Overview: Heist is the Path of Exile challenge league. The mechanic consists of completing heists, collecting markers, leveling up rogues, and running grand heists. The entire mechanic came along with alternative equipment (replica uniques which are tweaked versions of their corresponding uniques), new equipment bases, and alternative gems (spell gems with different spell gem quality bonuses from the originals). The league started on 20200918 and ended 20210111.
20200918:
I played the first day of league but only for about 4.5 hours.
20201002:
Today I was excited about crafting a 7% increased maximum life Viridian Jewel with 9% increased damage and 8% increased attack speed with bows. This was good for the Pathfinder Scourge Arrow build I was following.
20201020:
Today marked the first exalted orb drop of the league (a little over 90 hours into the game).
20201109:
Yesterday I hit level 95 by joining some Beachhead runs. Today I fought A3 Sirus (Awakening Level 3) but I wasn't able to defeat him.
20201204:
Took a break from Heist League and played Mayhem (a Path of Exile event league).
20201205:
Today I hit level 50 in Mayhem. Time played on the character was 7 hours 17 minutes 20 seconds.
Gameplay Log:
Got to level 50 in Mayhem League.
Defeated Kitava Act 5
Hitting level 50 unlocks a free chest. Unfortunately, I unlocked an MTX which I already owned (sunrise footprints).
Resumed Heist League.
Hit A6 and ambitiously tried A4 Sirus, but failed.
20201208:
Today I attempted A3 Sirus and I was able to defeat him using the 5th portal - he was very low after the 4th.
20201213:
Recently I fought A3 Sirus again and was able to defeat him using the 2nd portal. Being able to use both a hybrid flask and Forbidden Taste were likely the biggest factors in the difference between this attempt and the prior attempt (20201208). The best drop was a 1/10 (level/quality) Awakened Melee Splash Support. In any case, today I tried to fight A4 Sirus and defeated him on the 5th portal! The best drop this time was a Hands of the High Templar. I bricked it after seven Vaal orbs.
Remark: future me here noting that I instead could have just sold two A8 Sirus's for a couple of exalted orbs
The above entries were added on 20210326.
20210326 Comment:
A lot of people didn't like the Heist mechanic, but I enjoyed it. There was an entire meme about opening doors which was indeed an annoying aspect of Heist. However, I liked the characters and story that came with Heist - even though the mechanic should have worked by leveling particular rogues as opposed to essentially having to level all the rogues. Separate from the league itself, I enjoyed the Pathfinder Scourge Arrow build and was able to invest a decent amount of currency into it.
Speaking of currency, this league I did noticeably better. In my Harvest league post, I made a table of purchases and a table of sales with a minimum cutoff of 40 chaos. This resulted in six purchases and eight sales. But in this post, you will find a similar number of purchases and sales (seven and six, respectively) using a much higher cutoff.
The following were my purchases involving at least 100 chaos or 1 exalt:
The following were sales involving at least 100 chaos or 1 exalt:
With respect to hours played, I put more hours into the game this league compared to last league. Even though the league lasted a month longer than the average league, I barely played during the extra month. In fact, my pattern of play this league appears to be much different than that of Harvest. In Harvest, I put a lot of hours in at the beginning and played less over the course of the league. This league, however, saw a much slower start with a huge sprint in early December (30 hours a week for three weeks) during which time I thought the league might end.
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| Earlier in the league |
20200918:
I played the first day of league but only for about 4.5 hours.
20201002:
Today I was excited about crafting a 7% increased maximum life Viridian Jewel with 9% increased damage and 8% increased attack speed with bows. This was good for the Pathfinder Scourge Arrow build I was following.
20201020:
Today marked the first exalted orb drop of the league (a little over 90 hours into the game).
 |
| Heist Blueprint |
20201109:
Yesterday I hit level 95 by joining some Beachhead runs. Today I fought A3 Sirus (Awakening Level 3) but I wasn't able to defeat him.
20201204:
Took a break from Heist League and played Mayhem (a Path of Exile event league).
