Recommendations VRMMO that is actually balanced

Practice makes perfect as they say. You will be fine.

 

Godly Hunter.

Godly Hunter is my recommendation, though it hasn't been updated in a long while, it is available in Lnmtl.

Also One Man Army.

 

@jacobpaige
yeah~ the group hasn't been translating anything for a year or so (not too sure if it's in the novel pickup request yet), but it's why I mentioned the manhwa since it's like 60? chapters translated.
But it's the one that came to mind when reading your post so >.<"

 

I'll consider it if it starts getting translated again.

Already reading it. Though I may drop it if he doesn't face some sort of challenge soon.

I'd read the manga, but I'm pretty sure there's no way to do that that's both legal and free

 

Next up for One Man Army is the new world arc, much, much challenge.

 

For Shadow Hack you clearly consider any type of cultivation the same, and thus not worth rebutting imo.

Pagma's Descendant is a blacksmith, thus Overgeared. What, do you expect him to become the ultimate chef? Anyway he's a freaking legend while everyone else has to work their way there. Matching noobs would be the most unbalanced game ever. The others are catching up.

His shitty player skills are consistently developing along with his personality (which in a tactical game matters) while TKA starts as a God, and has no skill disadvantages ever since the Heavenly Domain appeared.

 

that why SAO only volume 1-2 later volumes become unbalance. 1/2 Prince drooped at last 2 volumes.

just wandering why people read story where MC with 2 life that not front and back face

 

Haha I thought that it was only me. From what I know you won't find any Chinese novel that fits the bill because the genre of web novels is called YY which is mental masturbation for literal translation and for a more accurate one , wish fulfillment.
It is like expecting a porn actress to look average/balanced. That ain't happening.
I think your best bet is RRL but most things there to me seem like poorly written porn.
The closest story that I have seen that meets all your requirements is Goblin Kingdom, but it's not a VRMMO

 

Well, that's why I said RRL etc. were fine. I'm well aware that the majority of WNs aren't going to fit the bill. Far too many of them are power fantasies of one sort or another, and game balance doesn't really fit power fantasies unless you're a much better writer than the average WN author.

As for Goblin Kingdom, I apparently dropped it already. Don't really remember it, or why I dropped it though.

 

Well sorry not being enlightened enough to understand different cultivation types. However, for me it is typically the same equivalent as "magic" in swords and magic worlds. Furthermore, as I read Shadow Hack, it is simply another wuxia-xiaxia story slapped with LitRPG System(MC's unique trait) stereotype story that leans on combat development(with a shadow of course). Also, almost 50% of the novel are infodrops, that's why I said "like any wuxia-xianxia generic plot-line". this is my opinion at current chapter count.

Anyway, if you remove the "cultivation" in the math of the judgement, the story threads the same line like other novel types above... I may be wrong as it only has low chapter count atm.

 

I have the perfect one for you, but it's a manhua (Chinese comic).It's full color, as well!

It's one of my projects, and I'm currently working with a new group (Forgotten Scans) to release my stock of 39 chapters on it.

As of now, there are only 6 chapters released, if you want a head start here you go:
http://angelicscans.net/foolslide/series/eden-game/

Release won't start until a week, though.

 

The first volume had very poor reviews. I enjoy the schadenfreude the story made me feel : protagonist loses and is forced to make strategic retreats.
Admits when he makes mistakes.
I think a premise like Night Ranger where the Protagonist is essentially from the future, is a weakness since suspense is usually dead from chapter 1

 

You know another series about a guy with a cloning machine?

 

Yeah, Shadow Hack most certainly doesn't fit your request. MC becomes a potential challenge to a top-tier professionally-trained Cultivator in 66 chapters due, primarily, to Shadow Hack Cheat. Not really something well balanced.

As for my recommendations, I have a couple... but they might not be things that you agree fit perfectly. Most of these have fairly balanced gameplay, but don't necessarily fit the rest of your request.

