Understanding Death Must Die.

[Glenn from Discord]

I think there's been a lot of misunderstanding about this title as is evident by the amount of people who are confused coming into this game in how it is different from other horde based games and not exactly seeing the "meta progression" because ironically; that's how DMD separates itself from the rest of the genre.

I'd break the "meta progression" into 3 tiers. Gear, Talents, and understanding a class. One thing that makes horde killers such a great genre is the ability to get as OP as possible and melt enemies in vast different ways and every character has their means to do this in a myriad of fun different ways with different builds.

Onto understanding the meta progression in DMD. In my opinion I think the gear is a pretty obvious one and the one you will start to notice as soon as you go from being empty to equipping your first basic piece of equipment. It should be easy to see this because when you finish your run; you keep the loot. In that aspect you could compare DMD to a diablo, or Grim Dawn; with tiered loot that gets insanely better with it's quality and own tier list. Loot can also be shared between characters in the form of rings/amulets/relics so you have an inner mingling of progression, but still get hyped when you hit a mythic with a character you need it for. DMD also creates an easy feel to loot. I don't ever feel I'm unsatisfied with a run and beating the last boss and the loot that drops unlike typical ARPGs. With a massive box to hold all the stuff you're unsure about using or saving for different characters it's easy to see how this is the approach to the first part of the meta progression for the game.

Talents are a no brainer. Kill a boss, get a token and the character you played as gets stronger. Instead of paying for passive upgrades for you, the more you play with a specific character the stronger they become. This is a good approach because it creates a progression for each character. I personally enjoy the talents approach because it gives the player something rewarding to seek while the game is still in EA and awaiting content.

Finally I think it's unfair that people don't recognize the craft that went into making each character OP in their own special way. I feel this is the third tier of the meta progression "Understanding the character". Each character is able to take X amount of god favor types. This is hinted to you through achievements. For example: Merris has an achievement to summon 40 minions. Which seems like a tall order, until you take into account that she has 2 summon slots, and an epic frost wolf paired with necromancy can put 80 bodies on the field. She also has an achievement to have 4 casts, and the amount of stuff going on the field is just fantastic.

To conclude I think what makes DMD so great is it's ability to take the genre into more of an ARPG feel. You dodge, and you have to aim your attacks. There is an auto attack option, but I feel it's not necessary. Yet it still manages to have what makes horde killers so great. Every character can be OP, every favor you never take is one you're just missing out on being your favorite.