History Main / PowerCreep

* Absolutely all over ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}.'' First and foremost, in a game where for the most part PowerEqualsRarity, the developers have ''completely'' stopped making [[ComMons R rarity shikigami]] altogether, and barely release any [=SRs=] any more (maybe 1-2 per year at most). Meanwhile, new SSR tier shikis come out practically ''monthly'', and half the time every new SSR is stronger than the last; the once-dreaded Onikiri was just the tip of the iceberg. Things got worse still with the release of the ultra-rare SP tier, upgraded versions of previously-released shikis (usually [=SSRs,=] but occasionally [=SRs=] like Hannya, Kingyo and Ubume) which were originally merely "different" from their original forms rather than strictly stronger (such as Ootengu Jr. and Crimson Yoto-Hime), but eventually degraded into just ever more jaw-dropping GameBreaker status with the likes of Demoniac Shuten Doji and Monumental Otakemaru. Their kits also got more and more and more ''complicated'' as well, with every new release having half a dozen unique buffs and debuffs and overlapping effects and ways to enable alternate skills for them until it's enough to make your head spin.\\

*** Effects as well. Early on? Monsters could often rely off of pure stats, while effect monsters were weak but made up the difference with effects. Effects became the more prioritised aspect of determining whether or not a card was useful, outside of a few cards which could be powerful enough (And often still required attack to be around 1700 or 1800 and/or defence of 1800-2000 to see play as anything more than tribute fodder) statwise to stand on their own. Effects later became more and more complex - which would require people to have a magnifying glass or be very good at reading small print. After 2014, we have [[https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Pendulum_Summon Pendulum Summons]], which have ''two'' text boxes that are more than ''twice'' the length of cards considered to be ''very'' wordy like [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/4/42/CyberJar-BP02-EN-R-1E.png/revision/latest?cb=20130703133627 Cyber Jar]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' had this happen to [[CripplingOverspecialization Bretonnia]] due to not getting update after 6th edition. The faction's entire theme was supposed to be "[[TheCavalry Excellent cavalry, decent archers, bad at everything else]]", except that as the 7th and 8th editions went on, Bretonnia found itself outclassed in its own niche: [[JackOfAllTrades The Empire]] had roughly equivalent cavalry and archers, but ''also'' had a more complete and varied roster that gave them flexibility, while the [[GlassCannon Wood Elves]] had better cavalry and archers than what Bretonnia could field.

** Poor [[TheCavalry Bretonnia]] was a victim of the power creep as well (with their niche of powerful cavalry at the expense of a mediocre roster otherwise), finding itself beaten at its own game by other races as the updates piled on and Bretonnia only recieved minor tweaks. To boot, [[JackOfAllTrades The Empire]] has equivalent cavalry but an extremly flexible and adaptable roster otherwise, [[GlassCannon The Wood Elves]] have equally powerful cavalry and middle-of-the-road infantry but ''amazing'' archers, [[FragileSpeedster Slaanesh]] and [[TheBerserker Khorne]] and their assorted [[HeavilyArmoredMook Warriors of Chaos]] have better cavalry ''and'' the best infantry in the games, and [[RussianGuySuffersMost Kislev]] has better cavalry with their Gryphon Legion and War Bears Riders ''and'' their infantry in nothing to scoff at.

** A similar situation also occurs with Abilities (passive effects that Pokémon possess). An ability that was introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', the game in which abilities were created, would provide something simple: For example, the ability Water Veil prevents the Pokémon from receiving a burn. An ability that was introduced later might provide the same effect plus something extra: Water Bubble (an ability introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'') not only prevents burns, but also halves the damage received from Fire attacks '''and''' doubles the power of Water attacks ([[GuideDangit this last effect isn't even mentioned in its in-game description]]).

** This is painfully apparent in the 4th main installment of VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors, where the returning characters are still using their old movesets from their first appearance, some as old as 10 years ago, while the new characters added in this entry have generally stronger and more effective movesets.

** A similar situation also occurs with Abilities (passive effects that Pokémon possess). An ability that was introduced in Gen III, the generation that abilities were created overall, would provide something simple: For example, the ability Water Veil prevents the Pokémon from receiving a burn. An ability that was introduced later might provide the same effect plus something extra: Water Bubble (an ability introduced in Gen VII) not only prevents burns, but also halves the damage received from fire attacks '''and''' double the power of water attacks ([[GuideDangit this effect isn't even mentioned in its in-game description]]).

