Standard vs Expansion Game Mode

Console Discussion
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Edit 10/09: Thought I came and back added this perviously, but I guess I only put it at the end.

To save anyone from reading the whole thread:

Turns out I didn’t realize that one is picking all the “highlighted” (read “a little less dark”) options in each column. I thought the option that had the white outline was the option being chosen. I am leaving it all here for the benefit of anyone else who mistakenly believes the menu is providing a choice between “standard” and “expansion”. It is not.

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Just to be clear, I am NOT referring to Classic vs Expansion. I am talking about the Switch “Select Game Mode” screen where, down the left side are “non-ladder”, “Standard”, and “Expansion” choices.

I created an Assassin in “standard mode”, played through to Tyreal in Act 4, where (as expected) he sent me on to Harrogoth (sp?) in Act 5 in search of Baal.

So.

The difference between standard and expansion is NOT the absence of Act 5, runes, charms, shared stash, or any other LOD-exclusive items. — the first clue being that I was able to create an expansion char in “standard” mode.

While it makes a logical sense to select “expansion”, since choosing “standard” still results in playing the expansion my question remains: what’s purpose in having both a standard and expansion button?

Since the selection of either standard or hardcore takes one immediately to the the expansion, then it is not a matter of choosing “softcore” or hardcore before the choosing the expansion.

So the “choice” of standard is superfluous, meaningless, and pointless.

Just saying.

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perhaps another blunder thanks to actiblizz.

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The answers are right there on the screen. You have three choices to make and two options for each choice. The first is ladder or non-ladder. The second is standard or hardcore. And the third is expansion or classic. Your character will be a combination of those three choices.

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Well, yes. I understood the non-ladder/ladder choice.
I do understand the standard/hardcore choice.
And I also understand the expansion/classic relationship.

Obviously, I must be missing something. I could understand if we were expected to choose one from each pair.

For instance, click non-ladder or ladder, then standard or hardcore, then expansion or classic.

But if you highlight and press “A” on any active button, you automatically enter the game.

Hmmmmmm. Or perhaps, I am selecting my choice incorrectly?

I highlight any choice and press A, which opens the “name that character” dialog box.

I just took a closer look at the screen, and I see that “A Accepts All”

That implies that by pressing “A”, I’m not making custom/individual choice, I am accepting some unknown (to me) “All”.

Is there an unnamed button that “Accepts One?”

In other words — is there a set of instructions I haven’t found?

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Uh. Okay. I forgot to say “Switch”, where at the bottom of the screen it says “A Activate All”.

Today is Halloween, so it is appropriate that when I woke up, the horror of my ignorance (more like my inattention to detail) became glaringly clear, and I came to fully appreciate those who tried to help but just didn’t realize the low level of help I required.

Simply put: there is no choice between standard and expansion. The choice is between standard (normal/softcore) and hardcore, followed by a choice between expansion and classic (pre-expansion).

So let me take a moment to explain my basic lack of understanding of the Select Mode Screen. So I will understand completely, I will type slowly:

The selections you make go from dark to a little lighter. There is always one lighter option from each category, so when you press “A”, you “Activate All” of them.

All options on the left are highlighted by default, leaving all right-hand options dark(er), so just pressing “A” without doing anything else puts you into the expansion.

Any selection you make in the right hand column will darken its mate on the left.

Pay attention here, because this is important (I’ll type extra slow):

IT DOESN’T MATTER WHICH BOX HAS THE BRIGHT RECTANGLE AROUND IT WHEN YOU PRESS “A” ! ! !

It only matters which three boxes are lighter.

Any questions?

By the way, they say that it doesn’t matter if you talk to yourself. And it doesn’t matter if you ask yourself a question. It only matters if you ask yourself a question and then say “Huh?”

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Let’s try again. If you do nothing but click the button to go past this screen, your character is automatically the three choices on the left: non-ladder, standard(non-hardcore), and expansion. To make your character any of the choices on the right, you have to manually change to them. There is no Ladder season yet, so that change is not valid. You can only change from standard to hardcore or from expansion to classic. This works the same on all consoles, the only difference is the name of the button you push to do each step. Use whatever the Switch has for a D-pad to move up and down between the three rows and left and right to change the selection. After that, hit the Accept All button and move to the next step.

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Yes. Thank you, Shadow. Seriously. Thank you.

As I noted in my previous droning-on post, my confusion was that I failed to notice the significance of slightly lighter selections. If Blizz had chosen a less subtle change, like an actual color, I might have picked up on it.

I presumed that the white border around a selection signified THE selection, otherwise I wouldn’t have spent so much time being confused.

Thanks again.

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Thank you! Wondered why I kept dying :joy:

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Lmaooooo this roller coaster of a thread was quite the read. I had the exact same issue I didnt understand the friggen game mode. This thread was funny and answered my all my questions lmao god bless you heroes

Also on switch XD