, you find your character dead on the ground.
4. Died from a Boss Ability Right After Spotting It
It’s a long raid night. This boss isn’t actually so difficult. But somehow, every time, those two idiots in the raid manage to die from the same ability. All you have to do is step out of the way in time.
You are dissatisfied. And now, you’ve even gotten a bit louder on Discord. It can’t be that difficult to avoid this ability. Just a little less distracted by YouTube, and you’ll be fine.
And then it happens as it must. On the very next attempt, you’re a bit distracted or trying to use an ability before dodging – and you die.
Embarrassing silence on Discord. But sometimes that’s actually quite healing.
5. Fell from the Elevator…
The worlds of MMORPGs are vast. And most of the time, they also extend vertically. Almost every game has elevators that take heroes from one level to the next. No breaks, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, these elevators go up and down, again and again.
But that involves waiting. And if MMORPG players are bad at one thing, it’s standing still and patiently waiting for the game to do something on its own. So, you move back and forth, hop around a bit, use a small jump spell or a sprint ability…
… and then you land on the ground, right in front of the elevator. Naturally, just at that moment, the best guild on the server comes by to witness this disgrace live and in color.
6. … and Crushed by the Elevator
By now, you’ve learned. Elevators are death machines, and you can only win against them by moving as little as possible. Just as you arrive, the elevator goes up. So, you stand exactly where the platform will land. You have vowed not to move this time to avoid becoming a pancake on the ground again, the laughingstock of the server.
The elevator descends again. Just as it rushes through your character’s model, you only need to jump once to – squish. The elevator simply crushed you, and your hero is dead once more. Of course, this is also the only elevator in the entire game that can do that.
No matter how you do it, it’s done wrong.
7. Just Helping a Friend…
Good friends help each other – even in MMORPGs. When the little level 20 mage needs help with a too difficult quest, as the big, wise level 50 priest, you gladly come to help.
You do this purely out of altruism and not because you want to show off a little with your character and strength.
Heroically, you rush in, ask with a radiant smile which nasty elite enemy is causing problems and take a leap to take him down. Just as the first spell is about to launch – bang.
A rogue from an enemy player group appears from the shadows. Naturally, at level 70. With three hits, he knocks your character out, leaving the level 20 mate unhurt. A bit embarrassed, you both exchange glances and decide two minutes later to just pretend nothing happened.
8. Disconnect in Combat
Most fights in MMORPGs are not particularly difficult but part of the everyday routine. Especially when it comes to daily missions where a few common forest-and-field baddies need to be beaten, this rarely poses problems. After all, you’ve dealt with these enemies by the hundreds, if not thousands. And with superior gear, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. Just one or two standard attacks and… huh?
Somehow, the spell doesn’t go off, and the enemy reacts far less to the attack than you are used to. And the next spell also doesn’t work. Panicked, your eyes widen as one of the most German of all problems strikes again: bad internet and thus a disconnect.
At least: most games seem to be programmed in such a way that you can log back in just quickly enough to see the angry mob finishing off the last percentage of HP from the hero.
9. Death in a Safe Zone
MMORPGs are time-consuming, and sometimes you just need to step away from the PC. While you could log out, then you have to log back in later and, if you’re unlucky, there might be a queue.
So instead, you park the character at a safe spot – maybe in a capital city or a small village or high up on a hill where no enemy is in sight.
Ten minutes pass, and you return to the PC, only to stare at the screen in complete confusion as to why you are dead again. There are no indications of what happened, and it remains a mystery that will never be solved.
10. Died with the Chat Window Open
Do you know the feeling of slowly building panic when the mob joyfully runs towards your character, enthusiastically landing blows while your hero simply doesn’t fight back? It’s not always a disconnect that causes this – sometimes it’s much simpler, like an open chat window.
The end result is that your hero has once again bitten the dust, and the rest of the player base can now read the message “1122wwwssad22234121122132212312314124132” in the general channel. But at least it brings a smile to everyone’s face. Because every MMO veteran knows exactly what just happened.
Do you have any other typical “methods” by which one meets their end in MMORPGs?
