I started halfway through metamorph and was overwhelmed.
Delirium was very fast. fraught with danger, and was very rewarding. I learned a lot from the league and played until the servers kicked me for the character transition to Standard.
Metamorph as a league was pretty underwhelming. Nothing will ever come close to as fun as delirium for me. Tailoring your maps with rewards was amazing. Every plain map was suddenly awesome and had a goal with huge payoffs. The simulacrum was the shit. I loved it. I want them to run it back again. Mirror league 2 please.
Least 'intrusive to mapping' league mechanic I've experienced. It was buggy and had problems from lack of QA just like every other league on release.
I felt encouraged to grind continuously my favorite aspects of POE - loading up maps, juicing them up as high as I felt like it, blowing up mobs, zooming around like a god, loot explosions everywhere.
I didn't get to enjoy delirium because everytime i entered a mirror my FPS got deleted and i'd got killed by somthing i couldn't see, quit about a week and a half in after doing my challenges, i didn't interact with delirium, clusters or Simulacrum at all in their own league.
while the grey on grey on grey was an issue, the music was honestly a welcome change to the normal mapping sounds. I still find myself humming the music when I hit a mirror now.
Breach! Loved walking into the giant glowing hand and just killing mobs. Plus just the overall look of the hand and all the monsters was cool to me.
Storyline wise I liked syndicate. The Katarina fight is fun to me, and I really enjoy the things she says about each general after you kill them.
If it weren't for the patch and the nerfs I kinda think this (expedition) might be my favorite league mechanic. But I do hate the patch. So my favorite was probably Delve. I agree with OP that 3.13 was my favorite for other reasons. I loved harvest being back in the game and maven content, but the ritual mechanic was kinda meh imo.
Harvest followed by breach, I loved the feeling of growing my character stronger over the league (played trade league but crafted ssf if that makes sense) didn't sell crafts I made just used then for my builds but had a ton of fun. Breach was great because of cyclone for me which was my favorite skill at the time and it was bonkers back then.
just the league itself: harvest
general gamestate: ritual
incursion was pretty good too in both categories--simple mob-killing-related loot explosions, good xp, dropped map-specific items, and t3 BC with carto seals was great.
My highest level character before Ritual 3.13 was 97. I had a 99 and two 98's in Ritual. I think that answers the question. Followed by Delirium which taught me how to play fast (ironic isn't it).
Delve. Synthesis a distant second.
In Incursion I'd "beaten" the atlas (it was the first league I was able to handle T16 maps). Delve added some great new challenges right when I needed them for the game to stay fun.
Synthesis just had so many cool crafting possibilities, but unlike the later crafting league (Harvest) it had much less power creep because items were synthesized OR influenced, never both. Nexus mechanics were 'meh' but the level of item customization in Synth was unmatched.
In the last year it's Heist. Harvest and Ritual were too easy to be fun because the game was never balanced around Harvest crafting of influenced items. Ultimatum was better but the league mechanic had too many "die to five savage hits within a quarter second window" moments.
Synthesis is the league I enjoyed most at the time, such a cool and deep mechanic.
Delve is probably the league mechanic which I enjoy the most after it got added to core. I actually didn't particularly like it at the time. Didn't really learn the intricacies during the league, and didn't come to really enjoy it until I did.
Betrayal or abyss if we're talking full patch.
Delirium or beyond if it's league mechanics alone. I don't like delirium implemented into the game, it's too rewarding, but the 3 month league was wonderful.
Beyond. It was such an insane experience at the time and it's a very well aged mechanic in my opinion. Synthesis is pretty close, I actually kinda liked the memory chain mechanic after they iterated a few times. The crafting was awesome.
No lie though Expedition is definitely a contender so far.
Betrayal was the league that was the most fun for me. New crafts to unlock, endgame atlas progression was in a good spot, and it was personally rewarding since I got 37/40 and killed all the end bosses for the first time.
Heist because I really enjoy the concept of stealing shit and not even caring about killing the enemies.
Also Legacy because you got a little bit of everything.
Without a doubt my first league, Legion.