** While earlier Pokémon generally have inferior stat spreads compared to later ones, many Pokémon from early Gens can combat power creep by getting new moves, abilities, evolutions, and other changes to mechanics that make them much more playable. One such major change was in Gen 4, when all moves were now denoted as physical or special on an individual basis, rather than it being determined by a move's typing, which breathed new life into the many Pokémon whose typing made them previously unable to effectively utilize their better attack stat.[[labelnote:*]]For example, the Water-type Kingler line has high Attack power, but since Water-type moves were originally denoted as special (thus running off its abysmal Special Attack), Kingler's SecretArt Crabhammer wasn't very useful and it couldn't make good use of Water moves in general. From Gen 4 onward, Crabhammer is now a physical attack and runs off Kingler's Attack stat, allowing it to do a lot more damage with it and other Water moves that were made physical.[[/labelnote]] The above-mentioned [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] mechanic was also given to older Pokémon.
** Although BST ranges have remained fairly standardized for normal Pokémon, the aforementioned OlympusMons have seen more straightforward power creep. Newer legendaries are more powerful in general, but the most egregious case has to [[PhysicalGod Arceus]], the ''creator deity of the Pokémon universe'', who has [[MasterOfAll 120 in all stats]] for a total of 720, at the time of its debut the highest stats in the series. Now that title is held by Mega Rayquaza, Mewtwo X & Mewtwo Y, each of whom has a 780 BST. Later legendaries are able to functionally exceed even ''that'', through mechanics such as the attack boost given by Zacian's signature Intrepid Sword ability.

-->-- '''[[https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/bard/subclasses/ RPGBot]]''' guide to the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition'' Bard class

Power creep is the process in multi-player games ( {{Collectible Card Game}}s, TabletopGames, VideoGames,etc.) in which newly-added content (such as character abilities or equipment) can be played alongside old content, but the new content is far more powerful/useful. This process [[SoLastSeason makes old content no longer worth using]], save for a few exceptions and for CherryTapping.

Power creep is the process in multi-player games (VideoGames, {{Collectible Card Game}}s, and TabletopGames, etc.) in which newly-added content (such as character abilities or equipment) can be played alongside old content, but the new content is far more powerful/useful. This process [[SoLastSeason makes old content no longer worth using]], save for a few exceptions and for CherryTapping.

Power creep is a term used in multi-player games (including VideoGames, {{Collectible Card Game}}s, and TabletopGames) to describe the process in which newly-added-content (such as character abilities or equipment) can be played alongside old content, but with the new content being far more powerful/useful. This process [[SoLastSeason makes old content no longer worth using]], save for a few exceptions and for CherryTapping.

This makes sense, at least [[MoneyDearBoy from a monetary point of view]]. You want people to buy and use your new additions, but why would they do that if [[{{Whoring}} they can keep on using]] the awesome InfinityPlusOneSword they already have? In order to spur sales, you 'need' to have your ExpansionPack introduce an Infinity +2 Sword which is overall better. [[SerialEscalation And then an Infinity +3 Sword the next time around and so on]]. The level of power present in the game just keeps creeping upwards-- Power Creep.

This gets out of hand really easy, particularly in LongRunner games. After four or five expansions, with the new Infinity +8 Swords that gives you 10 free mana, there is little point in using the [[SoLastSeason Infinity +3 Sword that costs 2 mana]], and let's not talk about the lame [[OvershadowedByAwesome Infinity +1 Sword that cost 5 mana]]! ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Who'd ever use that, anyway?]])

Power Creep virtually always leads to a BrokenBase, with the most "conservative" players stating that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks the new unbalanced content is an insult to the original game]]. On the other hand, there will always be players who like these new add-ons, saying that it [[GrowingTheBeard actually makes the game more fun to play]], or enjoy a particular playstyle that was poor in the original game but now easier with power-crept material. Additionally, Power Creep can be a boon to TournamentPlay: Long, drawn-out games are harder to schedule since it's less easy to predict when everyone will finish on time, so with Power Creep making games faster, tournaments become less time-consuming and easier to plan. (This is not an idle concern; the makers of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' are on record as having to reject card designs because they would bring the match to a halt for five or ten minutes.)

As a general rule, though, Power Creep has a negative connotation. The reason is that, [[SturgeonsLaw with a few exceptions]], it shows that the producers were unable to come up with something creative, and instead reused their old material with bigger numbers. Power Creep also tends to lead a game beyond its planned "gameplay style", with one of two results: it will becomes a competition of RocketTagGameplay and mindless speed]], or of PaddedSumoGameplay and predictable slow strategies.

** Poor [[TheCavalry Bretonnia]] was a victim of the power creep as well (with their niche of powerful cavalry at the expense of a mediocre roster otherwise), finding itself beaten at its own game by other races as the updates piled on and Bretonnia only recieved minor tweaks. To boot, [[JackOfAllTrades The Empire]] has equivalent cavalry but an extremly flexible and adaptable roster otherwise, [[GlassCannon The Wood Elves]] have equally powerful cavalry and middle-of-the-road infantry but ''amazing'' archers, [[FragileSpeedster Slaanesh]] and [[TheBerserker Khorne]] and their assorted [[HeavilyArmoredMook Warriors of Chaos]] have better cavalry ''and'' the best infantry in the games, and [[RussianGuySufferMost Kislev]] has better cavalry with their Gryphon Legion and War Bears Riders ''and'' their infantry in nothing to scoff at.

** When it comes to the Skaven, ''The Prophet and the warlock'' was also the start of the creep being applied to singleplayer as well. Previous to it, Skaven were somewhat underwhelming, in that they lacked most of their more iconic units. But the DLC brought them so many powerful units and mechanics that, by the developper's own admission, the following Skaven halves of the next {{DLC}}s "had" to be as equally powerful and unbalanced to not make their Skaven content feel lesser that that of ''Prophet and Warlock'', which meant that less attention was spend on the other half of the DLC, and other factions feeling unfavoured as a result.

