Why SSF is better than Trade League.

Ziz reflects on the state of trade league in Path of Exile and explains why he PERSONALLY prefers SSF for his time investment and progression pacing in the current game.
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[@Zizaran]

Keep in mind this is Ziz's personal opinion. You should play wherever you find the most fun!

[@Bymen]

The title should reflect that in some way and not sound like a definite statement. Just my personal opinion. :)

[@Phendoxia]

Keep in mind Ziz gets paid to play PoE and can play 12 up to 10 hrs on average.

[@tylerschuler6853]

It's still a clickbait title? Just cause you make a comment, doesn't make it less scummy.

[@razhyel_]

I wish there would be a party self found mode and only these people with their accounts could group and trade with u. I love to play with my girlfriend, but i cant stand another trade league season because of that. It is so annoying.

[@MrElvisNilsson]

@@tylerschuler6853 The video is about Ziz explaining why he finds SSF better then trade and also giving counter examples... What more do you need.

[@camarada1996]

On SSF, dropping an exalt: "Oh! Nice" On SSF, dropiing a build-enabling unique worth 1alch in trade league: "Oh shit!! WTF?! I needed this"

[@cipherx2181]

Fr, got a unique I just traded to a vendor since it wouldn't be worth it in trade but then I got it in ssf and made a build around it

[@schtauffen-plays]

0:55 "The only way to play a video game wrong is to not have fun. Anyone who tells you otherwise is dumb." -Ziz 2021

[@Roquer1]

Can you please do a video on 'reading the screen' for dangerous ground effects, monster attacks, status effects etc.? I feel that most of the times i died it was due to not having a clue of what was going on on screen

[@Roquer1]

@Bing Bong Barry Oh, thanks that helped

[@Gromtall]

@Bing Bong Barry yea its super protip for everything. I did not learn anything new until i discover that i just need to not be stupid 4Head

[@fancydeeldo]

@Bing Bong Barry there's a reason people like you don't have friends

[@dukeofnuke2446]

turn of sounds and ambient effects and keep voices and chat alerts on high. Allows you to hear i.e. Sirus "Die" better and your brain can focus just on the visuals

[@erikb4407]

Your comment makes it seem like PoE doesn't already have perfect visual clarity. As a definite non-GGG employee, I can say with confidence that there's tons of visual clarity in PoE, especially on summoner builds, so you should be able to see exactly what's killed you. However, if you're still having trouble, try using the new kill replay feature to see which enemy's ability dealt the largest amount of damage to you :^ )

[@kvahlman]

SSF really emphasises the best part of PoE, progression. Character, gear or the Atlas; you don't get to shortcut any of those through other people. The game feels more rewarding, suddenly rares on floor become interesting and getting really good gear occupies you for much longer. But it is indeed very limiting when it comes to build selection and the amount of build that is easy to do.

[@minstorm]

The shock collar would be particularly effective when you price an item too cheap and get about 100 messages in 1 minute. Electrocute time!

[@GigaChadJecht]

Collar plus doryani prototype

[@LoveOneSV]

Don't fetish shame me.

[@dukeofnuke2446]

I try to always to respond to trade requests when I sell something, even if it is sold already I always reply with "sorry sold"

[@imadeyoureadthis1]

Real mvp

[@schmockonaut4843]

/autoreplay sorry sold xd

[@anotherks7297]

I try to but sometimes when I I underprice it gets too crazy.

[@pwnnr13]

Same, and by using a trade macro/program like poe companion it's just 1 click away, that's the least I can do so the person don't need to wait or whatever, and I hope atleast sometimes people do the same towards me ^^

[@patrickbayr8244]

Ive started to play SSF HC after i play trade league this season and now all ladies are so attracted to me , that i cant progress anymore- do you have any tips for me ziz?

[@majinanti3645]

xd

[@sipsix]

Lol relatable

[@DaJodad]

I think SSF is the best way to play the game as well, 6k hours in and it was where I had the most fun. Now that I lost an arm though? I have no choice but to play trade just to get the basic uniques required to use builds based around a single hand.

