Immersion is arguably one of the few qualities of an MMORPG that shields the players' minds from the nihilistic futility of the "grind." Once it's gone, there's nothing left but the monotonous toil to acquire the best of everything in a dead-end power fantasy. In any case, it's important and a lot of MMORPGs prefer to keep their immersion intact.
From time to time, however, even the most immersive ones expend a bit of their immersion meter to sell some wacky costumes, skins, and decorations to players. And while they might elicit a chuckle or full-blown hysterics, they no doubt pop out like a sore zit on the smooth surface of an otherwise cohesive fantasy world. The following MMORPGs were the worst offenders.
8 Guild Wars 2 Has Celebration Shirts & Caps
Guild Wars 2 is one of those MMORPGs with plenty of excuses for blending together genres since the lore also dabbles into steampunk territory. A few things in their cosmetics lineup stick out like sore thumbs but in hindsight, those silly t-shirts ruin the immersion the most.
They're not just simple tees either; they're full-blown commemorative clothing complete with the game's logo at the front. These emblem clothing skins are an outright pummeling of the fourth wall. Some of them even have expansion logos, and to pair up with the shirts, there are also baseball caps, some of which are made from denim.
7 Warframe & Its Christmas Decorations
Most MMORPGs with Christmas decorations and costumes are also counted here, but Warframe's bleak sci-fi setting makes the existence of Christmas a bit jarring. Among the decorations and cosmetics are Christmas lights, mistletoe, candy canes, and Santa hats.
Some of the guns can even be replaced with candy cane skins. In a solar system where Christianity or even Santa might not even exist or should have been long-forgotten since humanity and their existence is ambiguous. There's also not much lore explanation for all the Christmas decorations, unlike Halloween events.
6 Black Desert Online Has A Fish Costume
In Black Desert Online, people are either old or runway models. There's no in-between. Most of the attire, however, is serious and well-suited to a fantasy world that appears to borrow visuals from the Renaissance era. Most costumes are also made to make the characters look even more gorgeous.
But then there's the fish costume which was somewhat undignified to wear in a sea of catwalk candidates. The hard part is that it gives even more statistical benefits compared to actual beautiful and immersive costumes since the fish costume fittingly gives a bonus to the Fishing life skill. So it's mandatory for certain playstyles.
5 Lost Ark Has A Penguin Skin
Speaking of marine animals splashing their way into Korean MMORPGs, Lost Ark also has one in the form of the Penguin Skin. It's an ARPG where the combat is dark and violent though that didn't stop the developers from ruining the immersion with their costume choice.
Some of the most expensive cosmetic skins in the game are modern clothing and the biggest joke of them all was the Penguin Skin. In a game where hulking steampunk fantasy dudes with spiky armor and oversized swords are the norm, a bootleg version of Pingu who woke up and chose violence has no business fitting in.
4 ArcheAge & Its Owl Postman Uniform
On to other MMORPGs with notorious grind ladders, ArcheAge: Unchained is another offender when it comes to breaking immersion. There's a certain costume of casual armor in the game called the Owl Post Uniform and it's literally just a fantasy postman with an owl mascot helmet.
There's a lore behind it explaining that it's used for training courier owls like in Harry Potter's Wizarding World, but in a game where steampunk cars and flying ships exist, that really shouldn't be a thing anymore. Then again, a lot of world-building logic in MMORPGs is often questionable.
3 Tera & Its Animal Costumes
While on the topic of world-building in MMORPGs, TERA for many players has completely let itself go when it comes to immersion. This is a game that, over time, added pink bunny girl costumes for characters with the frame of a child. So it wasn't surprising that they added that anomaly above.
That particular animal costume is the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" and it will certainly make anyone perform a double take. That's just the spliced head of a pitbull glued to the cute costume. They didn't even bother making it look like a wolf. And those eyeglasses look like a nod to the lazy Clark Kent disguise.
2 Final Fantasy 14 & Its Toad Suit
Like Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy 14 could have added some low-tech sci-fi elements and no one would bat an eye since it still fits in with what the franchise is generally known for. But along came the Toad Suit and it instantly became the butt end of the joke, just as the developers intended.
Crass and slapstick jokes aren't exactly welcome in Final Fantasy's rather sterile world, so the Toad Suit here is just asking to be ridiculed. Sure enough, it became a wacky break and respite for players who were tired of saving the world over and over again, all thanks to the Shadowbringers expansion.
1 World Of Warcraft & Its Sprite Darter's Wings
World of Warcraft's Sprite Darter's Wings stirred up quite a bit of controversy back in 2020 and it was all because of the complete set. It was by far one of the most out-of-place cosmetics in the game since it looked like it came out of an Avante-Garde fashion show or a Cirque du Soleil set.
A lot of players consequently didn't like it and even tried to bury its existence with downvotes. The wings weren't exactly that bad, but the rest of the multi-piece transmog skin neither commanded respect nor positive attention, which was bad enough in a game full of roleplayers.