** Although BST ranges have remained fairly standardized for normal Pokémon, the aforementioned OlympusMons have seen more straightforward power creep. Newer legendaries are more powerful in general, but the most egregious case has to [[PhysicalGod Arceus]], the ''creator deity of the Pokémon universe'', who has [[MasterOfAll 120 in all stats]] for a total of 720, at the time of its debut the highest stats in the series. Now that title is held by Mega Rayquaza, Mewtwo X & Mewtwo Y, each of whom has a 780 BST. There's also Eternamax Eternatus, a form [[RedemptionDemotion only available to Eternatus before it joins your party]], which has ''1125'' BST.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' has its iconic Fire Flower, which saw its usefulness diminish as the series went on. In the first game, it was the only way you could attack outside of a GoombaStomp, while in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', you had the Super Leaf and Cape Feather that also provided you with a decent attack, but added mobility boosts on top of that. ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' added the Ice Flower on top of that, which was basically a better Fire Flower. It's even worse in the 3D titles because you have to worry about aiming at your targets. Many other games do something similar.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':

A term used in any kind of multi-player game (including VideoGames, CollectibleCardGame, and TabletopGames) to describe the process in which newly-added-content can be played alongside the old-content, but with the new content being far more powerful/useful in general. This process [[SoLastSeason leaves old-content completely worthless]], save for a few exceptions and for CherryTapping.

This makes sense, at least [[MoneyDearBoy from a monetary point of view]]. You want people to buy and use your new content, but why would they do that if [[{{Whoring}} they can keep on using]] the awesome InfinityPlusOneSword they already have? In order to spur sales, you 'need' to have your ExpansionPack introduce an Infinity +2 Sword which is overall better. [[SerialEscalation And then an Infinity +3 Sword the next time around and so on]]. The level of power present in the game just keeps creeping upwards-- Power Creep.

*** In terms of overall design, it both played this straight and inverted it, in that its initial material seen as containing the strongest classes ''and'' weakest classes in the game. This was because the designers hadn't really figured out how to balance the new system yet, and so some classes ended up hilariously broken because of abusable mechanics, and others were utterly underpowered because the designers overestimated how good their abilities were. Most classes released later in the game's lifespan ended up in the middle of the pack - for instance, the warmage and warlock are a lot weaker than the wizard but fill a similar role, while the duskblade and psychic warrior are a lot stronger than the fighter. A party of a binder, a dread necromancer, and a warblade would follow about the same party roles as the classic cleric-wizard-fighter trio, but be a lot closer in power.

** The general ranges for Base Stat Totals in Pokémon has remained mostly static throughout the series, with the [=BSTs=] of fully evolved Pokémon generally ranging from 450-550, while legendaries range from 570-600, and the uber legendaries range from 660-700. However power creep has instead occurred in stat spreads slowly becoming more specialized as time went on, while Pokémon is a game that really rewards MinMaxing over being a JackOfAllStats. For example, Machamp since Gen 1 was the premier physical MightyGlacier Fighting type, but then Gen 5 would introduce Conkeldurr, another MightyGlacier Fighting type with the same BST of 505 and most of the same moves and abilities as Machamp, but with its stat spread geared more towards Attack/HP/Defense, in exchange for a lower Special Attack that was irrelevant anyway and a marginal decrease in Special Defense/Speed, resulting in it outclassing Machamp competitively ever since. In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', it reached its zenith with [[SuperMode Mega Evolutions]], which are explicitly designed to be on par with the series's OlympusMons with less stat points to go around. The Ultra Beasts in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' are like the Mega Evolutions in certain ways too, with some extreme and specialized stat differences--[[AbsurdlySharpBlade Kartana]], for instance, has one of the highest Attack in the game but its Special Defense is awfully poor.
** A similar situation also occurs with Abilities (passive effects that Pokémon possess). An ability that was introduced in Gen III, the generation that abilities as a concept was introduced, would provide something simple: For example, the ability Water Veil would prevent the Pokémon from receiving a burn. An ability that was introduced later might provide the same effect plus something extra: Water Bubble (an ability introduced in Gen VII) not only prevents burns, but also halves the damage received from fire attacks '''and''' double the power of water attacks ([[GuideDangit this effect isn't even mentioned in its in-game description]]).
** ''VideoGame/PokemonOmegaRubyAndAlphaSapphire'' brought along Mega Evolutions for its Legendaries. Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre are exempt from the "only one Mega per team" rule, -- essentially allowing three in a single party. Meanwhile, Mega Rayquaza, requires no item for its Mega Evolution to occur (it just needs to know a specific powerful attack), possesses an Ability that removes its Flying type weaknesses and other Weather conditions, has a base Attack of 180, and tied with Mega Mewtwo X/Y's 780 base stat total. It has the infamous distinction of causing a new Smogon tier called "Anything Goes" to be created, a ban list for the Uber tier which itself was meant to be a ban list.
** While earlier Pokémon generally have inferior stat spreads compared to later Pokémon, many Pokémon from early Gens can combat power creep by getting new moves, abilities, evolutions, and other changes to mechanics that make them much more playable. One such major change was in Gen 4, when all moves were now denoted as physical or special on an individual basis, rather than it being determined by a move's typing, which breathed new life into the many Pokémon whose typing made them previously unable to effectively utilize their better attack stat.[[labelnote:*]]For example, the Water-type Kingler line has high Attack power, but since Water-type moves were originally denoted as special (thus running off its abysmal Special Attack), Kingler's SecretArt Crabhammer wasn't very useful and it couldn't make good use of Water moves in general. From Gen 4 onward, Crabhammer is now a physical attack and runs off Kingler's Attack stat, allowing it to do a lot more damage with it and other Water moves that were made physical.[[/labelnote]] The above-mentioned [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] mechanic was also given to older Pokémon.
** To give an idea of how egregious this can get, ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' introduced [[PhysicalGod Arceus]], the ''creator of the Pokémon universe'' with [[MasterOfAll 120 in all stats]], [[ConfusionFu a wide movepool, and the ability to be any type]]. Since then, while it's still a potent powerhouse, there are quite a few Pokémon with special forms, like Mega Rayquaza and Ultra Necrozma, who eclipse it in raw power.
* Hits the later ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' games. In ''[=MechWarrior=] 4: Mercenaries'', the mechs added by [=MekTek=] when the game became [[FreewareGame Freeware]] are often blatantly better in many roles than the vanilla mechs. In ''Living Legends'', the later added mechs are better overall than the older mechs due to superior chassis characteristics and often better variants - though the older mechs were [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap buffed to competitiveness]] in the final update. Power Creep will be a game mechanic in ''Online'', which takes place right at the time when LostTechnology is being rediscovered, and when the [[ProudWarriorRace Clans]] invade with their superior technology - the old mechs with 3025 tech will be curb-stomped by the later 3049 or 3050 series of mechs.

