When you create a character in Path of Exile, you choose a league for that character to exist in. We expect and encourage most players to play in the default league, but other leagues exist for specific play styles or events.
Characters can only see and interact with other characters in the same league. In this way, each one is its own isolated economy. The default league is extremely large and hence acts as a general economy for all characters that were not created in a specialist league. All characters in a league have access to the same shared stash pages.
Competition
Each league has its own set of ladder rankings. We’ll be frequently creating short term leagues that last varying durations (a day, a weekend, a week, etc) with item rewards for the highest placed characters on the ladder at the end of the league. There are leagues that end once a specific goal has been met (a race to level 90, for example).
League competitions are another way for players to get rewarded for their play skill and to be competitive with other players as an alternative to PvP.
Completion
There are a few permanent long term leagues including the default “standard” and “hardcore” leagues. All other leagues have a duration value and a parent league. When the duration is over, all characters in that league become part of the parent league.
Whenever any league ends, its characters are all converted back to its parent league. This way, no one loses the character they were leveling (it just ends up in a less restricted economy/ladder than the one it was initially being played in).
Game Modes
Leagues are able to apply a different set of game rules to their players. For example, increased monster difficulty, world PvP, permadeath or various "Ironman" rules.
We have many plans for interesting game modifiers that leagues can apply, but one rule is clear – they must only make the game harder. Because characters transfer back to the parent league when a league ends, it is important that the character’s journey to its current status was equivalent or more difficult than gameplay in the parent league.
Paid Leagues
In addition, we plan to allow guilds or groups of players to pay for the creation of their own league with a choice of game rule modifiers. Only players invited by the people who paid for the league can create characters in these private leagues. This option helps cater towards any groups of players who want to play online together but don’t want their playgroup to have access to items traded from external players.
The following are examples of leagues that we are working on designing. Feedback and ideas are greatly appreciated - we're very keen to hear what you think on the forums.
Hardcore
Typically, “hardcore mode” in action RPGs involves permadeath. A character killed in this mode cannot be accessed any more. In Path of Exile, slain hardcore characters revert to the parent non-hardcore league. This system encourages non-hardcore players to try the hardcore game mode, while still permanently removing hardcore characters from the economy when they die.
Ironman
In Ironman, players are unable to trade with vendors or refill their flasks in town. Mana regeneration is disabled by default. Players are encouraged to band together and manage their resources in order to survive.
Cut-throat
The cut-throat leagues appeal to the niche of players who demand the most hardcore gaming experience possible. In this mode, all world areas are public, with full PvP enabled by default. Slain characters drop all their items upon death. This game mode can also be combined with Hardcore to create an even more unforgiving world.
Attrition
An attrition league is a short duration league that starts with a fixed number of players and eliminates the player with the lowest amount of experience at periodic intervals. For example, a 24 hour attrition league might start with 100 players and eliminate one player per 12 minutes after a four hour initial leveling period. Players would be able to see how close to elimination they are on an on-screen ladder display.
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Thanks for the quick reply Chris!
Happy Days Abound.
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"The answer to the initial question is 'b' - there was a parent league specified and that's clear from the beginning of that league."
If those characters go to a softcore league from hardcore/cuthroat, will they have a special title displayed? Eg: `Hard-Cut Chris` just so everyone can see your surviving character, and where its from...maybe said titles could give a small buff? |
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title ok, but pls no buff.
imagine i start a HC char, die at lvl 1 and start softcore with mentioned buff :) (No matter how small it would be) A title showing how far u came in HC as a showoff would be ok. |
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They said if these competitions do happen temporary titles will be most likely not buffs. Or they said that a list of league standing might happen. A list that shows all the leagues you've been in and how you did. Kind of like a stats page.
Yes good sir, I enjoy slaying mythical creatures.
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Will there be something like this if you have too many characters reverting to the parent league after dying in HC or the end of temporary leagues? |
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Excellent question, im a huge altoholic. And i tend to try at least one of any given class. Unfortunately, i cant find anywhere on here (doing a quick Search)what, if any, is the character limit. And will it be limited by type (x number of Hard core and x default) or account wide. So if a temp-league ends, and the parent league has no available slots, where does that toon go?
The easiest answer is that you are only allowed to create so many toons on one account, but then you have to always leave a slot open for other leagues, like temp-leagues, that dont even exist yet. |
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There is a max of 24 chars to an account. Chris said it in an interview a while ago. "Look at it this way: The longer it takes before you get your key or the game goes to open beta, the better the game will be when you finally get to play!" quote from Garr0t |
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Does anyone know if you could later buy more character slots and more room in the stash? Since I am an altoholic the first thing I am out of in a game are characterslots. Would be really nice to know, especially with so many different leagues and possibilities to chose from. |
