Development Manifesto - Challenge League Post-mortems - Forum

" Players don't switch between the two concurrent challenge leagues as much as we had hoped. Most players just pick one and stick to it i don't switch because i don't like hardcore mode. if tempest league wouldn't have been hardcore i would have switched to that one. 50% of time in warbands and 50% of time in tempest.	Posted by kompaniet#2874 on Oct 9, 2015, 11:33:52 AM Quote this Post
" Transom wrote: I´m glad that you figured out that Warbands made little to no sense until you reached the later part of the game (maps) and as a Result was really boring (Big Tanky mobs with no drops while lvling...). Also I think it is (for me atleast) the least fun league there had been in terms of new gameplay. Amen Nice reading, devs, thanks!	Posted by Vankesidi#5761 on Oct 9, 2015, 11:38:12 AM Quote this Post
Thanks for the thoughtful rundown of all of the leagues. I only started in Torment, but have enjoyed the game quite a bit. I would note one thing from the viewpoint of a new-ish player who has limited playtime. The short duration of the challenge leagues is off-putting. As a new player, you're drooling over all of the high-end builds while simultaneously trying to learn the game mechanics. By the time you get to a reasonably comfortable place with your character, the league ends. The decision then is to either play in Standard or start over. Neither option is appealing to me. I might be in the minority opinion, but I would've really appreciated having another month in Torment and Warbands to enjoy playing my character.	Posted by anteku#1148 on Oct 9, 2015, 11:40:00 AM Quote this Post
" kellogz87 wrote: The one thing I really enjoyed about the current challenge league is I don't feel gimped for playing standard. I get to play exactly what the hardcore league is and enjoy it as much as anyone. Problem with the last lot of leagues was that Warbands was OK but Tempest was far more rewarding to people due to the corruption drops ect. Now if you had combined both Tempest with Warbands it would of been epic, and offering the exact same mode in both hardcore and softcore is far more appealing in my own opinion. I feel the way you setup this one month challenge league was perfect, but the longer challenge leagues should not be like this, it would take away the epic feeling this race has given and will give again when it comes around again. As for looking at ways for people to enjoy, my proposal would be something like this, lets use the last leagues for the example with one extra mod. Week 1-2 - Tempest / Invasion Week 3-4 - Warbands / Tempest Week 5-6 - Warbands / Invasion Week 7-8 - Tempest / Warbands Week 9-10 - Warbands / Invasion Week 10-12 - Invasion / Tempest Week 12-15 - Invasion / Tempest / Warbands ect... 3 mods per league that alternate, final 3 weeks is all 3 mods, to make the game more challenging, also to see those RIPs in hardcore! Just my 2 cents. I don't really get what is the big deal with the corruption tempests. Sure you could end up with a bunch of 6Ls but a bunch of 6L with bad stats and wrong colors isn't too exciting. On the other hand the one that turns all your drops into their vendor price seems much nicer.	Posted by Khisanth#7434 on Oct 9, 2015, 11:58:01 AM Quote this Post
This was really nice stuff to read, you GGG guys are awesome! Btw, this dark skin hurts my eyes - it's hard to read. Couldn't you think about creating a light theme? yo	Posted by ArnoldsKTM#3572 on Oct 9, 2015, 12:17:29 PM Quote this Post
This is far and away one of my favourite posts I've seen released from a development team for any game I play. It's awesome that you guys give the PoE community a view into the development process as it lets the community know what's going on inside the heads of the developers. I just wanted to take the time to say, excellent commentary and keep on doing what you're doing! As an aside, it's also really nice to see you guys reviewing the reward structure for challenge leagues. As somebody who plays games in bursts (play a game religiously for a month then move on and come back later) I could never keep interest long enough to do all of the challenges, so I never really got to see any rewards for playing in the challenge leagues. I did it more because it was fun, the new economy, etc. While those are rewards enough to get me to play the challenge leagues, it still wouldn't hurt for a more accessible reward for competing in those leagues, as well as give players something to work on other than "well, it's a new league, guess it's time to level, gear out and run maps forever". Anyway, rambling aside, great job guys and I can't wait to see what you've got in the works for us next!	Posted by Drewknukem#5699 on Oct 9, 2015, 1:24:56 PM Quote this Post
I don't see anything new, what will change? IGN: SeaLaser Sea Builds, Characters, Shops, Links & Records: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/972683/	Posted by RoyalStar#5086 on Oct 9, 2015, 2:03:35 PM Quote this Post
Seeing how the leagues will have almost the same content, it makes sense that hardcore deaths could go to the softcore challenge league instead of standard. Honestly if a hardcore character that died went to the softcore challenge league I'd play both every time. Also, I really dislike playing standard mode.	Posted by Hantastic#5760 on Oct 9, 2015, 2:19:42 PM Quote this Post
" Chris wrote: Challenges and Prizes The next challenge leagues will have a set of 40 challenges, which range in difficulty. Completion of specific milestones (every 10 challenges, for example) will reward you with a microtransaction. Regular casual players who don't make it to maps can still receive some prizes for their participation in the challenge leagues. What a great idea ! I liked to try the challenge in the past but after 1 or 2 it was always the end for me and I never had motivation to try another one knowing I will have nothing for it. Milestone is really a great idea for me ! " Chris wrote: Overall Challenge League Design Players don't switch between the two concurrent challenge leagues as much as we had hoped. Most players just pick one and stick to it, missing out on the experience of the other. Combined with the intense development cycles of these leagues and the fact that we want to continue to push the amount of content they contain, we have decided to change the structure of the next leagues. When the next challenge league starts, there will be both a Standard and Hardcore version of it, with overlapping but slightly different content. The new league represents more effort than we put into any previous league, which is possible because we're not developing two completely different leagues simultaneously. It's too early to talk about specifics of this league, but we'll probably be announcing it alongside other new content later this year. For me was also a time problem. I invest a lot of time in a character and because i'm not too fast I manage to bring 1 or 2 char in the end game and everytime I wanted to try the other league I had the feeling I yould not have enough time to do it and to see it in a good way. As you said it, a lot of the cool stuff of leagues was in the end game, knowing that I would not see it did not motivate me too. I found great that you will invest more in only 1 idea than to split the ressource ! Thx for this	Posted by spacecroquette#4764 on Oct 9, 2015, 2:31:52 PM Quote this Post
I've been saying for years that the challenge leagues should be: " "Hardcore" in an ARPG traditionally is a perma-death league that mirrors the gameplay of the softcore equivalent. Then I finally see from Chris's Manlyfesto... " When the next challenge league starts, there will be both a Standard and Hardcore version of it Bout time... I'm the Ps guy: Psomm, Pso, Psong, pso-on and pso-phorth.	Posted by Psomm#5110 on Oct 9, 2015, 4:10:54 PM Quote this Post