This makes sense, [[MoneyDearBoy at least from a monetary point of view]]. NYou want people to buy and use your new content, but why would they do that if [[{{Whoring}} they can keep on using]] the awesome InfinityPlusOneSword they already have? In order to spur sales, you 'need' make your ExpansionPack introduce an Infinity +2 Sword which is overall better. [[SerialEscalation And then an Infinity +3 Sword next time around and so on]].

The thing is that this gets out of hand really easy, particularly in a LongRunner game. After four or five expansions, with the new Infinity +8 Swords that gives you 10 free mana, there is little point in using the [[SoLastSeason Infinity +3 Sword that costs 2 mana]], and let's not talk about the lame [[OvershadowedByAwesome Infinity +1 Sword that cost 5 mana]]! ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Who'd ever use that, anyway?]])

Power Creep virtually always leads to a BrokenBase, with the most "conservative" players stating that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks the new unbalanced content is an insult to the original game]]. On the other hand, there will always be players who like these new add-ons, saying that it [[GrowingTheBeard actually makes the game more fun to play]]. Additionally, Power Creep can actually be a boon to TournamentPlay: Long, drawn-out games are harder to schedule since it's less easy to predict when everyone will finish on time. Thus, with Power Creep making games faster, tournaments become more accessible, less time-consuming, and easier to plan. (This is not an idle concern; the makers of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' are on record as having to reject card designs because they would bring the match to a halt for five or ten minutes.)

As a general rule, though, Power Creep has a negative connotation. The reason is that, [[SturgeonsLaw with a few exceptions]], it usually shows that the producers were unable to come up with something creative, and instead resorted to reusing their old material with bigger numbers. Power Creep also tends to lead a game beyond its pre-defined limits, with one of two results: it will becomes a competition [[RocketTagGameplay of mindless speed]], or of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts predictable slow strategies]].

The one time Power Creep can be positive is when it is used on something that was already worthless to begin with. The two ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' cards in the page image are actually an example of this. The Ice Rager is "strictly better" (as ''Magic'' players put it) to the Magma Rager, having two HitPoints instead of one and being identical in all other respects (3 {{Mana}} to cast, 5 attack); if you have access to both, there is ''never'' a reason to play Magma Rager instead of Ice Rager. Having said that, there was also never a reason to play the Magma Rager in the first place, because it's an awful card.[[note]]In ''Hearthstone'', you have 1 Mana on your first turn, 2 on your second, 3 on your third, etc until maxing out at 10. This rule can be broken, but only with difficulty. So, for most players, a card that costs 3 Mana, like Magma Rager, can only be played on turn 3. The problem is that it's also a OneHitPointWonder... and cards with 1 Attack, capable of killing it, typically only cost 1 Mana. If you spend 3 Mana putting a threat on the table and your opponent destroys it at the cost of 1 Mana, then, all other things being equal, your opponent came out ahead. So, in practice, the only thing the Magma Rager does is waste 2 Mana. The Ice Rager, being a waste of only ''1'' Mana, is marginally better; but it also raises the question of whether wasting Mana ''at all'' is really the best way to play.[[/note]]) Additionally, releasing a (more) playable version of it {{lampshades}} the fact that you released junk in the first place.