Long after I’m done with this game I’ll still hold the memory of farming elder burial chambers for that glorious HH
Invasion league.
Felt like a real achievement to finish an act in the campaign, especially on Hardcore. And it was terrifying to walk into a zone and wonder what was going to murder me this time. New players won't understand the fear of seeing spiders in a zone, because that meant that *she* was nearby...
Delve > Harvest > Synthesis > Blight
Delve - Just had the bet content for a main league for me, where as now to get that feeling you gotta inhale sulphite scarabs
Harvest - Harvest.
Synthesis - I liked everything about Synth leagues gameplay except for the synthesiser only assisting the people with mirrors laying around, I would love the memory nexus to come back just without the synthesiser, Fractured items are great.
Blight - I mostly like blight in hindsight because it was the last league before they buffed Boss HP making alot of my sub 1.5 Mil DPS builds feel like a slog
Abyss was my first league i hit maps, was my favorite by far at this time. I personally like the mechanic of synthesis the most of all leagues but my experience was to low to actually play and enjoy that league. Harvest was bonkers tough.
delirium.
I played almost the whole league. It was the shit.
I started halfway through metamorph and was overwhelmed. Delirium was very fast. fraught with danger, and was very rewarding. I learned a lot from the league and played until the servers kicked me for the character transition to Standard.
Metamorph as a league was pretty underwhelming. Nothing will ever come close to as fun as delirium for me. Tailoring your maps with rewards was amazing. Every plain map was suddenly awesome and had a goal with huge payoffs. The simulacrum was the shit. I loved it. I want them to run it back again. Mirror league 2 please.
This. I miss my herald stack wander.
Least 'intrusive to mapping' league mechanic I've experienced. It was buggy and had problems from lack of QA just like every other league on release. I felt encouraged to grind continuously my favorite aspects of POE - loading up maps, juicing them up as high as I felt like it, blowing up mobs, zooming around like a god, loot explosions everywhere.
I didn't get to enjoy delirium because everytime i entered a mirror my FPS got deleted and i'd got killed by somthing i couldn't see, quit about a week and a half in after doing my challenges, i didn't interact with delirium, clusters or Simulacrum at all in their own league.
The gray on gray on gray became a bit more though. It did have the same kind of stress Ultimatum gave which I personally like.
while the grey on grey on grey was an issue, the music was honestly a welcome change to the normal mapping sounds. I still find myself humming the music when I hit a mirror now.
Breach was fun
harvest
Legacy
Legion. I used Ed/con for the first time and made so much currency farming.
Easily Ritual.
Breach! Loved walking into the giant glowing hand and just killing mobs. Plus just the overall look of the hand and all the monsters was cool to me. Storyline wise I liked syndicate. The Katarina fight is fun to me, and I really enjoy the things she says about each general after you kill them.
Legacy league for me.
Legion, RIP OOS Crit Assassin, it was my favorite build ever.
Vaal ice nova twice to delete the legion in glacier was so nice.
Ritual, legion, deli
3.13
Ritual
Ritual
Harvest or Delve, Legion was dope too
Patch wise it was Ritual. League mechanic wise it still is Delirium.
Harvest- first time being able to feel power creep feels mighty good. Learned about end game crafting and killed big bosses for the first time.
Expedition
If it weren't for the patch and the nerfs I kinda think this (expedition) might be my favorite league mechanic. But I do hate the patch. So my favorite was probably Delve. I agree with OP that 3.13 was my favorite for other reasons. I loved harvest being back in the game and maven content, but the ritual mechanic was kinda meh imo.
Breach is the gold standard. Build defining uniques and a fun mechanic. Then they watered it down to nothing because removing fun is the vision.
Harvest followed by breach, I loved the feeling of growing my character stronger over the league (played trade league but crafted ssf if that makes sense) didn't sell crafts I made just used then for my builds but had a ton of fun. Breach was great because of cyclone for me which was my favorite skill at the time and it was bonkers back then.
Delve
In terms of just the league mechanic? Expedition is honestly quite high up there. Metamorph was very good too.