20201205:
Today I hit level 50 in Mayhem. Time played on the character was 7 hours 17 minutes 20 seconds.
 |
| Heist loot drops on death and can't be recovered if the alarm has already triggered |
Gameplay Log:
Got to level 50 in Mayhem League.
Defeated Kitava Act 5
Hitting level 50 unlocks a free chest. Unfortunately, I unlocked an MTX which I already owned (sunrise footprints).
Resumed Heist League.
Hit A6 and ambitiously tried A4 Sirus, but failed.
 |
| Later in the league |
20201208:
Today I attempted A3 Sirus and I was able to defeat him using the 5th portal - he was very low after the 4th.
20201213:
Recently I fought A3 Sirus again and was able to defeat him using the 2nd portal. Being able to use both a hybrid flask and Forbidden Taste were likely the biggest factors in the difference between this attempt and the prior attempt (20201208). The best drop was a 1/10 (level/quality) Awakened Melee Splash Support. In any case, today I tried to fight A4 Sirus and defeated him on the 5th portal! The best drop this time was a Hands of the High Templar. I bricked it after seven Vaal orbs.
Remark: future me here noting that I instead could have just sold two A8 Sirus's for a couple of exalted orbs
 |
| Near the end of the league. |
The above entries were added on 20210326.
20210326 Comment:
A lot of people didn't like the Heist mechanic, but I enjoyed it. There was an entire meme about opening doors which was indeed an annoying aspect of Heist. However, I liked the characters and story that came with Heist - even though the mechanic should have worked by leveling particular rogues as opposed to essentially having to level all the rogues. Separate from the league itself, I enjoyed the Pathfinder Scourge Arrow build and was able to invest a decent amount of currency into it.
Speaking of currency, this league I did noticeably better. In my Harvest league post, I made a table of purchases and a table of sales with a minimum cutoff of 40 chaos. This resulted in six purchases and eight sales. But in this post, you will find a similar number of purchases and sales (seven and six, respectively) using a much higher cutoff.
The following were my purchases involving at least 100 chaos or 1 exalt:
| Item | Price | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Thicket Bow | 100 chaos | The average cost to craft is 47 c in 5 tries and 103 c would buy 11 tries. A 6L Thicket Bow was selling for 6 ex |
| Large Cluster Jewel | 1 exalt 25 chaos | (1 ex is 37 c) |
| The Embalmer | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 90.1 c) |
| Assassin's Garb | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 103 c) An extra 192 fusings (~62 c) were spent to fully link it (6L) |
| 6L Darkscorn | 7 exalt | (1 ex is 107 c) Earlier in the league I purchased a 5L Darkscorn for 60 c. |
| Mechalarm Belt | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 107 c) |
| Viridian Jewel | 200 chaos | 7% inc. max life, 6% AS w/bows, 3% AS. Bargained down from 2.5 ex (~275 c). |
 |
| Messing around in Standard (testing a summoner build) |
The following were sales involving at least 100 chaos or 1 exalt:
| Item | Price | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 21/20 Corrupted Fork Support | 2 exalt | (1 ex is 98.3 c) |
| Replica Emberwake | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 100 c) |
| Jewel | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 105.4 c) |
| Abyssal Jewel | 1 exalt | (1 ex is ~107 c) |
| Jewel | 2 exalt | (1 ex is 110 c) |
| Inspired Learning | 1 exalt | (1 ex is 112 c) |
With respect to hours played, I put more hours into the game this league compared to last league. Even though the league lasted a month longer than the average league, I barely played during the extra month. In fact, my pattern of play this league appears to be much different than that of Harvest. In Harvest, I put a lot of hours in at the beginning and played less over the course of the league. This league, however, saw a much slower start with a huge sprint in early December (30 hours a week for three weeks) during which time I thought the league might end.
 |
| Note: the chart excludes time spent playing Mayhem, time geared towards blogging, any standard play time, and an outlier with respect to idling. |
 |
| First Exalted Orb drop this league. |
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