Standard vs League

**Long post, sorry!**

So, I started my POE 'career' by making as many hardcore characters as I could stomach. Ripping and learning as I go. Playing in the different leagues to have a "fresh" new start, and playing as many characters as I can do iSo, I started my POE 'career' by making as many hardcore characters as I could stomach. Ripping and learning as I go. Playing in the different leagues to have a "fresh" new start, and playing as many characters as I can do in that amount of time.

Now, I play solo-self found most of the time. The recent stash tab changes earlier this year made this easier to trade. I've done a little bit of that, not much.

Since I prefer to actually be in game playing, and not become a trade tycoon buying the gear I need, I've gradually fell off of the hardcore scene because I simply could not accumulate enough wealth or items to run the different and unique builds that I wanted to. Keeping in mind that I very rarely trade to acquire items, POE became quite stale to me.

I've since taken a liking to creating characters in pure standard (not even softcore league) because all of my wealth and saved uniques are there. I can create whatever builds I can, more so than I could have continually ripping in hardcore leagues. And to be honest, my experience has been much better.

I still treat every death with utter disdain sometimes tossing my mouse across the table or staring blankly at the screen for 30 seconds (we have all done this where you rip in HC (or standard) and literally stare at the screen for what seems an eternity). I get pissed. And I suppose the stopping points for me to re-roll are when I am ripping too frequently, losing more XP than I gain in a map run, or when I run out of high level maps (a topic for another day).

So to get to the point...


How many of you actually PREFER standard rather than play in softcore/hardcore leagues ?

My viewpoint on leagues lately: They aren't very interesting.

Essence: Kill a rare pack to acquire items similar to alchemy orbs that upgrade a normal to a rare with some degree of specificity in terms of mods.
Prophecy: I still can't wrap my head around. Sometimes I completed a prophecy and had no idea what reward was given to me.
Perandus: Kill a stream of mobs for coins to spend at a randomly spawning fat man for, what could be, pretty good uniques or currecy.
Talisman: I kind of skipped this one altogether.
Warband/Tempest: Kill warbands...? For what? Tempest had the right idea with the badfloor/good floor on the ground.

And thats when I started playing...

I think the idea of tempest should be in leagues more often where it changes the way you play, not only the way you acquire items. Because otherwise, its just the same damn thing as standard with the only differences being a new way to acquire items and you start off fresh. Thats it.


So how about it? Standard? Standard league? Hardcore league? Which do you prefer these days considering the recent trend of leagues?

For me: The gameplay enabling / build enabling resources are in my standard stash. Since I don't trade much because I would rather be out in the game doing stuff, this enables me to have a better POE experience. How about you?

Very similar experience to what you have... but still refuse to trade. HC play got ruined by the Lab. The encounter in Merciless is too hard to learn for a strictly HC player.

So I took a league and made some SC characters, and I'm taking this league "off" to build up my SC masters and stash.

I'm finding it harder and harder to summon the will to click on the game. It's more work than fun.

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

Very similar experience to what you have... but still refuse to trade. HC play got ruined by the Lab. The encounter in Merciless is too hard to learn for a strictly HC player.

So I took a league and made some SC characters, and I'm taking this league "off" to build up my SC masters and stash.

I'm finding it harder and harder to summon the will to click on the game. It's more work than fun.

You're finding it harder to simply log in? Shame that merci lab has done that.

I usually RIP in HC before I get to merci lab. Usually some crap in cruel does it to me. Honestly, I'm not sure Ive made it to mapping on a hc char without a rip. And thats a good thing. I think Ive gotten to 60 or so and then died for being a derp and not having a bleed flask.

Back to the point: I simply think that the leagues are copy and pastes with a small change-up here and there. Nothing amazing to be honest. So why struggle with a dozen HC characters and immminent rips (I do love the thrill though) when I can enjoy playing a unique/crazy/fun build in Standard (and no, I am not ripping 20 times either. I delete the character way way before then. Thats the game telling me I screwed up).

They need to start to make leagues interesting again.

As it stands, I'll play maybe less than 5 HC characters in a league before I call it quits, return to standard or take a break from the game. I've ripped...three so far in this league. I might have one more HC left in me for Essence when I get around to it (decided to stick with my arc miner in standard).

HC + Temp league is the best if you have a lot of time.

Less time = Play HC, play SC leagues, or play Standard

Standard:


league:

I play Leagues with friends, and Standard I can test and mess around, PvP, etc.Each mode fills voids.

I play on standard - where I can tinker around with all kinds of builds. When I need a new class or something to try a new build, thats when I play hc on the 3 month leagues. I also make a lot of currency in new leagues, usually over 100-150 exalts once I rip over to standard.

I like standard a million times better than ladder. Probably because I have time to accomplish things. I'll forget about this game for months at a time and can only play 2-3x a week when active. I find it more interesting trying new builds than playing ground hog day movie over and over as well. I paid my dues in ladder before never eagar to do it again. What I like most is full resets then building new characters with my 100 stash tabs of gear - playing about 50 maps and do it with another one till I get bored.

I get bored of ladder second it starts. hate re-leveling. hate the trade game all over for what I already have. hate the map RNG all over. ladder really sucks for me at this point

For me it is rather easy.

There are 2 reason i play leagues:

- challenges. Allthough i'm not hardcore enough to get 40/40, getting 37 is doable for me. free rewards/MTX! Also, i really like challenges in general, gives me a goal besides leveling/gearing.

- the feeling of playing a complete game / not missing out on new content (albeit only league mods).
If i'd play standard, i'd miss out in essences at this moment. Even though i think they are boring (only used some to get challenge, rest is sitting in my stash) i don't want to miss it. I don't even want to think about having played standard during Perandus for example, i really liked that league.

Also: not a real reason for me but i do like the new economy each time in league. Mostly because the few good items i find are worth something in new leagues, and that supports my mapping/buying stuff for challenges. Now i think about it, it kinda is a pretty big reason for me to play league:)

iam all about Standard

i play Leagues to make more currency for Standard (league uniques)

only time i ever played Hardcore was PerandusHardcore... ...

i dont get people that play Leagues and say "no one cares about Standard"
that seems really dumb to me lol

and screeeewww Hardcore, the amount of BS lag and glitch deaths ive seen in Standard man.. like 5000 glitch deaths... how does anyone play Hardcore in this game?