I agree it is the best tool because it allows for the quick start learning without limiting you as much. I don't know what coco is, but I DID try Construct at one point. The drag and drop action thing felt too limiting. And though there was a way to code things, you couldn't just code, rather you still had to code for the drag and drop crap. I understand that Gamesalad has similar issues, but I haven't actually messed with it. There is also multimedia Fusion, but last I checked that it was pretty much obsolete and wasn't getting updated. Gamemaker has the easy to start with drag and drop, although most people end up learning GML ASAP, and that's a good thing. Even GML as a language was still built with the ease of use that is missing in other languages.
I've also dabbled in Unreal Engine 4, and spent lots of time in Unity. They often get compared with Gamemaker for whatever reason even though their target audience is pretty different, and they are typically what people who "move on" from Gamemaker go to. For UE4, I was never able to get comfortable with Blueprints, though you can supposedly do just about anything you want with it. Unity doesn't have a fully released Visual Code editor yet, unless you count some of the 3rd party creations that have been done. Some are more direct to code kind of things, like D&D is to GML. Others are more higher level stuff, like state machines. I've never like either of those things much, preferring to just code it out. Although the one I'm thinking of for state machines could have come in handy for higher level state, like multiple stages of a boss fight, and things like what happens in a level as you play though it, etc...