This trope is the Gameplay Mechanics counterpart to SoLastSeason, OvershadowedByAwesome, SequelEscalation and SerialEscalation, which refer to narrative or thematic elements.

Compare with RevenueEnhancingDevices. The complete opposite of PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage, which is new content that is considered much worse than the existing stuff.

Not to be confused with PowerCreepPowerSeep, which is about characters becoming more or less powerful in a crossover work.

*** In terms of overall design, it both played this straight and inverted it, in that the playerbase generally regards its initial material as containing the strongest classes ''and'' the weakest classes in the game. This was because the designers really hadn't figured out how to balance the new system yet, and conversely ended up with some classes being hilariously broken because they could abuse its mechanics, and others being utterly underpowered because the designers overestimated how good their abilities were. As a result, most classes released later in the game's lifespan ended up in the middle of the pack - for instance, the warmage and warlock are a lot weaker than the wizard but fill a similar role, while the duskblade and psychic warrior are a lot stronger than the fighter. A party of a binder, a dread necromancer, and a warblade would follow about the same party roles as the classic cleric-wizard-fighter trio, but be a lot closer in power.

** Even 5th Edition, which has had a lot more effort toward being balanced, has suffered a bit from this. The biggest example comes from ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', which introduces two new sorcerer subclasses, the Aberrant Mind and the Clockwork Soul. Both of them fix the biggest complaint about the sorcerer class, its lack of spells known, by granting ten bonus spells each. As none of the previously published sorcerer subclasses were updates with such a boosy, the new ones represent a significant increase in power level.

*** Some later sourcebooks and modules, such as ''Shadow of the Dragon Queen'' and ''Spelljammer: Adventures in Space'', introduced character backgrounds that give you an entire extra [[SkillScoresAndPerks feat]], which are almost always stronger than the "background features" of normal backgrounds. The crux is that feats are pretty much guaranteed to be useful, whereas most background features are more situational. For example, Acolyte characters receive free lodging and healing at temples of their religion, but are SOL if no such temples are around. Meanwhile, Wildspacers from ''Spelljammer'' receive the Tough feat (two extra hit points per level), which helps no matter where you go.
*** The Heroic Chronicle system from ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' likewise allows your character to get extra proficiencies, items and/or feats before the campaign even starts. Some people speculate that this is a [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot stealth playtest]] for changes to how character creation will work in the next edition of D&D.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' suffers from this trope in at least two ways: one specific and the other generalized. The latter is thanks to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. Newer material for melee classes does not match the GameBreaker combinations spell casting classes are capable of, which is often summed up by jaded pro-melee members of the community as, "[[FlameWar fighters can't have nice things]]." The argument is that each new book leaves melee classes farther behind the already impressive spellcaster power curve. This is especially noticeable with certain official Paizo adventures, as the "final boss" to a high level campaign is either a full caster or has inherent abilities that negate spells to keep up with the {{Metagame}}. A more direct example is the ''Pathfinder Unchained'' rule book, that offers revisions to making melee classes vastly more powerful than their vanilla original versions (via the new addition of Combat Feats), to help mitigate the perceived LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards problem.

** This is usually a problem with any codex that hasn't seen an update in a long time. The Dark Eldar and Necron codexes were infamous for this for a long time, as they were the oldest codexes not to be updated (the Dark Eldar had, at one point, gone 10 years without an update. That's almost 3 whole editions) and the Bretonnia book suffered from this as well (Their old perk was being able to field a full-cavalry army with a special regiment formation, but they changed to a unique regiment formation that, due to the new rules, doesn't actually do much for them and can actually be a handicap).

[[caption-width-right:341:Same attack power, same casting cost, but Ice Rager has one extra health. Not to mention, [[{{Pun}} it's a lot cooler]].]]

A term used in any kind of multi-player game (including VideoGames, CollectibleCardGame, and TabletopGames) to describe the process in which newly-added-content can be played along with the old-content, but with the new content being far more powerful/useful in every sense. This process leaves [[SoLastSeason old-content completely worthless]], save for a few exceptions and for CherryTapping.

This makes sense, [[MoneyDearBoy at least from a monetary point of view]]. New-added-content requires people to actually buy it and use it, but why would they use their money to buy some obscure thing they don't know how to use (yet) if [[{{Whoring}} they can keep on using]] their awesome InfinityPlusOneSword by paying 5 mana? Easy, make every new content item an Infinity +2 Sword which requires 3 mana to work. And the same will happen in the next expansion, with an [[SerialEscalation Infinity +3 Sword that only costs 2 mana]].

The thing is that this gets out of hand really easy, particularly in a LongRunner. After four or five expansions, with the new Infinity +8 Swords that gives you 10 free mana, there is little point in using the [[SoLastSeason Infinity +3 Sword that costs 2 mana]], and let's not talk about the lame [[OvershadowedByAwesome Infinity +1 Sword that cost 5 mana!]] ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Who'd ever use that, anyway?]])

As a general rule, though, Power Creep has a negative connotation. The reason behind it is that, [[SturgeonsLaw while there may be some few exceptions]], it usually shows that the producers were unable to come up with something creative, and instead resorted to repeating themselves, just with bigger numbers. Power Creep also tends to lead a game beyond its pre-defined limits, with one of two results: it will becomes a competition [[RocketTagGameplay of mindless speed]], or of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts predictable slow strategies]].