1. Insania Online. MC Plays the world's first VRMMO as if it was Monster Hunter, learning to craft in order to make his own weapons and armour instead of using the drop system. He quickly becomes relatively OP due to having good combat instincts and working out how to make a whole bunch of small things that no other player has discovered yet, one of which being free crafting. NPC's in the VR World are sentient and knows some of what he does, but the one thing that he does take advantage of the most (excluding his in-game immortality, which he abuses, alot) has been forgotten to the sands of time.

2. OriginStory the VRMMO: Advent of Axebear. VRMMO's in this world are commonplace. MC starts up a promising brand new one on opening day, and manages to get a top-level ability out of the introduction (author explains the restrictions needed to receive said ability, and they are strict. MC does not typically use ability due to it being big and obvious and potentially making her into public enemy number 1. And/or making her have to reveal how she got it, which would limit the variation in the game world, something that she doesn't think highly of). The story hasn't gotten much further than the beginning areas, and MC is known for her impressive real-world fighting ability transferring over and making her near-godlike at the beginning of VRMMO's. This usually peters out fairly quickly due to her caring more about what she finds fun than making a powerful character, causing her character build to be more inconsistent than the top-tier.

I had a couple of other ideas, such as Clockwork, Slime Tamer Chronicles, and World Seed, but felt that these all had the character's becoming OP in one way or another fairly early on in the story in an inexcusable way. Admittedly, World Seed doesn't do it early on, but the MC does gain godlike power near the end of the story, while Clockwork gives an excuse and handwaves away the fact that the MC is a newly discovered talent in technology because reasons. Slime Tamer Chronicles, meanwhile, has a MC who cannot be allowed to die and who starts with fairly OP trade-off powers & then gets an upgrade at the end of the first book. Not what you're looking for.

 

Is it something that would be legally available in English if someone were willing to pay for it? If not, then I'll check it out. Otherwise, I don't like to pirate things.

It depends on how the author handles it. Mother of Learning for instance, is a fantastic story, even with the MC knowing as much as he does about the future. I think the trick is to make the MC a realistic person and to not make them omniscient. It also helps a lot if they're good at planning. Too many of these series are ruined by layering on obscene luck alongside their future knowledge cheat.

I could swear that I dropped Insania at some point, but I'll give it a go to be sure.

I know I dropped Axebear. There wasn't anything particularly bad about it. It just didn't hold my interest.

 

....what?
How is it pirating? It's a volunteer group that scanlates Chinese comic and doesn't even have ads. There's nothing illegal about it. It's the translator and cleaner's intellectual property. There's nothing to download.... It's online-reader.

Even its raw chapters are free. It's alright if you're not interested, but we're not breaking any laws here, lmao.

 

@jacobpaige (I just realized that I completely misunderstood your response. You don't have to pay for it, it's all volunteer, so it's free to read.)

 

Ah good. You never know if you don't check. Lots of people are totally fine with scanning officially translated works and re-releasing them, or doing their own translations and releasing them in languages that have an official translation, etc. I'll check it out.

 

I don’t know what you were talking about. Based on the first six chapters, this series is generic shounen all the way. In his very first fight, he takes down a Rank 4 with practically no help in spite of a Rank 6 being considered a professional and himself being a Rank 0 equivalent. He’s literally powered by GUTS!! It’s basically the exact opposite of what I asked for.

 

I can having read the last few replies, I can actually make guesses as to why you would drop Insania. It's not exactly... strict on keeping to reality. MC rapidly learns blacksmithing to a level, at minimum, comparable to a decent blacksmiths apprentice (if not a decent blacksmith), as well as reaches similar levels in Leatherworking, Alchemy and rediscovers a lost art with common trash-tier items that develops a technology that had been desired by the residents for ages without a breakthrough. And that's ignoring how good he is instinctively at combat and his ability to lead people around by the nose due to his enjoyment of acting like an idiot.

And that's all ignoring the times that the fourth wall is broken because funny. Honestly, part of the reason why I recommended it is due to the MC not being overly stronger than his comparable players, if not weaker. The story even has another player the MC he regularly beats... simply because he has that guy's one weakness and exploits it every time due to it being a major part of the MC's main battle strategy. The weakness in question is a sensitivity to sudden bright flashes of light, and the MC creates and uses magical flash-bangs as much as possible.