[@enlightendbel]

The problem with trade is that as you become more experienced with the game, trade makes everything pretty much useless. You start making a lot of currency which makes just buying items trivial, which makes every build just a matter of grinding currency and buying the items you want. This devalues every item from priceless to sometimes 5 minutes of currency grinding. In SSF, you have to make due with what you get and what you are able to craft. Sometimes luck isn't on your side and you still figure a way to make things work. Currency also turns from the main focus of the game to being worthless beyond it's crafting use. This makes higher value currency next to useless in SSF while lower currency becomes more and more important.

[@tacticiana3437]

@@enlightendbel as a totally non-objective counter to this: I hate gearing my character through drops/crafting. My favorite part of this game is running content. I enjoy the loop of playing maps (and sometimes delve or heists) Being able to just engage with maps or the gameplay I enjoy, and buy all my gear is why I love this game. I think if I had to play ssf I wouldnt play the game.

[@AlanGurling]

I've found playing PoE with one hand using the Logitech G604 to be somewhat doable. Probably won't scale well all the way to the end game though.

[@XxX00LiGhTnInG00XxX]

I really think you need to make a SSF guide about the basics and what to expect and what are the approaches you can take! Maybe co host it with another ssf streamers like Raiz or someone else.

[@oddmann8875]

I played dominating blow on ssf this league and somehow managed to find The scourge (got it from an inscribed ultimatum for a lori's lantern). That was such a big rush!

[@camarada1996]

Exactly, some worthless uniques in trade are literally build-enabling on SSF

[@judgedredd8750]

Dispassionately observing Zizaran's slow transition into a garden gnome.

[@72dimi15]

ziz makes this vid so less ppl could succumb to the accursed fate that is trading with him

[@Dawid-hr6bi]

I like playing on sc to buy *only* the build enabling shit, the rest im pretty much ssf. And on hc angle, i dont have the time to relevel when my pc decides to drop my fps for a few seconds

[@webbike]

this ^

[@at_]

I have the same issue, I’ll get a 1-2 second freeze client side and when my pc decides to finally display everything again I’m dead

[@sebastianholsclaw]

Right, this game isn’t stable enough for me to be interested in hard core.

[@destroyermaker]

Best of both for sure

[@technosmiley]

"if your not having fun your playing wrong" love the start. keep it up Ziz. i usually play trade (what ruins it is complainers) but might switch to SSF since i've got a lot more experience in the game

[@karg134]

For players that share the issue shown in the intro, there are several chat commands that can reduce your exposure to spam. /dnd 'message' = blocks all messages, u don't see anything and the sender receives the set autoreply /autoreply 'message'= if you usually sell less items, but at higher prices you might want to use autoreply instead, for example 'give me minute, ultimatum/blight/heist etc' You won't have to rush the map, or risk dying just to type reply and the buyer at least knows u are active so he can hope for some deal. Alternatively trade macros like awakened poe trade allows you to set up individual replies and hotkeys, like invite to hideout, trade, type message, kick from party or invite to party etc.

[@Isndar]

I play Trade league but I only buy from people if I need certain item from them but I never sell my items to people All of my loots I received simply became Alterations so I can convert it into Chaoses

[@KYLDA]

Did my first SSF league for Ulti and it really encouraged me to learn the crafting systems. I'd say its worth doing for a league even if you decide you don't like it, personally I'm going to stick with it from now on

[@sober667]

There is multiple reasons i dont play SSF - i play fair share with friends - i love to play realy outlandish wierd builds wich are extremaly hard to pull off( thou that may be for or against) -i dont play THAT much even so i wana play SSF HC i always say Maby next leuge on top of that i dont trade that muhc - usualy get one or two pieces wich i NEED craft rest

[@toxicrengar7572]

thats basicly one of the best and most fun ways to play poe

[@stenlundrikard]

Me and a couple of friends create our own league every launch. Then we get to play "friendly SSF" without any third party trade, and also play with each other. However it does cost some points but I find it great.

[@daviewaviee6079]

The second point! 💯💯💯💯 I'd be absolutely *MISERABLE* trying out some of the builds I've got rolling now if I had to FARM every individual build-defining unique... 🥲🤢🤮

[@carnaedy]

Great video. I personally have played SC-Trade up until now, but I have grown somewhat disillusioned by it, and I trade extremely rarely anyway. Maybe I would reconsider if we got a proper implementation of an Auction House, but for now, SC-SSF seems increasingly tempting, and I might even give HC a shot on a throwaway character.