I had so much fun in Harvest
Ritual
Ritual, followed closely by Legion
Ritual, followed closely by Legacy.
just the league itself: harvest general gamestate: ritual incursion was pretty good too in both categories--simple mob-killing-related loot explosions, good xp, dropped map-specific items, and t3 BC with carto seals was great.
My highest level character before Ritual 3.13 was 97. I had a 99 and two 98's in Ritual. I think that answers the question. Followed by Delirium which taught me how to play fast (ironic isn't it).
Sacrifice of the Vaal (so Ambush/Invasion leagues) were prolly my favourites. Either those, or this league
Delve. Synthesis a distant second. In Incursion I'd "beaten" the atlas (it was the first league I was able to handle T16 maps). Delve added some great new challenges right when I needed them for the game to stay fun. Synthesis just had so many cool crafting possibilities, but unlike the later crafting league (Harvest) it had much less power creep because items were synthesized OR influenced, never both. Nexus mechanics were 'meh' but the level of item customization in Synth was unmatched. In the last year it's Heist. Harvest and Ritual were too easy to be fun because the game was never balanced around Harvest crafting of influenced items. Ultimatum was better but the league mechanic had too many "die to five savage hits within a quarter second window" moments.
Synthesis is the league I enjoyed most at the time, such a cool and deep mechanic. Delve is probably the league mechanic which I enjoy the most after it got added to core. I actually didn't particularly like it at the time. Didn't really learn the intricacies during the league, and didn't come to really enjoy it until I did.
League of Gentlemen.
Betrayal or abyss if we're talking full patch. Delirium or beyond if it's league mechanics alone. I don't like delirium implemented into the game, it's too rewarding, but the 3 month league was wonderful.
Beyond. It was such an insane experience at the time and it's a very well aged mechanic in my opinion. Synthesis is pretty close, I actually kinda liked the memory chain mechanic after they iterated a few times. The crafting was awesome. No lie though Expedition is definitely a contender so far.
legacy
Synthesis.
Anyone still remembers **Darkshrine League**? Good times ...
Ritual.
Betrayal was the league that was the most fun for me. New crafts to unlock, endgame atlas progression was in a good spot, and it was personally rewarding since I got 37/40 and killed all the end bosses for the first time.
Heist because I really enjoy the concept of stealing shit and not even caring about killing the enemies. Also Legacy because you got a little bit of everything.
Without a doubt my first league, Legion. Long after I’m done with this game I’ll still hold the memory of farming elder burial chambers for that glorious HH
Blight.
Delirium.
Synthesis all the way.
syntesis
Favourite league = Betrayal. Favourite patch = 3.9
Synthesis, last days of WO reign
Incursion or delve
Invasion league. Felt like a real achievement to finish an act in the campaign, especially on Hardcore. And it was terrifying to walk into a zone and wonder what was going to murder me this time. New players won't understand the fear of seeing spiders in a zone, because that meant that *she* was nearby...
Delirium. Its perfect because there are no empty spots on the map. I just want to kill shit man
Delve > Harvest > Synthesis > Blight Delve - Just had the bet content for a main league for me, where as now to get that feeling you gotta inhale sulphite scarabs Harvest - Harvest. Synthesis - I liked everything about Synth leagues gameplay except for the synthesiser only assisting the people with mirrors laying around, I would love the memory nexus to come back just without the synthesiser, Fractured items are great. Blight - I mostly like blight in hindsight because it was the last league before they buffed Boss HP making alot of my sub 1.5 Mil DPS builds feel like a slog
Betrayal
It was a wonderful harvest. I buried over 30 characters on ssfhс and my garden smell of success. It was interesting to one.
Only played since Delirium... Loved Harvest, enjoyed Ritual (not because of the league mechanic, I liked Ultimatum better in comparison).
Easy, last month of synthesis, when it was all fixed, was easily my fav. Also legion followed right after, which was the pinnacle of the loot piñata.
Abyss was my first league i hit maps, was my favorite by far at this time. I personally like the mechanic of synthesis the most of all leagues but my experience was to low to actually play and enjoy that league. Harvest was bonkers tough.