We NEED to talk about SSF.
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With as many people as there are complaining about drop rates, I imagine they'll adjust it. I agree that trading shouldn't be considered a necessary part of the experience and that other players shouldn't have to suffer so much if they choose not to do it. Especially the way PoE trading is.
But honestly, isolating SSF drop rates from standard might be the only way to fix the unique drop rates. You'd need to see a hell of a lot of them to get something you might actually use. They're all so specialized and weird and often come paired with drawbacks beyond simply not having a rare with good mods. It's not like D4 where you can often pick one up and just slap it on your character. I went SSF all the way up to maps and it was concernedly unfun sometimes. I only got enough Exalts to attempt to craft 2-3 times and each time was a brick. I got very lucky with a weapon from the vendors, though. |
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I agree with OP's sentiment. And while GGG has the "right" to not balance around SSF, this comes at a cost of pushing players away. This is important because not long ago, players didn't have a meaningful alternative to PoE and were stuck, like it or not. As time goes one, there is more competition in the ARPG front and failing to satisfy your audience results in much quicker losses.
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" I totally agree with you, that’s actually the point of my feedback. I believe the trading system goes completely against what real progression should feel like. Relying on it kills the fun of building up your character through actual gameplay. And honestly, if the devs’ vision is to push players into that system, it completely ruins the experience for me. You can just buy any high-tier item from the Trade Site and be ramping every UBER boss in the first week, where’s the progression in that? What I’m suggesting is finding a balanced way to make SSF progression feel fair, not like a clone of Ruthless 2.0. And no offense at all, really, but what you posted about the currencies you dropped during the campaign, I think that’s just not okay. The only real way to craft a decent item right now is to gamble and hope for the best, and that’s not a system that feels good or rewarding. One possible way to improve the lack of crafting options, especially in SSF, would be to slightly buff the currency drop rates. Nothing extreme, but just enough so we can actually craft something decent without being funneled into the Trade Site. That’s all I’m saying. Last edited by luizdoc#0279 on Apr 14, 2025, 12:18:41 AM
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" I dont share the sentiment that they are pushing players to trade. That is a personal feeling. I even played trade in .1 and did a smidge of ssf in .1 Now Im full send on .2 and I have absolutely 0 idea why I ever played trade. Wish I didnt spoil my .1 playthrough with it sadly. POE2 just does not have enough content to need that much power that quickly. Uniques? Eh... SSF has always had that restriction. You are signing up for that one. I wouldnt give SSF special treatment though, as you can transfer out of it. Taking that function away though would probably not be in the best interest as many people try SSF but then reach their peak, to transfer to trade to finish out what they started. Mash the clean
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D2's single player /players command comes to mind, which would make the game behave as if there were up to 8 players and scale drops + difficulty accordingly.
Last edited by rhorains#6760 on Apr 14, 2025, 12:39:22 AM
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" I see that as part of the problem. Giving players the option to transfer out, and making it feel like the only way to fully finish your character’s progression is through the trade system, just makes SSF feel like an incomplete mode. It’s basically admitting that it’s impossible to finish the game in SSF. And worse, it ends up forcing players who actually played the game solo and earned their progress to suddenly “buy” their way through the rest. That completely kills the whole idea of progression in an ARPG, which is something Jonathan always emphasized in his vision for the game. I think it would actually be a good thing for SSF players if the option to transfer was at least locked until the end of the league. That way, people know exactly what they’re signing up for, it’s a one-way road, no turning back. It would also push the devs to focus not just on improving the Standard trade-based experience, but also to put real effort into making other modes like SSF more viable. That could mean providing alternative tools progress through the game, instead of just farming currencies and tossing them into the Trade Site, so solo players can actually finish what they started, on their own terms, like a better and improved crafting system, if not possible right now, a slight buff to currencies would be healthy to the game, especially in SSF. |
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Uhhh locked until the end of the league?
Thats kind of what happens to everyone at the end of the league. They are migrated to standard lol. Yea again, SSF doesnt need special treatment. Game is evolving pick the mode you want to have fun in. Mash the clean
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Didn't take long for this thread to be swarmed by trolls.
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I would like to see an experiment:
True-SSF-mode that can never migrate to multiplayer servers with higher drop-rates / better loot vs No-SSF-mode that is multiplayer-able all the time with normal loot-table. I bet most people will start in True-SSF-mode, because most people would enjoy a true single-player experience more then a multiplayer-mode that no one uses except for trading and trading is only used because of bad drop rates. |
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" Totally agree, I really believe a lot of players would fully enjoy what PoE 2 has to offer in terms of actual progression at its peak if a proper true SSF mode existed. I also think a lot of people would actually move from Standard to SSF. But when you leave the migration option open, it kind of invalidates the whole SSF concept. You’re just funnelling players back into a trade-based system already dominated by bots and trolls. Removing the ability to migrate to Standard could be a solid first step for the devs to isolate and really polish this mode, which absolutely deserves more attention. Someone above mentioned that locking migration might push certain players away, but I actually think the opposite. Keeping that option open is what makes SSF less appealing to those who genuinely want a solo progression experience. Because let’s be honest, the moment you hit your first real wall, how tempting is it to just swap over and buy your way past it in the Standard mode? That temptation alone already breaks the spirit of SSF. |
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