[@wykettou]

As a player who barely understand mapping but 0 understandings in crafting, I still gave a try to SSF some leagues ago. Man, it changed my vision on PoE. You finally farm for reasons. You get objectives to do. No more "Just do maps as quick as possible to get currencies" Now it's more D2 mindset where you get to farm what you need for your build

[@mhall5148]

I think that part of the reason trading etiquette is different in HC is that a lot of times there isn't another item to buy. A different rare with those stats isn't for sale, or the next option is significantly more expensive. Also, HC tends to foster a more patient gamer in general.

[@HundredSpear]

I usually played SC trade at the beginning of a league. Mid league I played a few HCSSF characters to around maps(they mostly die there) and have fun with the gauntlet later in the league (made to maps last time for the first time). But this league i decided with my friend that we both start in SCSSF just to not feel the "pressure" of needing to be effecient to make the most ex/h and we both really loved it. When I achieved everything I wanted (killing Sirus , Shaper, Elder and Cortex) I switched to trade league to just throw in my currency and have fun with builds that I couldn't play because of SFF. Best decicion I ever made. No stress in league start and a fun "finish/mid league" to play around in trade. And from league to league I enjoy my occasional HC trips more and more since I'm getting farther and farther (also because of you and your videos).

[@Unitos_]

I play self-imposed SSF, so me and my buddies can trade together, but we restrict no trading outside of the boys.

[@theluo652]

I think one thing that might be lost on you in this video is your own advice "Hideout is lava". Sure I have the item listed for trade but it was posted in the first week of the league when i was desperately trying to sell something. Early in the league "meh" stuff can indeed sell for 1-5 chaos and if you sell a few of those items you can get enough currency to begin your trade flipping to make the currency you need for your actual build. (i.e. flipping div decks, or spam splitting astral plates etc) For that reason TONS of people have 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 chaos dump tabs they just fill with anything that MIGHT sell. but later in the league it's not worth it to take those trades if you're doing a juiced map (which in SC most people are) and it's also not worth to clean those tabs out (H/O is lava). From personal experience I won't take those low value trades unless I'm already in my h/o looking something up or trying to trade someone else. It's just not worth. It's one of the reasons SC players want a AH.

[@lifereturned]

I would definitely play SSF if you were able to trade with people in your guild or something to take effect. I play with my friends (less than 10 people) and we dont trade for items outside of our guild. It makes it interesting and fun to help each other out.

[@rizzocsgo8189]

That would rather defeat the purpose of SOLO self found, wouldn't it? :p

[@Ycesugho]

A well-designed Auction House > SSF > Trade system in its current state

[@Gorden121]

I understand you added "well-designed" to appease haters of the concept, but in reality any Auction House would do. There is really no way to fuck up an Action House in PoE that would make trade even worse than it is.

[@kevinkk111]

I would agree on that order honestly. Also: the only thing I would change on the current trade system is to make trades instant.. like.. add some post office shit to the hideout that gets triggered by the whispers that takes currency from your public stashes and exchanges it with the item in the public tab you want to buy. Both send to the mailbox npc or seperate stash or whatever. Just a personal opinion tho.

[@madsealion3863]

3 doritos later (or about 3 years to be precise) boom

[@Max-tg1cv]

i'm usually playing together with a friend and would really enjoy an SSF mode where i can only play and trade with them but noone else.

[@yoyodragons]

it's a private league

[@wesso27]

thats the concepts of a private league

[@stefanbauer423]

Just dont trade and play with anybody else?!

[@Nimroc]

I had been effectively been playing SSF all along even in trade league, so I figured I might as well switch over to actual SSF during Heist. Even if it doesn't technically change anything it feels like I enjoy it more now simply because there is less of a feeling for me that I'm missing out by not trading when I simply can't. Hardcore is a whole different matter though, I want to try it at some point but I fear I'm not good enough to avoid dying yet for me to actually enjoy it. lol

[@balldont_lie9684]

I feel the same , I got interested in SSFHC since the last gauntlet, I trained a lot for the next one on a modded league, and since then I started SSFHC for the pleasure, the pleasure to realize everything by myself, the pleasure to rediscover the game under another angle, and a certain exhilarating and gratifying challenge. Thx for the Gauntlet, thx for all Ziz

[@jimmyd694]

I also spend most of my life wearing pyjama pants so Ziz is my hero.

