Stat Inflation and the Erosion of Mechanical Tension

Discussion

The common trend in AAA and live service progression is a shift from tactical engagement to stat checking. When a game spends forty hours teaching a player how to master its combat mechanics, only to introduce gear scores that render those mechanics optional, the loop breaks. The buried lede in these designs is that the reward system often cannibalizes the core gameplay. Once the numbers reach a certain threshold, positioning and timing stop being variables and start being irrelevant. This turns the endgame into a math problem rather than a skill test. Which games have you played where the power curve successfully maintained tension without stalling progression, or conversely, where the stat bloat completely erased the tactical identity of the combat?