This trope is the Gameplay Mechanics counterpart to SoLastSeason, OvershadowedByAwesome, SequelEscalation and SerialEscalation, which refers to narrative or thematic elements.

Compare with RevenueEnhancingDevices. SoLastSeason applies to non-gameplay examples of this trope. The complete opposite of PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage, which is new content that is either unviable or outright unusable.

Not to be confused with PowerCreepPowerSeep.

[[folder:Tabletop Games (Not Card Games)]]

*** In terms of overall design, it both played this straight and inverted it, in that the playerbase generally regards its initial material as containing the strongest classes ''and'' the weakest classes in the game. This was because the designers really hadn't figured out how to balance the new system yet, and conversely ended up with some classes being hilariously broken because they could abuse its mechanics, and others being utterly underpowered because the designers overestimated how good their abilities were. As a result, most classes to follow by the midpoint of the game tended towards the middle - for instance, the warmage and warlock are a lot weaker than the wizard but fill a similar role, while the duskblade and psychic warrior are a lot stronger than the fighter. A party of a binder, a dread necromancer, and a warblade would follow about the same party roles as the classic cleric-wizard-fighter trio, but be a lot closer in power.

** Even 5th Edition, which has had a lot more effort toward being balanced, has suffered a bit from this. The biggest example comes from ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', which introduces two new sorcerer subclasses, the Aberrant Mind and the Clockwork Soul. Both of them fix the biggest complaint about the sorcerer class, its lack of spells known, by granting ten bonus spells known. As none of the previously published sorcerer subclasses are getting any such boost, the new ones represent a significant boost in power level.
*** ''Tasha's'' also introduced Peace and Twilight domains for cleric, both considered the most powerful subclasses of an already strong class. Peace domain has Emboldening Bond, which is basically Bless spell that doesn't require concentration and lasts longer and at later levels can allow allies to teleport and take damage intended for someone else. Meanwhile Twilight cleric has very strong domain spells taken from other classes, flight as a bonus action (in darkness or dim light) and a Channel Divinity that's essentially an endless stream of temporary hit points.

*** Power creep also has an affect on older content due to how level syncing works. Level sync reduces a player's power and disables skills that are beyond the "cap" imposed by the level sync. Item level, which is the player's stats based on their gear, is usually not synced down. This creates cases where a high level player doing early game content can quickly kill enemies compared to another player whose gear is weak. This also has the side effect of players' technically being at the intended level, but the power creep from the item sync has them much ''much'' stronger than when they first did it, thus they are technically apporaching it with maximised best-in-slot gear. The game does have an item level sync as self challenge option for those that want to experience old content at the intended difficulty, but one can't queue for that without a party of four.

** The developers are somewhat keen on averting this, however, although the limited availability of these items doesn't help matters. Some particularly popular old items have been 're-released' in different forms. In some cases, they provide the same 'important' option as before, but with some minor differences. New players can more easily obtain the useful item, and old players ([[SeriousBusiness who are generally obsessed with gaining every advantage they can]]) will find a way for the slight differences to give them a reason to use both. On the other hand, there have been instances where the new versions are almost complete upgrades, obviating the need for the old versions.

*** Power creep also has an affect on older content due to how level syncing works. Level sync reduces a player's power and disables skills that are beyond the "cap" imposed by the level sync. Item level, which is the player's stats based on their gear, is usually not synced down. This creates cases where a high level player doing early game content can quickly kill enemies compared to another player whose gear is weak. This also has the side effect of players' technically being at the intended level, but the power creep from the item sync has them much ''much'' stronger than when they first did it. The game does have an item level sync as self challenge option for those that want to experience old content at the intended difficulty, but one can't queue for that.

*** Power creep also has an affect on older content due to how level syncing works. Level sync reduces a player's power and disables skills that are beyond the "cap" imposed by the level sync. Item level, which is the player's stats based on their gear, is usually not synced down. This creates cases where a high level player doing early game content can quickly kill enemies compared to another player whose gear is weak. The game does have an item level sync as self challenge option for those that want to experience old content at the intended difficulty.

The one time Power Creep can be positive is when it is used on something that was already [[TierInducedScrappy worthless]] to begin with. The two ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' cards in the page image are actually an example of this. The Ice Rager is "strictly better" (as ''Magic'' players put it) to the Magma Rager, having two HitPoints instead of one and being identical in all other respects (3 {{Mana}} to cast, 5 attack); if you have access to both, there is ''never'' a reason to play Magma Rager instead of Ice Rager. Having said that, there was also never a reason to play the Magma Rager in the first place, because [[TierInducedScrappy it's an awful card]].[[note]]In ''Hearthstone'', you have 1 Mana on your first turn, 2 on your second, 3 on your third, etc until maxing out at 10. This rule can be broken, but only with difficulty. So, for most players, a card that costs 3 Mana, like Magma Rager, can only be played on turn 3. The problem is that it's also a OneHitPointWonder... and cards with 1 Attack, capable of killing it, typically only cost 1 Mana. If you spend 3 Mana putting a threat on the table and your opponent destroys it at the cost of 1 Mana, then, all other things being equal, your opponent came out ahead. So, in practice, the only thing the Magma Rager does is waste 2 Mana. The Ice Rager, being a waste of only ''1'' Mana, is marginally better; but it also raises the question of whether wasting Mana ''at all'' is really the best way to play.[[/note]]) Additionally, releasing a (more) playable version of it {{lampshades}} the fact that you released junk in the first place.