[@harshit233]

I have been wearing them since 2013. They are the best 👍

[@GibsonPrime]

Fair opinion, especially if you have many hours to play. This league I have spent 30+ex on gear and grinding that currency out, be it through sales or otherwise, feels like an achievement for me. I've also had 2 trades just this week where people have been happy to wait. Granted, one I replied to the guy I was in uber lab and the second one I was running simulacrum, but they both waited 10-15mins for me to finish. I messaged them when I was done and made the trade.

[@WillyTung]

Know the shopping method I really enjoy in MMORPG's? It's having a ton of players in one location with a merchant stall. I enjoy going from stall to stall to see what they have for sale.

[@schtauffen-plays]

Guild Private League is best compromise. We play with a solid 3 and a few extras that play quite a bit less. Between our playgroup we get access to a fair amount of rare items

[@xaviawolf]

yeah im a trade league guy, trying out ssf like last week after being so burnt out on playing trade league for a hefty amount of time, the first few days was hard since raw currency was dropping on me and the urge of me just buying my gear just slips into my head, either way with playing ssf im so grateful with uniques dropping that I know that can either help me gear my current character or help out levelling my "future" character

[@Ellybisa]

I still really want groupfound in the game. One of the reasons I play trade league it to play with my friends and interact with them, I can't really do that in SSF. Groupfound would fix that problem though, I would instantly jump in to that.

[@ksyhan3h]

same.. me and my friend actually used an alt account with no additional stashes. we made a rule that we arent allowed to trade with other players and it's been fun so far. we made it to lvl92 in 1 week and done many of the stuff

[@yoyodragons]

play private league

[@zacharyschreiber6382]

private league is literally that

[@Ellybisa]

@@zacharyschreiber6382 While that is true, I just don't feel like spending that money on a temporary thing thats not the whole three months. I'm not being picky here, i just feel like it's not worth it in the end, therefore im still playing Trade. Maybe im wrong here, but hell, I might never know.

[@rizzocsgo8189]

@@Ellybisa what would be the benefit of a dedicated group/guild found game mode? Leaderboards?

[@coachfrank8831]

Do you think there is a way GGG could change sale tabs? Maybe make it so when you put an item in for whatever price you choose and somebody wants that item they could pull up some kind of in game window and browse your sale tab and buy the item from it so nobody got scammed/had to dig through the afk players to buy what they wanted. If there was a way to do that you could even buy things from offline players. Maybe even pop up a notification for the seller giving them a small window of time to deny the sale in case they priced the item wrong or something if they are online. And if it was possible to do that they could even put in a notification window when you logged into a character that would tell you what sold and how much you made while you were offline. Idk if that would be possible or even a reasonable request considering how much work they would have to do to overhaul the stash system and trade site but I think something like that would completely remove all the annoying parts of trade. Edit: Maybe instead of reworking stash tabs they could just put in a secondary stash through some kind of courier npc and have all transactions go through it instead so no reworks to stash would be required.

[@madziuch6034]

I wish there were different league rewards for SSF, not better, not more, just different, like a slightly different color or something :( still playing ssf tho

[@MarkoVuckovic32]

I always enjoyed SSF more even when I didn't have it unlocked yet I completely ignored trading with other players, I only used items I found or bought from NPC shops

[@jasonchiang251]

I like trade because I can test new builds out constantly. And I can just buy bases if I want to craft something instead of hoping the elder/shaper base will drop

[@Althissian]

I've played SSF for three leagues and I just don't get anywhere in time. I came back to trade this league and I love it. There are plenty high end goals for me, like crafting perfect items. This just isn't an option on SSF.

