SSF item drop rates not working

Hi
I started my first SSF character in this league as I was lead to believe that the drop rates were better in SSF as you don’t have access to the trade functions( which I don’t want to interact with) yet this doesn’t seem to be the case I am now in cruel but have struggled much worse in clearing content in this mode than I did last season in the trade league( despite never interacting with the trade function in the last league to buy items). I have very poor gear all around in this SSF character league so at what point does the improved drop rates actually happen? Or are they not working as intended because I don’t see how I can progress as I’m not getting any stronger or better defence as I all I seem to get dropped or in chests are whites. I also don’t find anything useful at the vendors either so that isn’t an option. Please investigate and rectify. Kindest regards