** Blizzard seems to be addressing the Power Creep issue with the introduction of Standard format, which forbids older expansions from being used. Coincidentally, the two expansions that are first being rotated out of the format (''Curse of Naxxramas'' and ''Goblins vs. Gnomes'') contains many of the most dominant cards in the game since. It also ensures that even new and possibly overpowered cards will eventually get cycled out, or at least possibly receive indirect nerfs by removing older cards that had strong synergy with newer ones. For example, Mysterious Challenger, the single-most [[TierInducedScrappy notorious]] card at the moment, got less powerful with the removal of Avenge and Muster for Battle. [[note]]Avenge, when combined with Noble Sacrifice, allowed you to block a hit with a 2/1 minion, which would automatically trigger Avenge to give a random minion +3/+2. Combine that with Muster for Battle to summon 3 1/1s and Competitive Spirit and you can have either 3 2/2s and a 10/9 or a 7/7, a 5/4, and two 2/2s on the next turn, giving you substantial board control as long as the opponent didn't have AoE removal at hand. Muster for Battle's comparative replacement, Stand Against Darkness, costs one too much mana to play in one turn normally.[[/note]]

** The big one in ''V'', though, is India. Their unique ability, "Population Growth", is the only one that carries a penalty: namely, it doubles unhappiness from the number of cities, with the fact that it halves unhappiness from total population (a very powerful buff) making up for it. It was crafted with the intention of building a very "tall" nation with a small handful of very densely-populated and built-up cities, which was optimal for a Cultural Victory in the vanilla game (more cities increases the culture cost of social policies). ''Brave New World'', however, changed Cultural Victories such that a large empire is now preferable, precisely the sort of thing that India's unique ability pulls against. The result is that one of the best empires for a Culture Victory in the vanilla game and ''Gods & Kings'' becomes a TierInducedScrappy in ''Brave New World''.

Power Creep virtually always leads to a BrokenBase, with the most "conservative" players stating that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks the new unbalanced content is an insult to the original game]] (which might be true or not, depending on the case). On the other hand, there will always be players who like these new add-ons, saying that it [[GrowingTheBeard actually makes the game more fun to play]]. Additionally, Power Creep can actually be a boon to TournamentPlay: Long, drawn-out games are harder to schedule since it's less easy to predict when everyone will finish on time. Thus, with Power Creep making games faster, tournaments become more accessible, less time-consuming, and easier to plan. (This is not an idle concern; the makers of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' are on record as having to reject card designs because they would bring the match to a halt for five or ten minutes.)

As a general rule, though, Power Creep has a negative connotation. The reason behind it is that, [[SturgeonsLaw while there may be some few exceptions]], it usually shows that the producers were unable to come up with something creative, and instead resorted to [[FakeBalance repeating themselves, just with bigger numbers]]. Power Creep also tends to lead a game beyond its pre-defined limits, with one of two results: it will becomes a competition [[RocketTagGameplay of mindless speed]], or of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts predictable slow strategies]].

*** In terms of overall design, it both played this straight and inverted it, in that the playerbase generally regards its initial material as containing the strongest classes ''and'' the weakest classes in the game. This was because the designers [[FakeBalance really hadn't figured out how to balance the new system yet]], and conversely ended up with some classes being hilariously broken because they could abuse its mechanics, and others being utterly underpowered because the designers overestimated how good their abilities were. As a result, most classes to follow by the midpoint of the game tended towards the middle - for instance, the warmage and warlock are a lot weaker than the wizard but fill a similar role, while the duskblade and psychic warrior are a lot stronger than the fighter. A party of a binder, a dread necromancer, and a warblade would follow about the same party roles as the classic cleric-wizard-fighter trio, but be a lot closer in power.

** Energy system has suffered heavily from that. At the start, the only ways to restore energy were to pick up energy orbs from enemies, use a small consumable or have a Trinity. Abilities would cost a considerable chunk of your total energy pool and the potential to reduce energy costs was limited to a 30% decrease. Then, they added passive regeneration through Energy Siphon aura mod. Later, came larger consumables that could replenish your entire energy pool. Trinity got buffed to have a much more powerul and easy to use form of energy restoration. The aforementioned Prime Warframes started getting larger energy pools. Prime Flow mod allowed any Warframe to have more maximum energy. Corrupted Mods allowed you to reduce energy costs by up to 75%. Focus came with Zenurik school that had extra energy regen. Arcane Energize also allows bursts of energy. As a result, it is absolutely trivial to completely ignore energy costs entirely. And considering that the game has Energy as the only limited factor of ability usage, it led to even the most powerful abilities becoming endlessly spammable. If in the past, full energy would give around 4-5 uses of your most powerful ability before you're out, later it got closer to 20 uses, with a couple of Large Energy Restore consumables refilling all of your energy in seconds.