[@aaronmcleod387]

I played SSF this league, first time since trying it in Harvest. WIth my starter (chieftan Bladeblast) i did kill Awakener 8. However it was getting difficult to get upgrades without excellent bases and good rolls of dmg & defenses. Ultimatums were rough in t14+. I switched to a glad bleed EQ build. Had an easier time in high maps, but failed awakener 8 twice. My ultimate goal is to kill Maven, but after my second failure with awakener this weekend, even after some nice dps upgrades, i migrated to trade this morning. Both a good feeling and a bad one is that i doubled my gladiator's dps by spending about 4 exalts. Getting an awakened gem, getting a second cluster jewel to craft, a unique jewel to round out block, and an essence worm that i couldnt find in SSF. I agree with not having to trade is awesome, I love the feeling of finding good drops. IDing an item and getting some high resistence rolls, or a good unique is great. But sometimes I just felt so stuck. I tried a lot of things to get the essence worm, but RNG did not shine upon me there. I could see myself giving SSF another shot down the road. For now ill enjoy being much stronger in trade for a bit :)

[@imadeyoureadthis1]

I believe the trade system needs a revamp. Something like auction house or market board would really help. You can either trade or play. And if you have to trade with many people, you can male mistakes or not sure if you sold it. It's a bit anxiety inducing.

[@mrnice4434]

I think the main treason for GGG to not do a auction house is that people would be less likely to see micro transaction stuff on other people and there for buy less stuff.

[@imadeyoureadthis1]

@@mrnice4434 this makes some sense.

[@sebastianholsclaw]

Mr Nice they could make an AH for currency and maps (the 2 super annoying trade areas) while leaving item trading to in person.

[@mrnice4434]

@@sebastianholsclaw yeah or maybe make the AH a public place where you can see other like chapter hubs but yeah some change to the current system would be nice

[@Bathmman]

Play trade league + never trade = SSF So if you dont feel like playing SSF any longer you can start trading, so never have to feel forced into trading or not trading

[@KeKNine]

you can migrate your ssf character to trade league whenever you want. If you don't want to play ssf or if you drop something insane, you can migrate either one or all your character s

[@scullyxd]

I play like this , avoid trading as much as possible without trading. Sometimes theres a crazy hard unqiue to get

[@Bathmman]

@@KeKNine extra work...

[@ilyktosk8]

i mean cant you just treat any trade-core league as SSF *with a bonus to trade at will when you really need it*?

[@daviewaviee6079]

This. I understand the irritation with trade spam but I feel absolutely *zero* desire to target farm for items that might be miserable to find. No thank you. I like planning a build ahead, and the way most decent builds (or creative off-meta builds) are set up, there's too many *necessary* uniques. I'm not about to spend a billion hours looking for *one* item that legitimately makes or breaks said build. Just don't trade if you don't like trading, whilst leaving yourself the choice to get that sexy item on Trade Market if RNGesus screws you like it's your honeymoon.

[@KingOfBlades27]

Poe is already a massive timesink. So no thanks to ssf 😂

[@KotauFPS]

Facts. Ive been playing trade league softcore for many leagues and have never killed any final league bosses (think sirus, oshabi, chayula, shaper, etc...). Specially if they require plenty of farming to access them; I have battled some of them like oshabi but never managed to kill them. For me the game in ssf and hc would be basically getting to maps without dying.

[@daviewaviee6079]

100%. There's so much s**t to do, I'll never have enough time. That long uphill slog every league is bad enough. Excacerbating this via SSF sounds like agony to me, personally.

[@RFlairPC]

You just suck then

[@StormCloudGenerator]

I think the main difference between trade and ssf that I found was that in ssf I was actually using stuff like stacked decks and void cards, the small gamble items. In trade that shiz gets sold immediately because I honestly don't have enough time to gamble in games anymore. That being said, I wish trading was better in PoE... you mentioned only messages two people in HC trade but honestly its exactly the same in HC, sometimes even worse than SC where at least there are more players. Sometimes in HC you are playing SSF because you can't even get hold of that one peep who has the thing you want, and its so overpriced in HC that you might as well farm it yourself.

[@DanieboyTV]

I like to play softcore trade but use it more as a SSF-light experience. I'll buy the things I really need, get to be able to play together with my brother and then mostly ignore trading (set unrealisticly high prices). Then if I'm working from home on day I'll do some trading because why not.

[@D2ezbmu]

I will say when buying any kind of currency (C,Ex,Oils,Catalyst,etc etc) it is an absolute nightmare in SC. But other than that it’s not too too bad. The shit that makes me rage is when someone puts up an item then immediately signs offline. Also for popular items I almost always do live search. You can get stuff for cheaper a majority of the time if you’re patient.

