Is this game dead?

Welcome to the boat...
There have been plenty of discussions regarding this, latest of my topic, you can check there as well, maybe some info into it:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3882644

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slwong3#9402 написал:

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Antarious#5648 написал:

Post title I was thinking ya it's late league but when I logged in to bank everything for "new league" soon prep, there was a lot of active chat... then I see "standard league" in the actual post and I just kind of side eye the world...

There are not many games I've played that have a standard league and seasonal type league where you can log into standard and find people... Do they exist? Sure but I mean... c'mon.

I don't know....I just find it a waste of time if I rush a character in a month or two just to drop it and would never play it again, then you're starting another new character all over again a new season..... it's just not my kind of play style for a MMORPG. I played standard as well in D2R, D3 and D4. I prefer continue to build my character and try different combat builds other than always starting from lvl 1 again in a 3 to 6 months period.

This isn’t really an MMORPG

The game is built around league cycles—fresh economies, new content, and everyone starting from scratch. That’s part of what gives items value and makes your time feel meaningful

Everyone has their own pace, of course, but learning to move faster through the early game can make these cycles a lot more enjoyable. For me, if it took days to finish the acts or weeks to get to level 90, I probably wouldn’t bother making multiple characters. The early progression is part of the fun.

About 5 years ago, Chris said Standard represented about 20% of the population in PoE1 at the time so I doubt it's 1% even today.

It seems that over the years, people are getting sick of seasonal patterns, mainly the one where you are required to start over again and not have access to your previously hard earned items.

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Warrax#2850 написал:

mainly the one where you are required to start over again and not have access to your previously hard earned items.

most high value gear and builds become obsolete though after all the balance changes

I completely agree with you. This is exactly what Standard is good for. I want one or two main characters, build up my currency and shiny toys over time, and when new content comes out I can just log in and try it on the character I already care about, instead of throwing everything in the bin every few months.

What I would really like is some kind of proper downscaling that works even when you are solo. If I go into a level 70 zone, let me temporarily be level 70 with appropriate stats and rewards so I can actually play with my old character in more parts of the game, not just when I am grouped with someone lower level and a specific toggle is on. That would make long-term characters way more flexible without forcing everyone into fresh-start mode.

New classes are also something I enjoy, but I want to play them on my existing account that already has the stash, the gold, the currencies, the gear. I am not interested in doing the full gold-currency-item grind from scratch over and over. I already have a job, I do not need a second one called "league start".

So yeah, I really wish they did more to make Standard attractive instead of treating it like a museum you accidentally log into.

The funny part is that even here on the forum, the second you mention Standard you get a bunch of people piling in to spam "season league season league, that is how it was, that is how it is" like NPCs stuck on a single dialog line. If GGG has already decided PoE2 will just live on the same seasonal treadmill as PoE1, then honestly I may as well just stay in PoE1, where at least the systems are more polished right now, instead of spending my time on a half-baked copy that wants me to restart my progress forever.

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Warrax#2850 написал:

About 5 years ago, Chris said Standard represented about 20% of the population in PoE1 at the time so I doubt it's 1% even today.

It seems that over the years, people are getting sick of seasonal patterns, mainly the one where you are required to start over again and not have access to your previously hard earned items.

Well of course you get people piling in to talk about seasonal league because that's the entire point.

Other games I've played with seasons, standard is just exactly that. The "new" in standard is minimal because all the "new" is part of the season. Of course so far in POE2 that's not really the case.

It would be the same as playing an MMO and not buying the expansion. In general the mass number of people are playing the new expansion aka the seasonal content MMO's use to make you grind all over again.

There are some games that don't make you start over they just have something like a season where they sell a battle pass or use a different name for a battle pass. Like say The Division 2. Outside of an occasional paid DLC or they had one? expansion that increased level cap.

Standard is an endless graveyard of characters from other leagues.

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Jyrlep#4788 написал:

What I would really like is some kind of proper downscaling that works even when you are solo. If I go into a level 70 zone, let me temporarily be level 70 with appropriate stats and rewards so I can actually play with my old character in more parts of the game, not just when I am grouped with someone lower level and a specific toggle is on. That would make long-term characters way more flexible without forcing everyone into fresh-start mode.

They can't even balance the main game - heck they couldn't balance poe1 in 15 years of its development.
You expect them to create downscaling with purely standard in mind and actually tune it properly?

It helps to sometimes consider whether what you're asking for is in the realm of possibilities.
Not to mention that down/upscaling goes against what this genre is about. The whole point is to build a character and watch it grow in power.