We need a name for "non-ruthless", i.e. the core game without the Ruthless ruleset

Idk I mean we got;

SC
HC
SSF
SSFHC

And these above 4 assume league, unless you say standard.

Then you've got;

Standard
StandardHC

Since you can't assume someone is playing ruthless though, I guess we can just say;

RSC
RHC
RSSF
RSSFHC

And then once again those are assuming league.

So lastly;

RStandard
RSHC
RSSFStandard
RSSSFHC

"Soon to be Ruthless"

Been taking a mental health break from this cesspool, but I'll post a suggestion here... how about +R and -R? I'll be playing SSFSC+R in the new league, at least for a while.

SSSR mode / a place where common items are scarce

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

Been taking a mental health break from this cesspool

Damn Shags, who hurt you?

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

Been taking a mental health break from this cesspool, but I'll post a suggestion here... how about +R and -R? I'll be playing SSFSC+R in the new league, at least for a while.

Welcome back Shags.
Taking a break from the forums is always a good thing.

SSFSC+R it is!

So we come to it at last.

Alphabet Exiles: fighting to make Wraeclast a safe, inclusive place for all selfish, murderous, antisocial malcontents, one screen at a time.

::yellowfistbumpemoji::

I'll stick with what I suggested on reddit:

Retail. SC Trade league is their store shelf product that will always be the core pillar of their advertising. Sure they'll throw a bone to players in the form of alternative playstyles (HC, SSF, Ruthless) as well as limited time events (battle royale, race events), but the flagship product is the Retail product.

I don't know what that makes Ruthless in this analogy. The back alley where the employees go to take a smoke break?

PoE: where even the mode looks like code.

"

Reinhart wrote:

There are currently 4 permanent leagues

Standard
Standard SSF (can move stuff to Standard)
Hardcore (moves to Standard on death)
Hardcore SSF (can move stuff to Hardcore and can end up in Standard SSF on death)

With Ruthless there will be a total of 8 permanent leagues.

Standard Ruthless
Standard Ruthless SSF (can move items to Standard Ruthless)
Hardcore Ruthless (permanent death)
Hardcore Ruthless SSF (permanent death + can move items to Hardcore Ruthless).

Each new temp league will be a variation of these 8.

One of the reasons the devs decided to scrap the Normal, Cruel, Merciless difficulty scheme was that it spread the small player base out too thinly among various modes that didn't interact with one another.

This is the same thing. Spreading out a diminishing player base between more and more different "silos" that can't meaningfully interact with each other. I don't think it's going to work out, but let's hope somehow each game mode gets something of value to make the choice to do this mode or that mode, feel unique and right.

Part of the problem more recently is that Pandemic captive audience + Zenith of player agency/autonomy created a boom that is a hard act to follow. Perhaps nostalgia will bring some players back who left during the "boom town" days of Deli/Harvest/Heist/Rit, but with the rollback of pandemic restrictions in most countries, folks are unlikely to return to PoE based on nostalgia for the beta era grind.

To be quite honest, ruthless is NOT the same as beta. The outside knowledge, the loot tables, the entire curve of the game is far different from the beta structure and expectations. For folks to return thinking this mode will be like when the game was new, is a false hope. That ship has sailed. It can still be interesting as an experiment though. The idea of naked no-gem bonkwitch is somehow appealing.