** Energy system has suffered heavily from that. At the start, the only ways to restore energy were to pick up energy orbs from enemies, use a small consumable or have a Trinity. Abilities would cost a considerable chunk of your total energy pool. Then, they added passive regeneration through Energy Siphon aura mod. Later, came larger consumables that could replenish your entire energy pool. Trinity got buffed to have a much more power and easy to use form of energy restoration. The aforementioned Prime Warframes started getting larger energy pools. Prime Flow mod allowed any Warframe to have more maximum energy. Corrupted Mods allowed you to reduce energy costs much more than what was possible before. Focus came with Zenurik school that had extra energy regen. Arcane Energize also allows bursts of energy. As a result, it is absolutely trivial to completely ignore energy costs entirely. And considering that the game has Energy as the only limited factor of ability usage, it led to even the most powerful abilities becoming endlessly spammable.

** It's played straight, however, with cats designed for certain enemy types and mechanics. A good example is Zombie enemies, which have the ability to [[DigAttack burrow under your frontlines]] and [[RevivingEnemy revive when killed.]] When they were first released, the power level of anti-Zombie cats was low, with the best non-Uber counters being either [[LuckBasedMission very unreliable]] (Gardener Cat), or having an ArbitraryMinimumRange that their burrows could exploit (Vaulter Cat), and Zombies were thus considered one of the hardest enemy types. Later updates steadily added more reliable anti-Zombie units and tools, like Welterweight Cat to knock them back to your frontlines, Li'l Flying Cat to deal good damage to some melee Zombies, and the [[HolyHandGrenade Holy Blast cannon]] to unburrow them and deal huge damage. Zombies became especially powercrept when two new anti-Zombie tools were introduced: Vaulter Cat's true form, Housewife Cat, gained a [[CriticalHit Savage Blow]] talent that made her way better than other anti-Zombie ranged attackers like Cataur; and Cadaver [=BearCat=] was introduced, a nearly strictly better version of Li'l Flying Cat able to deal massive damage to, or even OneHitKill, many burrowing Zombies. With these units obtainable surprisingly early in the game, Zombies are now far easier to deal with than they were at launch.

** The upper limit of a unit's Base Stat Total (BST for short) can get ridiculous sometimes the later the game goes with the release of new heroes, with SerialEscalation levels of BST increases. At the game's launch, 157~158 was the standard BST for "Gen 1" Infantry melee units with the standard movement of 2, while "Gen 1" Armored melee units go around 168~169 to compensate for their lower movement of 1, and a unit with "Trainee" bonuses gain +5~6 more stats than normal. {{Balance Buff}}s were later released in the game's life, including increasing the BST of many units types for future heroes, including Infantry and Armored units, with Infantry at "Gen 2" having 162~164 BST, "Gen 3" 167~169 BST, "Gen 4" 172~173 BST and "Gen 5" 176~177 BST, while Armored units at "Gen 2" and "Gen 3" be at 173~175 BST, "Gen 4" 178~180 BST and "Gen 5" 183~185 BST. Great examples of this escalation are dragon units, using Corrin, Young Tiki, Kanna, and Sothis as examples of the gap between Infantry and Armored narrowing between generations, while also leaving older units in the dust.
*** Regular Female Corrin[[labelnote:*]]Regular Male Corrin is a Sword Infantry, so he's part of another can of worms[[/labelnote]] was released at launch, February 2017, with 157 BST.
*** Young Tiki was also released at launch with "Trainee" bonuses, with 163 BST.
*** Male and Female Kanna were released at April 2018, during the "Gen 2" wave of BST units, with their BST at 163~164.
*** Adrift Female and Adrift Male Corrin were released at November 2018, both with "Gen 2" and "Trainee" bonuses, with their BST at 167~168, reaching "Gen 1" Armored unit BST.
*** Fallen Female Corrin and Regular Sothis was released at May 2019 and July 2019, respectively, during the "Gen 3" wave of BST units, with alongside the "Trainee" bonus, reaches 173 BST, reaching "Gen 2" and "Gen 3" Armored units BST.
*** Fallen Male Corrin was released at May 2020, during the "Gen 4" wave of BST units, with alongside the "Trainee" bonus, reaches 177 BST, nearly reaching the "Gen 4" Armored units BST.
*** Legendary Female Corrin was released at August 2020, during the "Gen 5" wave of BST units, with alongside the "Trainee" bonus, reaches 182 BST, nearly reaching the "Gen 5" Armored units BST. Still want to use that Regular Female Corrin?
*** Legendary Young Tiki and Fallen Young Tiki, released at October 2018 and May 2019, respectively, are Armored Dragons with "Trainee" bonuses, so they reach 180 BST, the highest BST for "Gen 3" units in the game.
*** To cap things off, Winter Sothis was released at December 2020, during the "Gen 4" wave of BST units, is an Armored Dragon with the "Trainee" bonus, so she reaches 185 BST, the highest BST for "Gen 4" units in the game.