Going standard, what will be different, is it worth it?

Hi,

I'm a casual player and I'm thinking on playing standard instead of doing the next league(s).

I started playing during Harvest, played most of Heist and Ritual. On average, I play a few hours daily (300 hours logged so far), and I'm progressing way too slow to reach end-game in 3 months. To get an idea on my speed:
* it took me ~2 weeks at Ritual league start to reach maps
* I just completed my first ever red map a few days ago in Ritual.

I play alone, the only interaction with other players is when I purchase some equipment.

So the question is, why shouldn't I switch to standard to actually have enough time to reach end-game content? Apart from the higher trade prices, what will be different?

I really don't like the idea to start yet again from scratch, however poor I am, and toil up to maps through the acts.

Trade and ofc the newest league mechanic missing really are the only difference. Trade in standard is a mixed bag, some things are cheaper, others more expensive. Getting responses is usually not a problem from my experience. Especially currency bulk trades go without a hinch usually and the few times i tried to purchase gear it also went well. That said, i don't trade much, i'd say i am like 90+% SSF. Don't know if standard is your cup of tea if you enjoy flipping and/or need to trade a lot to get your builds running.

Biggest thing you should know is that your atlas will get reset with new league, you'll then have to run a legacy version of the highest tier map (for red tier maps it needs to be rare and corrupted map) you have available to get your Atlas back. You won't have to farm watchstones again and your endgame quest status doesn't change either.

I've been playing standard since i started in bestiary, and if you consider yourself a casual then imo there is no better mode than standard.

I normally play challenge league but would agree that standard is a great option for someone in your situation.

I'd also add that you will naturally get faster as you get more experience at both playing and building. But there's a lot of content in the game and there is nothing wrong with taking your time.

I will disagree that standard makes sense unless you are SSF.

In trade, things cost... 20 times to 100 times as much, and its much harder to complete trades at all.

It also feels like a ghost town, rarely or never are there people sharing things like trials in maps. Its a single player game there (again, this is fine SSF).


I can't tell you how to play, if you play perhaps a bit less methodically, prioritize keeping moving a bit more, you can hit maps in 5 days even at 2 hours a day.

If you use the new system where you can buy watchstones, you can doing Tier 14s+ in another 9 days.

Now you are only 2 weeks into a 12 week league and doing endgame content.


I play a bit more than you but not much, and Im not great at the game, I dont go for speed meta, and I find or make most of my gear and only trade for maps or nice items I find. At 1.5 weeks this least league I was doing almost solely T16s.

Part of the key is finding a good starter build with good defenses, like gladiator or minion or similar.

Standard league has years of inflation and items dumped there. The problem is actually getting those items for whatever build you are working towards.

1) Most people play leagues so the trade market is slow or a lot of people don't care about standard wealth so won't switch over to trade with you

2) Moving to standard to learn mechanics I think isn't worth since it's better (imo) to learn mechanics Newest to oldest.

3) Standard can be okay if you know what your goals are. If you are going there simply to avoid the "rush" of a league, also consider that you typically acquire gear, etc much more quickly in leagues. This allows you to experiment and learn much more dynamically imo. There are points in your char progression that will stall out in standard because you won't be able to either get items (point 1) or will be way to expensive for you to achieve reasonably.

4) Working on builds for an extended period of time has the risk of your build being nerfed before finishing it which can be demoralizing for some.


My suggestion would be to keep playing league and make league specific goals such as "I want to reach red maps"... "I want to beat shaper this league"... Those types of single short term goals actually will let you learn the game faster and eventually will become second nature.

The beauty of POE is the fact that there is no "wrong" way to play. Find what suits your goals and pursue it. If that's standard for you than do it man! Only way to know is to try.

Personally, I would play leagues and work on your standard char between leagues. League economies are typically strongest the first 1.5 months of a 3 month league. So you can transition to Standard mid-season and work on your existing builds,etc.

Good luck mate!

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In trade, things cost... 20 times to 100 times as much, and its much harder to complete trades at all.

I hear this all the time but but my personal experience is more like Baharoth. Some things cost more, and some less. It's been pretty even when I've looked. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything for 20x. More than 3x would be really unusual other than for a "hot" item - like when certain cluster jewels were starting to leak into standard.

I also never had a problem getting a response in standard, at least during the first 6 weeks of a league.

I don't do trial sharing so can't comment. That will be much less an issue with the changes there.

There's no real cost to trying standard. It either feels good to the player or it doesn't.