Objectively the worst league?

Just looking at the steam charts and boy is this league not received well.



Looking at the graph it is immediately visible that the loss of players right after launch is exceptional. I haven't checked all leagues so far, but compared to the past 10 no other league has alienated so many players in such a short time. Never before have so many players quit on day 1 of the league. Although the graph doesn't show all the details obviously, I think it is safe to say that this is objectively the worst league mechanic of all times.

It is also interesting to see how much potential this game has. The amount of players returning to a new league is impressive, yet many soon get bored by the game and vanish, until the next league hits.

Dunno about the player retention, but I gotta say the league mechanic rewards are the worst of all leagues. It's only rewarding at the end of sanctum and gotta be highend to have a chance of good currency rewards.

"

twothe wrote:

Looking at the graph it is immediately visible that the loss of players right after launch is exceptional.

Just from looking at the graph, you can't actually tell anything like that.

The graph uses data points for each of the last 30 days, and anything older than that gets a single data point for each month-long period. This makes the comparison you're trying to make much less accurate.

PoEDB keeps track of steam player numbers for each league; since they're only monitoring one game, keeping the daily numbers for the game's lifespan isn't nearly as much of a toll on them as it is for SteamDB.

https://poedb.tw/us/League#LeagueChart

Talking of records it's been nearly a whole month until someone busted out the steam charts, usually we get this drivel after a few days.

The player retention numbers have been really poor since 3.15 compared to leagues prior, while their concurrency has seen a pretty steady incline. This is mostly due, I think, to their massive increase in Twitch sponsorship spending, and marketing strategies.

Interestingly these retention numbers dont seem to bother GGG at all. While I personally think that having record numbers of people try your league and then leave quite quickly isnt a great indicator, its seems as though the marketing hype that translates into revenue is effective. (Otherwise they wouldnt do it this way)

The takeaway being that if a player is hyped, buys a supporter pack, and then is disappointed by the league, that's fine. They monetized them. See you next legaue.

It's been far too many leagues since the.. well idk what to say other than anti-player development direction..., in Expedition for it to be a fluke. Its intentional. They want it this way. Which I suppose is fine, its their game. I dont have to understand why they think pushing the more player hostile elements is the best course, all I have to do is either play or dont play, spend or dont spend.

The players will have decent options here in the short term with D4, so let's see how that plays out. I dont think there is much discussion or debate on which game will be more player friendly. QoL, Looting & Gameplay, Visial Clarity & Combat, Performance, and more are just flat out going to be better with D4. I'm not sure about how the live service and endgame will play out with D4. I imagine it cannot be worse than the retention in PoE league cycles lately, which in fairness, are pretty bad statistically.

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

The takeaway being that if a player is hyped, buys a supporter pack, and then is disappointed by the league, that's fine. They monetized them. See you next legaue.

That is 100% their business model. Which is why they focus on the hype, wheel Chris out for a softball stream, and then peddle their supporter packs. I got suckered this time, again, but it will be the last time. They fully count on idiots like me who buy the hype, and end up with pure disappointment every time. I quit by week 3 because leveling and regearing is to time intensive it isn't worth doing again. They made their money, and didn't have to support the player past the sale of the MTX.

Tried to like it. Not a rogue/x fan. If I were to play one of the few that I own I prefer it to be a break from poe. Shoehorning an over cloned game mechanic into a game that is imo almost the opposite play style of the base game just feels like lazy copy the latest craze. Cant wait for sussy mungus boss fight next league. Maybe a super auto pets style head to head match with maven. fml

Idk but I'm looking forward to speccing my atlas tree fully into Sanctum next league XD

Based on the last leagues datas, I am somewhat convinced that the league mechanic barely has any influence on the retention, unless it is a really good one. Sentinel was the one exception. Maybe I think that way cause this is exactly how I feel about the game. I really dislike this league, yet I rolled more champs than in the past 5 leagues. Main reason is that the core game at this point is so vast and offers so much that u can fully neglects throwaway mechanics.
And in regards to all this tinfoilhead-talk about their business model: u really need to take out your own ego in terms of "look what I discovered" - who cares. Play the game, enjoy it as long as u do, pay if u want. You could see a payment as a support of the game or u can simply see it as a transaction for new shiny armours on your character. I don't necessarily think that hype has a lot of its own influence other than the fact that PoE becomes, once you're experienced enough, a game that is MEANT to be played in cycles. What u call hype is for me just the basic fun and excitement for a fresh eco.

"

Vennto wrote:

And in regards to all this tinfoilhead-talk about their business model

Surely you dont believe that the hype driving and marketing pushing their early league revenue is "tinfoil hat" territory?

Its absolutely their business model. They make most of their money in a short window each league launch. They care far less about the post-launch than they do pre-launch, which imo, is about as plain as you can get. There is money in it. And the rentention numbers show it. They are already working on making the next launch profitable. Fuck all with current league disappointments (if there are some)

Their social marketing hype, countdowns, reveals, journalism embargo,'s and paid streaming sponsorships, are designed to drive engagement & revenue, that's a fact. And also why they are super careful on how the mood feels coming into a league and controlling the balance messaging. They've certainly learned their lesson there. Much easier to apologize to the players after you made the money, which has happened a laughable amount of times post-launch(s).