What if the notion of "legacy" didn't exist for standard leagues?

Just a random idea I had, no clue as its viability or whatever, but I'll throw it out there regardless.

What if all uniques in standard were reverted to their original form at release? As such, the concept of legacy would no longer exist and people could play (in standard only) the most OP builds or whatever their hearts desired. This would have no effect on temp leagues where items would be the updated versions and the progress of the game went as usual from patch to patch basis.

Is such a thing possible, from a technical standpoint? If so, would it be something people are interested in having?

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For the record, I have no personal investment in whatever happens in standard. I've never really played in it, the random fluctuations that happened there from legacies and other market-influencing variances have zero effect on how I play POE or how enjoyable it is. My reasoning for suggesting this is to alleviate the ridiculous frustration people who do play standard leagues regularly must feel to see stuff they wanted to get become suddenly out of reach. In all fairness, it makes no sense for things in standard league to exist as the dumpster they are, such that GGG would then impose their constantly newly balanced items onto them. It's not as if the game was ever made or any aspect of it designed to really cater to standard leagues, right? So then why not allow those leagues to be as unrestricted as possible? Presuming of course that item reversion was a doable thing (not sure it is).

For me the challenge and enjoyment comes from the temp leagues, where the newest and freshest parts of POE are found (probably for most its the same who play temps). For the ones who want to roll one char and stick with it forever, why allow the insanity of legacies and w/e to ruin their experience? It's not as if standard doesn't have all that crazy IIQ/IIR and other stuff already; an improvement for their experience should be a different matter than balance that occurs essentially for the sake of temporary leagues. Separate rules for separate leagues/universes, so to speak.


Or maybe I'm way off-base, but there you have it.

I would play it, and I would get most of my RPG playing friends to play it.

Would still play temp leagues but would continue the characters on standard after the league ended.

Sounds like a great idea. and would NOT really invalidate the point of changing them, since the rich people who had them in the first place still freaking have them. It would just allow other people to feel awesome. I have no problem with other people being able to find legacy facebreakers too :)

After all, standard is not really where the competition is at. That is the temp leagues, where the balanced items need to be. I like the idea. Fully endorse it.

They would be rewerting a change they already did, thats not the same thing and has happened countless times before. And it would be good for the standard league game.

They can't update the entire item database to change all non-legacies to legacies for the same reason that they cannot prevent legacy items in the first place. If they had the capacity to (reasonably) do this then there would be no legacies assuming a purely technical standpoint of them existing.

It also makes no sense to unnerf something that is overpowered solely due to it being Standard league. Overpowered items limit build diversity if you want to utilize effective builds. Doing this would have a net negative impact on the game.

Sounds like the path to a dead game to me.
If you incentivize perm league over temp you'd have to focus your development almost completely on endgame to keep your existing player base engaged.
The further the existing players got in the endgame they more of a head start they'd have over a new player coming in.
You'd end up with a game with very minimal appeal to new players and old players would go away eventually no matter what you did.

With the temp league focus poe is very welcoming to new and returning players.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

Standard-as-Legacy, with the idea of items never being rebalanced as they are on the temporary leagues, might appeal to those who crave permanence and stability

This is the defining aspect of the Standard League demographic.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

I suspect that to GGG, the ideal player isn't here to perfect a build and its gear, but is willing to start from scratch every time GGG tweak the system, every time they add content. The ideal player isn't here for character commitment but game commitment -- the ideal PoE player is so in love with PoE's mechanics, content and lore that they're more than happy to see what GGG will change with each iteration. The ideal player engages with new economies, embraces item changes and relishes in the challenge of starting over in a reconfigured but familiar environment. The ideal player loves racing because it's all about those minute improvements to low level time management. The ideal player understands the potency of items and skills relative to their level, because they're constantly starting over. The ideal player is utterly devoted to the concept of 'One With Nothing'. The blank slate from which anything is possible.

The ideal player for GGG does not play Standard. Period.

There is no ideal player demographic. There are only ideal player demographics. You can't expect everyone to love trading, or racing, or rerolling, or any of those things in your list. Leagues are GGG's way to cater to multiple playstyles, a capability which is utterly squandered if GGG embraces platonic ideals of perfection and attempts to cater exclusively to a single group. I mean, why not force hardcore on everyone under your vision?

Now, there is a demographic GGG marketed to during the Closed Beta period prior to 2013, and I do feel GGG has a duty to that "hardcore" demographic you allude to. But that doesn't make that demographic "ideal," it just makes them the founding demographic. There is no superiority, other than "we got here first." As long as changes don't alienate that demographic, they're of no harm... and as you said, they don't play Standard.

I say, give the Standard people what they really want: the guarantee no item in that league, regardless of the time it drops, will ever be nerfed, balance be damned. It might not be possible to ensure permanence and stability to things like passives and gems (although I don't know why "legacy" gems wouldn't work), but taking that fact and saying "fuck it, let's just change everything on 'em" is the perversely self-defeating attitude of a perfectionist who can't manage a compromise.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I say, give the Standard people what they really want: the guarantee no item in that league, regardless of the time it drops, will ever be nerfed, balance be damned.

You do realize you're trying to speak for what 1/5 of the playerbase supposedly wants, right? Just saying the entirety of Standard wants something doesn't make it true, nor does it make it a good idea.

To reiterate, I firmly believe the desire for permanence and stability is the #1 priority of the Standard demographic, far surpassing balance. I imagine I could be wrong, and I obviously can't speak for everyone, but that is my core premise here.

They wouldn't be the standard leagues... next question.