I've got a theory -- GGG is trying to get rid of most of us.

Probably < 1% containing career is Path of Exile players, and a few casuals mixed up thinking they will compete with them. The eSport aspect is the primary viral marketing mechanism nothing more, nothing less.

Fortunately GGG has made the game flexible enough where it can be completely ignored and still a fun game to play.

I love this "Getting Rid Of Most Of Us" btw -> I think the last 5x patches have been "QQ I QUIT!!! meh HarveST/ItemImPorter" -> yet every league launch is breaking player records just like this one. Maybe GGG knows their customer better than you think no?

This is exactly it. They have the analytics/telemetry supporting their decision making process.

A vocal minority on Reddit/Twitch/YouTube is not going to really make any big splashes. Yes there have been times where the vocal minority persuaded others and became a majority. But those were also lesser played leagues compared to Crucible (the new benchmark of all league start and 1st week retention by the way). Because they had a smaller pool of total players - the cohort of displeased users made up a reasonable percentage. Also, given the immediate and total backlash some of those leagues had - there was a sense of urgency.

Whether Crucible becomes an outlier in the data has a couple of influences.

1) How much of the utter disappointment in Diablo 4's beta caused players that were otherwise NOT playing PoE to come to this league.

2) How many of THOSE players come back for League #2 next patch.


Bottom Line:
This league had FAR FEWER technical issues than previous league starts. This leads me to believe that there are facts not mentioned in the patch notes. Mainly that there was substantial development spend on hardening the performance of the application. With that said, it is pretty obvious that none of that time was spent on the trade capacity. Record users mean record calls to the trade API which it is not in a current state able to handle.

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wullack wrote:

What's wrong with you people? They just had the most successful league start ever and at this moment on Steam alone there are 107.500 players online. Add to that the number of people playing the stand alone version and you have a highly successful game!

Stop whining and join the others who are having fun in game!

I think the main reason this leagues numbers are good is because of two things, diablo 4 and returning players. D4 caused a lot of returning players to Poe, who haven't played in many leagues so the game is a lot more interesting to them right now

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wizfor wrote:

"

wullack wrote:

What's wrong with you people? They just had the most successful league start ever and at this moment on Steam alone there are 107.500 players online. Add to that the number of people playing the stand alone version and you have a highly successful game!

Stop whining and join the others who are having fun in game!

I think the main reason this leagues numbers are good is because of two things, diablo 4 and returning players. D4 caused a lot of returning players to Poe, who haven't played in many leagues so the game is a lot more interesting to them right now

Another factor is that the leagues are on a 4 month cycle now. With Sanctum being 4 months in the past, and the next league being 4 months away, that increases the hunger for PoE quite a bit

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wizfor wrote:

"

wullack wrote:

What's wrong with you people? They just had the most successful league start ever and at this moment on Steam alone there are 107.500 players online. Add to that the number of people playing the stand alone version and you have a highly successful game!

Stop whining and join the others who are having fun in game!

I think the main reason this leagues numbers are good is because of two things, diablo 4 and returning players. D4 caused a lot of returning players to Poe, who haven't played in many leagues so the game is a lot more interesting to them right now

The daily player count has dropped 107,000 since league launch so I don't think the numbers are as good as some people think. This league has no hook. They nerfed again, there's hardly any loot, drops seem to be nerfed again, and the league mechanic is unpolished and time-consuming for a chance at something decent.

I shudder to think of what the next league and mechanic will look like.

I will be playing PoE until they turn the lights out.

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DoubleU wrote:

I will be playing PoE until they turn the lights out.

So will a lot of folks here who will still bitterly debate the virtues and demerits of incandescent bulbs, CFLs, and LEDs. =^[.]^=

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DoubleU wrote:

I will be playing PoE until they turn the lights out.

Toxic positivity is just as bad imo. Saying you will play no matter what isn't the complement you think it is. Nor does it reflect on you well either.

At least acknowledge that you do ultimately have some self-respect that a gaming dev could step over the line on.

GGG's past isn't exactly sugar and rainbows... don't forget that.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

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DoubleU wrote:

I will be playing PoE until they turn the lights out.

Toxic positivity is just as bad imo. Saying you will play no matter what isn't the complement you think it is. Nor does it reflect on you well either.

At least acknowledge that you do ultimately have some self-respect that a gaming dev could step over the line on.

GGG's past isn't exactly sugar and rainbows... don't forget that.

Toxic positivity? That's one I have not heard.

I like this game. Yes aspects of it have pissed me off over the nearly 11 years I have been playing.
If Chris were to cross this line you refer to, though what that would look like is an unknown, I would probably stop.

Also players still playing the game doesn't mean it doesn't have problems, usually the opposite, the more successful a title is the more likely the developers are to double down on the game's issues and spend less effort to please players. It is especially concerning because that would mean that a very barebones league with a reward structure of limited scope is a very highly played one, meaning we might see that trend continue into further leagues since that doesn't affect player count.

"

Toxic positivity is just as bad imo. Saying you will play no matter what isn't the complement you think it is. Nor does it reflect on you well either.

At least acknowledge that you do ultimately have some self-respect that a gaming dev could step over the line on.

GGG's past isn't exactly sugar and rainbows... don't forget that.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove a

I'll admit I still play the game now, though not as much as I used to and with less enthusiasm. It's no longer taking priority over other games at the very least. I think ultimately PoE just doesn't do enough to incite guilt in playing it.