[@gubzs]

It's the same reason I play ironman / no trade in other games. I hate feeling that the best use of my time is farming something boring over and over and selling it to someone else. Feels like actually having fun makes me fall behind and I can't take it, so I just play no trade modes.

[@tigerseye1202]

What I started doing is playing Trade League, but only buying currency. I avoids some annoying grinding, but you still get the achievement of earning the gear instead of buying it. And you don't have to deal with the trade system that much.

[@tekkaoz]

It's a different strokes for different folks thing. I personally really enjoy trade because I play with a group of other players, we rarely team up, we're mostly just sitting in discord chatting, but being able to throw something into the guild stash if someone needs something, or share completion on something, or help someone out with a boss is important to me. Without that interaction I might look at SSF, but yeah I'd rather trade honestly. Yes there are private leagues but paying that kind of money for a half dozen people? Yeah nah.

[@DrDexxer]

@zizaran Video Suggestion a video about short-races (method rush for example) - why u dont participate anymore - why u think most streamers dont participate anymore - what has to change that big streamers would participate again?

[@Zizaran]

I do participate in races. I don't want anything to do with Method or anything they do. I have friends that sadly joined them and will keep in touch with some of them but I do not wish to participate in things they do.

[@DrDexxer]

​@@Zizaran ok i guess i should not have used method as an example... maybe iam wrong with my perception that all big streamers quit short-race events? hmm forget it than - ss

[@Inkaflare7]

Personally, I don't think SSF is viable at all for anyone who doesn't play as much as you do, Ziz, be it because they get burned out or because they just don't have the time, unless they don't mind never seeing the endgame. I'm a softcore trade player, who can play 1-2 hours per weekday tops, and 4-5 on the weekend - unless I'm busy with something else, of course, which also happens frequently. It already takes me nearly the entire league to fill out my Atlas (by which I mean collecting all the watchstones and most/all Maven passives in the current endgame) and get a crack at the final endgame content (currently the Maven fight). If I was playing SSF I'd probably reach my first Sirus by the end of the league. Aside from that, the amount of builds I'm locked out of in SSF is another factor but that's more of a personal preference thing than anything else, imo. The actually insane timesink PoE is becoming to get anything done and see all content before the league ends is a huge barrier of entry to SSF, imo. You definitely have a point in trading being annoying and stressful these days. That's one of the reasons why I trade as little as possible in general as well, and one of the reasons I'm miffed about how badly Harvest was nerfed. Another advantage of SSF is that you actually engage with mechanics and items and builds you wouldnt consider otherwise because they're the only way to get something specific that you need, or because it's simply the only option you have at the time, and I consider that a good thing because of extra variety. But overall I can't see myself ever going into SSF and locking myself out of most content because of the sheer time investment needed being amplified by several levels of amgnitude due to completely losing access to trading as well.

[@WillSindra]

I'm burning out real hard on the game, more and more every league (about 8 years in). I've gone in and out of SSF for absolutely every reason you spoke of, the main one being to drag out the game more because you build on the fly; the loot dictates your build, where in trade, the build dictates the loot. But it's getting harder for me to play. This time around I tried to just not play for the first month. By doing this it would make for a 2 month break since Ritual, I'd be refreshed, and I'd be going in blind. The problem I had though was being aware of how much I'm burning out of the game, and decided to go trade league, as to avoid frustration of not dropping a certain item or currency and being soft locked in progression. I played with the discipline of being SSF in trade until I reached such a point on my character. It worked really well until I broke the notion and purchased a Tabula. This was late into my league starter, but having it made me reroll. Then liquidate. And purchase a few items (the prophecy was locked behind a t15 map and I was at yellow tier). Tldr; I burnt out before red maps. SSF might have been better despite being locked to my loot. The actual reason I'm commenting though is because of the tangent you made on trading. It is fucking trash. I ran out of chaos orbs and wanted to trade just ONE ex. You get annoyed in asking 2 people? I messaged close to 15 people. I deliberately avoided messaging people with a bank of chaos in the thousands, because more often than not they're bots. After 15 people I cracked it, scrolled down to a lower price, messaged the guy with 9k chaos, got the instant invite from the level 11 witch and got my trade. Botting is supposed to be illegal, if it was my game I'd have it like that. Because it's cheating. But without it, casual players can't even trade (in softcore). Idk if it's ego of "only" selling 1ex, but if you list to sale, you commit to it. What a horrible problem in a game designed around player interaction via currency.

