I don't consider this EXCELLENT player retention

I think in this case the Steam charts are just purely misleading. Most long-time players do not use Steam for Path of Exile.

well long-time-players maybe don't use steam (and I can't recommend it if you're not playing for steam achievements like me cause steam is a pile of shit with horrible ui), but I think with the free-to-play aspect a LOT of people on steam discover this game and play it for some time.

truesteamachievements has 3,806 tracked gamers on path of exile, that is one in six using that site. and the number of players on steam or of overall players really doesn't matter as much as the dropoff rate during a league cause the ggg official spoke of player RETENTION, not player numbers. non-steam player retention might be a bit higher, but still.

so another ggg statement that is just propaganda and smokescreens. nothing new. you thought they would announce that this league epically failed? lol

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SuicideAll_V_5 wrote:

I don't consider this EXCELLENT player retention

But they (GGG) do.

They have the budget. They have all the numbers (non-Steam clients) and so on. If they feel that "excellent" is the word to go for, let them. If they use the word for marketing reasons or that they really feel it IS excellent player retention, doesn't really matter.

I'm sure what YOU consider - based on YOUR numbers, isn't really something GGG consider either.

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Johny_Snow wrote:

Incursion = insane power creep with no end game.
Delve = actual end game.

What cant you guys understand?

Further, how do you think a better retention should be achieved?

focus on permanent game mode instead of temp leagues that are only marginally different from each other. simple as that. no leagues, no league dropoff curve. only way the cycle of pressure having to slap together a new league quickly and then have player dropoff because of lackluster features and lack of long-term motivation (one could call it the "delve mechanism" now ^^) can be broken

in other words, put something new into the CORE game every week or month at least. instead of 1 big expansion, release small parts of it in succession, building up to a great finale.

people who want to start from scratch every time can do so in races, but the core of the game must be and should always have been the PERMANENT league.

(and levelling to 100 can't be the end goal in that of course. game could very well require you to have multiple characters at the same time in order to be successful. crafting could be more goal-oriented (more master mods) as a currency sink. stronghold and kingdoms expansion where you compete with other people on an overworld map. let people choose a side in a conflict where you have choices to make and they really matter and you can contribute to your faction's triumph. etc. make players want to log in each and every day, it's so unbelievably simple to accomplish that!)

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Xavathos wrote:

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The_Reporter wrote:

Somebody needs to explain to OP that PoE isn't an MMO

Of course it is.

MMO simply means Massively Multiplayer Online, which PoE is. You can play with people from all over the world, connected all at the same time. MMO says nothing about the gameplay.

but it's called mmorpg actually, and there is no trace of roleplaying in poe.

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LMTR14 wrote:

focus on permanent game mode instead of temp leagues that are only marginally different from each other. simple as that. no leagues, no league dropoff curve.

I think you're way off here. A lot of the players that have played this game for years, NEED a "new league" with new challenges and ladders. That's why they are here. They need the "40/40" grind.

The league cycles is one of few reasons why this game is still popular. Of course, there are a lot of different players, but the majority is better off with main focus on leagues.

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Xavathos wrote:

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The_Reporter wrote:

Somebody needs to explain to OP that PoE isn't an MMO

Of course it is.

MMO simply means Massively Multiplayer Online, which PoE is. You can play with people from all over the world, connected all at the same time. MMO says nothing about the gameplay.

So every "online only multiplayer game" is an MMO? PUBG? CS:GO? D3? I strongly disagree about your definition of MMO. But hey, I'm weird.

People need to stop replying to this guy. He'll go away.

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Phrazz wrote:

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LMTR14 wrote:

focus on permanent game mode instead of temp leagues that are only marginally different from each other. simple as that. no leagues, no league dropoff curve.

I think you're way off here. A lot of the players that have played this game for years, NEED a "new league" with new challenges and ladders. That's why they are here. They need the "40/40" grind.

The league cycles is one of few reasons why this game is still popular. Of course, there are a lot of different players, but the majority is better off with main focus on leagues.

like I said there are numerous options available to still have temp leagues (e.g. one month flashback and such) - they just must not be the focus of the game if you want to solve the player dropoff problem. games like diablo 3 have achievement lists, and checking those off to 100% really is enough of a challenge

and I think it's time to finally let that part of the playerbase ruining the game for everyone else (and for ggg, in a way) go if they can't adapt to changes. it's the minority after all! the game experience must not be balanced on some freaks levelling to 100 or delving to 1000 in a few mere days because that simply has NOTHING to do with the game experience most players have in path of exile. this isn't league of legends, it's not a competitive game (except for maybe a few hundred guys) and you can't turn pro (unless you are a streamer or rmtrader). only the vocal minority wants to start from scratch all the time (a concept that makes sense in a round-based game like league of legends where a game lasts 45 min, but not in a game where a single game round takes four months!!!)

or in other words the situation where you are done with your char cause you can't progress any further and uninstall or just not start the game til next league (cause maybe you get a lil closer to endgame that time...) why the fuck would you play on at that point? there is NOTHING offered for you when you are at that point in the league cycle. esp. this time when challenges are rng up the ass (and who needs cosmetic mtx in the first place, I don't even use the ones that are free). THIS POINT is where the permanent game must be made interesting by giving the player goals that are different from simply making your char a few 0.x% stronger (if you're lucky) or being able to find enough red maps to actually play the game! and it should have happened years ago already.

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鬼殺し wrote:

Good thing what you consider EXCELLENT player retention doesn't matter to the game or its devs in the slightest then. :)