Massively OP’s 2021 Awards: Best New MMO Class

December 18, 2021 11:00 AM

Welcome back to Massively Overpowered’s formal end-of-the-year awards!

Today’s award is for the Best New MMO Class of 2021, which is another award we’re introducing for the first time this year in an attempt to highlight MMOs that are still focused on this quintessential MMO character content. This award is open to all live MMOs that introduced a new class, archetype, profession, or skillset this year. Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end!

And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Best New MMO Class of 2021 is…

BLACK DESERT’S CORSAIR

Andrew Ross: I’m kind of feeling Crowfall’s Duelist, mostly because of its forced race combo. Limited only to rodents, its stealth is burrowing, but it gets a bonus for a kind of escort quest that locks you out of stealth in a PvP game. Without the racials, it could just be a dodge/absorb warrior, ranger, or rogue, but the racial themes forced on it add a lot of spice.

Andy McAdams: Guild Wars 2 Thief Elite (Shade). As BDO is not a game that I care to spend any time on, I’ll skip Corsair. I voted for the Shade elite spec in GW2 because I love the idea. A support thief with shadow-y magic just sounds .. so much fun. But it also technically not launched yet so, I can see this going to one of those lesser, not-quite-as-cool classes.

Brianna Royce: I really love Guild Wars 2’s elite specs and all, but I don’t see how any new MMO class was as fun and unique as the Corsair and its otter minions.

Carlo Lacsina: Black Desert Online’s Sage class! I wrote an article about him when he was released. Part of the fun is how he plays like a Marvel hero. It’s really cool playing as some kind of superherom and I never knew how a cube made such an awesome weapon! It’s pretty funny how you can make him look like Thor from Thor Ragnarok.

Chris Neal: BDO Corsair. The Corsair can summon otter pirates to help her out in attacking foes or transform into a bloody mermaid. Best class, hands down, and I will not hear any arguments to the contrary. Otters win.

Colin Henry: LOTRO’s Brawler.

Eliot Lefebvre: Black Desert Online’s Corsair. Sorry, Reaper, but do you summon otter crewmembers? No? Well, then, this was yours to lose, wasn’t it?

Justin Olivetti: LOTRO’s Brawler — No problem in Middle-earth is so great that it can’t be solved with some MMA-style punching!

Mia DeSanzo: BDO Sage.

Tyler Edwards: I honestly can’t even think of any, unless GW2’s EoD elite specs count, in which case Willbender. I don’t care if people say it sucks; gimme my ninja paladin.

Black Desert took our award for Best New MMO Class. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: What was the best new class added to an MMO in 2021?

BDO (Sage, Corsair) (9%, 91 Votes)
Guild Wars 2 (EOD elite specs) (16%, 152 Votes)
LOTRO (Brawler) (8%, 73 Votes)
Crowfall (Duelist, etc.) (0%, 4 Votes)
Neverwinter (Bard) (4%, 35 Votes)
New World (Void Gauntlet) (3%, 30 Votes)
Blade and Soul (Dual Blade) (1%, 6 Votes)
Albion Online (Wargloves) (1%, 12 Votes)
FFXIV (Reaper, Sage) (46%, 441 Votes)
Trove (Bard) (1%, 9 Votes)
Elyon (Archer, Slayer, etc.) (0%, 2 Votes)
AQ3D (Healer) (1%, 6 Votes)
Bless Unleashed (Assassin) (0%, 2 Votes)
MapleStory M (Pathfinder, Dual Blade) (0%, 2 Votes)
Lineage II (Sigel Death Knight) (0%, 3 Votes)
SWTOR (new combat styles) (6%, 54 Votes)
Magic Legends (Dimir Assassin) (0%, 3 Votes)
Tree of Savior (Luchador) (1%, 6 Votes)
Pantheon (Monk) (1%, 10 Votes)
Torchlight III (Cursed Captain) (1%, 9 Votes)
Something else (tell us in the comments!) (1%, 9 Votes)

Total Voters: 876

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How does MassivelyOP choose the winner?

Our team gathers together to nominate and discuss candidates and hopefully settle on a consensus winner. We don’t have a hard vote, but we do include written commentary from every writer who submitted it on time so that you can see where some of us differed, what our secondary picks were, and why we personally nominated what we did (or didn’t). The site’s award goes to the staff selection, but we’ll include both it and the community’s top nomination in our debrief in January.

How does MassivelyOP populate this poll?

Poll options include all games with new classes that we nominated plus other new classes we thought should and would be in the running.