Ruthless Perma League?

Hey everyone,

I’m really enjoying Ruthless at the moment. It’s brutal, but managing scarce resources is incredibly satisfying.

However, one thing I find quite annoying is having to completely restart the item hunt if I want to participate in the current league mechanics. In Ruthless, finding a key item can take weeks, and losing that progress every three months feels especially punishing for players with limited time.

My suggestion would be a "Perma-League" or "Character Rebirth" system (specifically for SSF Ruthless):

Keep your Stash: Your items stay with you.

Character Reset: Your character starts at Level 1 on the Twilight Strand at the beginning of a new league.

Progress Reset: Atlas and Skill points are fully reset.

Fresh Start, Old Gear: You have to level up again to use your gear, but you don't lose the hard-earned items from previous months.

This would allow players to engage with the new league content without feeling like they’ll never reach the endgame before the next reset.


Considerations:

"Play standard!":
Standard Ruthless is great, but it misses the point of the new league mechanics. I want to experience the Djinns and the Faridun events (3.28 content), which aren't available in Standard. Currently, Ruthless players are forced to choose between 'Progression' (Standard) and 'New Content' (League). In a mode defined by extreme scarcity, this choice feels unnecessarily punishing.

"This is destroying racing and economics":
This is why I specifically suggested this for SSF Ruthless. There is no trade, no economy to ruin, and no competitive advantage over others. It’s purely about personal journey and making the most of the 1-in-a-million drops that Ruthless provides.

"Three months are enough time for endgame progress":
In Ruthless, item acquisition is 10x slower than in the base game. For players with jobs or families, 3 months might not even be enough to find a specific Support Gem or reaching Red Maps. A 'Rebirth' system acknowledges the unique pace of Ruthless without removing the challenge of the 1-100 leveling grind.


Cheers,

Peter

Peter,



I do not think GGG should do this. I will try to articulate below a few of the reasons I am opposed to this. The post will likely come across as being rather severe. That isn't intended as hosility - I used to work in the games industry, and reading your post gave me the impression that I could avoid 'watering down' my thoughts and just be a bit blunt with how I feel and why. Among other things, that allows you to be most convincing when responding with your own thoughts. I do hope the tone of my response (and that one random person disagrees with you) is not discouraging.



1. You Are, Essentially, Asking for the Game To Revolve Around You

To some extent, the post can be summarised (perhaps rather harshly) as you enjoying the idea of SSF Ruthless, but the combination of real-life time commitments you have, your familiarity with the game, and other factors leading to you feeling dissatisfied with your progress at the end of a league.

I think this means you need to make a decision, rather than GGG needing to make changes.

Let's take a hypothetical person who, due to medical reasons, is unlikely to still be with us 24 months from now and is never going to work (or attend college) ever again. Their playtime per week is likely... formidable. It is quite possible that the current iteration of SSF Ruthless temp leagues suits them just fine. Your post lacks a fundamental explanation as to why GGG should cater to your preferences - which means that, if GGG does make the change you request - there's nothing to stop someone else with just as strong an argument from showing up three months later arguing for the change to be reversed. There should always be a default leaning towards the status quo; there should always be an understanding of why a change will result in things being objectively better, rather than different people asking for their own preferences to be catered to as soon as the change has been implemented. The premise of your post is fundamentally subjective; not objective.


2. You Are Betraying the Definition of a Challenge League

Currently all challenge leagues share some things in common - new character; new stash tabs; new passive trees. Already, the game Path of Exile is infamous for the sheet amount of learning new players must perform. At present, if a new person asks whether their stash tabs carry forward into a new challenge league, that is a question with a binary yes / no answer. You are asking for GGG to do away with that, and instead turn it into a paragraph of explanatory text. It sounds like a small thing, but this is exactly the kind of small thing that contributes to a game feeling more daunting and less comprehensible. I think it is important the answer to that question remains yes / no.


3. You Are Betraying the Definition of a Challenge Mode

GGG's nomenclature here is deliberate - not accidental. The goal behind a challenge mode is to, well, add challenge. As soon as we start adding benefits to challenge mode participation which ease the difficulty of the game, the question of whether one should enable a given challenge mode starts to become more murky. At present they each do very simple, very easiled grasped things;

• "You get kicked out of the Hardcore version of the league on death."
• "You cannot trade or group with other players."
• "Your drop rates get nerfed into oblivion; also, there's some balance changes scattered around."

I think challenge modes lose their identity somewhat when a list of cons is joined by a list of pros.


4. You Are Betraying the Very Idea Behind Ruthless

(This is more of a point #3.5 than a true point #4.)

I'm just not really sure thought-through the fundamental suggestion is (with no offence intended).

Like, let's say someone is outrageously fortunate and gets a temp league SSF Ruthless Mageblood or Headhunter or shrine belt drop. The "item scarcity" league is the only one in which that drop is permanent? Doesn't that fundamentally sound a bit 'off' or 'wrong' ?

You could make an argument that the long-term optimal move is to always play in temp league SSF Ruthless and wait until RNG smiles upon you, and then begin every temporary league from now until forever with some of the strongest items in the game given to you 'for free'.

On a fundamental level, that doesn't sound like a better version of the game to me - it sounds worse.



John

Hey John,

Thanks for the honest feedback, I don't take it as hostility at all!

You actually completely changed my mind with point 4. I hadn't even thought about the Mageblood scenario. You're totally right – starting every new league with a stash full of endgame gear would completely kill the Ruthless vibe and the whole point of a fresh challenge.

Appreciate the reality check!

Cheers,

Peter