Why do people play leagues over standard?

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canilaz_ wrote:

Dont act like a spoiled kid /no offense/ and just set your goals based on how much time and passion you have to play the game and keep in mind that Chris said some endgame things are made for a tiny % of players who can put many hours to reach and try themselves while rest just go watch streamers do that.

Yes, I heard it too. This is part of the story titled "Wilson digs a grave for his own product". At first, I thought he was just joking, but when I realized that he was serious, I promised myself that regardless of whether I would continue to play his crap or not, he would not see a dime from me anymore. Watch the streamers. Really funy. I have never seen any streams from the game in my life, because for me it's like staring at porn movie, while the actress I'm just watching is lying on my bed, ready and waiting.

As for the game, I scored the whole possible endgame except Aul, which I never met and bosses from Synthesis, because after two weeks I ignored this league. Unfortunately, the game has been screwed so much that I do not even want to play it. I follow its fate only because I want to see if I am in the minority or if there are more discouraged players. For now, steamcharts indicate that in terms of percentage Synthesis league will be the biggest failure from the beginning of the game.

Only that my theory is that the Synthesis is only part of the problem. If I'm right, the next league in the peak should attract around 95,000 players, with a downward trend. This will be good news, because GGG will have to do something about it. If in 3.7 they stop the drop in the number of players, they will continue to feed them with shit.

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Arrowneous wrote:

Oh yes, most important is to have leagues (seasons, etc.) to appeal to all the gamer addicts and treat your player base just like real junkies to get them hooked on playing the race temp league as often as possible. If you can attract these kind of players it won't really matter that the new content is still beta quality. They are game addicts looking for their next adrenaline fix so just pump out half-baked code so they can get a new race to play and cash in on mtx purchases.

Don't you think it is good that PoE has many streamers engaging with the latest fad? I personally think it is a good thing that there is so much competition between people in temp league and flashbacks. These people clearly love playing the new ladder.

If you got more time than usual, there are clear advantages in playing the temp leagues. Reasons posted by different people here.

If you don't, there is no shame in playing Standard. Most mechanics will get implemented anyway. No idea why you complain though.

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Arrowneous wrote:

It's actually pretty simple to understand. Chris laid it out plainly for other game developers in his GDC talk:

Designing Path of Exile to Be Played Forever. Chris Wilson at GDC 2019

All you need to do make a game that has new content very frequently (for example every 13 weeks), a ladder system that gets reset, and make your game as shooter and speedy as Fortnite (over 8 million players and now an eSport is a huge gamer market to chase after). Oh yes, most important is to have leagues (seasons, etc.) to appeal to all the gamer addicts and treat your player base just like real junkies to get them hooked on playing the race temp league as often as possible. If you can attract these kind of players it won't really matter that the new content is still beta quality. They are game addicts looking for their next adrenaline fix so just pump out half-baked code so they can get a new race to play and cash in on mtx purchases.

this*

who am i? i'm someone who joined in 2013, the period when i was bored to death by diablo 3, game that i gave another shot after the reaper of souls expansion, then left forever the moment i smelled that things would never change 1 month after.

how much i played poe? 733 hours in total. in 2013 not much, i didn't smell the potential then. after that i played legacy league 15/40, harbinger 36/40, abyss 29/40, and then i left because i understood how this game was designed. and then in sysnthesis league i wanted to give this another shot and did a ssf hc self made build templar summoner that ripped in act 10 not from kitava, but from some abyss stealth rare creep that killed me almost instantly even if was feeling pretty solid.

who i was before? i was an ultima online player for over 8 years in a private server with 100 people daily logged.
i played a LOT of different games in my life; i was about to write a poem about them but it will be useless to this post, but i want to say that the content that Path of Exile offers is really BEATIFUL, but sadly MEANINGLESS as it is now.
i had some hope in Wolcen synthesised like a poe openworld, but they changed direction so nah.
next i will look for Torchlight Frontier, with Max Schaefer behind, and Lost Ark.

