| DragonRealms | Modus Operandi | |
| Combat Heavy | Combat almost unneccessary | |
| Massive system | Mini system | |
| Def. Skills | 9 Learnable Defense Skills | 2 Learnable Defense Skills |
| Off. Skills | 22 (23) learnable Offense Skills | 12 Learnable Offense Skills |
| Hundreds of Equipment choices per skill on average | Few equipment choices at all | |
| Def. Style | Layered Defense, with stancing | Single Defense determined by stancing |
| Significant effect of skills and stats to dammage delt and Roundtimes | Little to no effect except to hit chance. Almost always 1-2 HP dammage delt every time. | |
| Crits | Death is always from wounds, Crits do massive damage which causes stuns and/or death. Death crits look it. | Critical hits can be made for extra dammage, but a "Fatal Blow" hit causes instant death from the blow, rather than from the wound. |
| Weapons generally all do more dammage than fists alone. | Unarmed combat can often seem far more effective than armed combat | |
| Combos | Player skill is important, using combination attacks is best. | Combinations of skills more effective, combination of attacks within a set weapon skill lacking. |
To see what I was getting at in the table, consider these two scenarios-
In DR, a Death Spirit rips out my lungs. I can't breath without lungs, and there is all that massive internal and external chest bleeding. So, I die. Death caused by wounds.
In MO, a Perp gets in a fatal blow to my left leg. I die. Death caused by blow, regardless of actual wound. I swear I once saw this happen on an "insignificant hit." The best explenation for a fatal blow to the leg I've heard yet is the chance of hitting a femeral artery. However, this fails to recognize that it would take a bit to "bleed out" and die.
The same massive blow to the leg in DR, severing an artery and causing horrendus internal left leg bleeding? You'll probably still die, but at least it'll be from the loss of blood, and you might get that last shot in before you collapse.
Combat is much more intuitive in MO than it is in DR. In Elanthia, a combatant needs to learn different styles to make use of the strengths of his/her weapon, and minimize the weaknesses. For example, one must make use of such combinations as Parry/Jab/Parry/Jab/Thrust when using a foil or rapier, but Parry/Slice/Parry/Chop with a scimitar, and Dodge/Draw/Bash with a mace.
By comparison, in MO, there are no Parry, Dodge, Bob, Weave, Circle, or similar tactical verbs. A combatant primarily need only Attack, the main learning being of a variety of unarmed moves and ways of mixing combat styles, such as following up a sweeping kick with a rapier attack.
Note: One exception to the lack of MO combat verbs is Lunge. In DR, a lunge is generally a dangerous manuver, as it leaves you exceptionally open for attack. A MO lunge is different in that it only takes about twice as long in RT, with a chance for critical dammage. It is fairly safe to lunge here, if you can spend the RT.