the only reason i putted so much hours in Poe was simply because i was addicted to the overwhelming content it has to offer, because it is designed to be like that. proof of that is that i deleted all my character because i feel no attachment to them, ready to create another one the next league.
what i want? simply another game like ultima online where i don't feel like i'm wasting my time but with the quality content of poe, because i really love the content poe has to offer, but sadly it is meaningless in the long run, because how i see it now, the real core of this game is the ladder race, and everybody else aim to see the endgame before the expiration time.
yes the ladder race is fun to watch but it shouldn't be the core of the game.

why i played poe so much? addiction to content.
why do people play league over standard? addiction to content.
why i played ultima online so much? addiction to feels.
i have literally no attachment to my poe characters.
why should i, when i have to play another character next league to get the new MTX reward from the league challenge out of addiction?

I play leagues instead of standard because 100% of GGG's development priorities revolve around leagues, and I lost my will to maintain my "permanent" charas/items through GGG's relentless changes. The long awaited trading system never came, things I liked got changed or replaced, and I just accepted the idea that PoE is a short-term game that lives and dies every few months. Of course, I fell in love with PoE in standard and always wanted reasonable permanence, but that is just not what GGG offers. Even if the game magically became "finished", I still probably would not play it long-term because it is no longer a game that I feel compelled to invest myself into. PoE is a solid "weekend fling", and that is about it. Why build a house on top of a sink hole?

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Albinosaurus wrote:

I think all the basic recipes you normally get through the campaign should be unlocked by default, tbh. The rest of the ones you find in fixed positions are fine. Masters/Syndicates probably need a total overhaul, but I'm not sure what should be done about that...

I can agree to that. At least it's better than to have the progression of last league carry over, so some player have to grind them and some don't, based on... Well... Coincidences.

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TriniGamer wrote:

I work 5 days a week a s I find it a bit difficult to make enough exalts in an already established level 90 character in Standard let alone starting a new league every 13 weeks to be able to do top tier maps and runs.

I heard league the items are a lot cheaper but this has never ever been the case for me.

I can't have fun in leagues so what am I missing?

Joining the league too early? Wait a couple weeks or more, then start the league - most of the items you will need will be cheap then. I think I spent about 50 chaos total for my build this league, but I also started playing a month late (for IRL reasons).

How many exalts do you typically need to make your build work? You might need to scale down aspirations for build types depending on time you have, and your play style.

Running lots of well rolled maps quickly seems to be the key to gain more currency, if that's your primary goal.

I usually play standard. The advantages of Standard to me are,

1. Leveling items and gems are more readily available because that stuff is in my stash already.

2. End game items are more available and easier to buy since I always have plenty of currency in standard.

3. Don't have to bother with labyrinth trials.

4. Crafting recipes, Master leveling, Atlas completion kind of things don't have to be redone.

5. Testing out end game play on new builds that I've never played. In standard I can take a high level character and use the skill tree reset to quickly refurbish a character to test out some build that I might be interested in.

Now I do occasionally play in the league. The main reason to play league, from my perspective, is if the league mechanic is extra fun. For example, I played Delve because delving is extra fun and in Delve league the access to Delve is much better than what it would be once it rolls into standard.

Simple formula, distilling chris' GDC speech even more:

Changes to the meta + new content + ladder reset + economy reset

The first one is more real in a challenge league for various reasons (game is clean with new character)

The last two are made real specifically by the challenge leagues.

League

pro

Challenges
league mechanic
new uniques are cheaper and easier available than in standard

con

exalt prize is 170c after 12 hours
leveling new character each league
having to run all the acts each league
having to do the entire atlas each league
having to do labyrinth and trials each league
having to start from 0 in azurite mine
having to start from 0 on betrayal board

I don't know the cons outweigh the pros and they could just add the league mechanic and challenges to standard as well

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MasterTBC wrote:

League

pro

Challenges
league mechanic
new uniques are cheaper and easier available than in standard

con

exalt prize is 170c after 12 hours
leveling new character each league
having to run all the acts each league
having to do the entire atlas each league
having to do labyrinth and trials each league
having to start from 0 in azurite mine
having to start from 0 on betrayal board

I don't know the cons outweigh the pros and they could just add the league mechanic and challenges to standard as well

What's scary is that this will be an exageration for only a few more leagues before it becomes the norm.