[@t1nytim]

I hate trade, but love playing with my friends. So I play trade, but actively play as if it's SSF, other than trading between friends. Though I did have 1 friends come over from D3 for the first time this league. And he's a very competent person, so is fine doing T16 juiced maps, done A8 Sirius, Shaper, etc this league having never really played before. And he said he does regret partipating in trade, as he feels like he missed a large portion of the game, basically going from T5 -> T14+ in a matter of hours because of trade. Whereas he's seen me progress slower, but seemingly having more fun with the league, having to actually play my way through to the end game.

[@ludzo2347]

I tried SSf for half of ritual and at one point I needed a glorious vanity for a build I was seting up, I tried to chase it for 3 days and gave up. Trade is so much better for me since I can play the content I enjoy the most and get item quickly without burning myself out of the game. And I really enjoy the fact that there is so much currency farming method that no matter what you do, you can progress quite easily.

[@MrKampfwurst]

Over the last years, I played a couple of leagues off and on, but only recently started to learn about many mechanics in crafting etc. Definitely starting SSF next league, because all the crafting aspects really interest me, but never really had to actually get into it in trade league before

[@omega1231]

That to me is the great big draw of SSF, it really forces you to learn the systems too complex in a multiplayer environment to not just go "meh, screw it, i'll just buy it for 5ex"

[@nicolasnikopol7946]

I perfectly agree on the trade system. It's so bad and there so many scammers, like those who cancel the 6l trade and then try to sell the same object but as a 4l-2l. Those who sell two pages of the same item to lower the prices, and those who sell 1 alt item and will NEVER answer you. I play softcore SSF and the game is soooo relaxing. Never again you will say "oh no, in this league my unique jewel is 8 exas, I will never be able to buy it".

[@MultiClow]

Never tried ssf but looks fun for a more chill experience

[@MultiClow]

@aXsEpSiLoN i already made a build thats very budget friendly :D

[@isumir]

and what is different for ssf and playing without internet?

[@matthewlenard8346]

I mostly play ssf myself. Something I thought would help trade League is set price Trading. I have an item that I wish to sell, I have a set price with no bargaining and I don't care who gets it. In this scenario there is an option where I click a little button that says Auto Sale to the first buyer, ASFB. This would be up to the discretion of the seller and then there could be a whole new meta argument over which way can make more currency faster. 🤓🤓🤓🤯🤓

[@soupervised]

wish we could get SSF mode for duo

[@Scoundrill00235]

Still ran in trade league, however, tried something different and only traded when absolutely needed for specific things to progress otherwise the league provided 95% of everything I needed to at least comfortably play for the most part. It really did feel a ton better than constantly scouring the trade site for something when I could easily find/bench craft something to get by

[@destroyermaker]

I had a lot of fun playing SSF for the first time in Ritual. Beat Sirus 8 (first time also) and a bunch of other bosses. With harvest nerfed I'm kind of turned off it now (even though I wasn't close to making gg items). That and I value my time too much to spend two days farming div cards. So now I play trade and price/sell little or not at all - I just buy the things that would take me a long time to get in SSF. I will try again in POE2 or maybe before if they implement smart loot before it launches.

[@Geist1337]

To me, why SSF is better than Trade league is literally because you're not just BUYING your character. If you're on trade you're buying twink gear, leveling gear, mid game tweaking items, and then the end-game drops, the majority of the time.

[@TheDonGladiator]

Is SCSSF a good way to start for beginners (200h igt)? or should I stay in Trade?

[@davep5788]

GGG could easily add in hideout trading, since they already have all the components (public stashes connected to an MTX vendor). It would encourage MTX sales I think because you'd be going to the hideout to trade but would not be required to group and get out as the current system encourages. EQ2 had that almost 20 years ago, so I think even GGG could manage to code it, but they choose not to. As their manifesto said, they don't want to make the game too easy for the plebs.

[@Luzarioth]

Alex Jaffe put it best: Trade and ARPGs do not fit, it is a "cursed problem". On the one side, you promise exciting item drops and on the other, thanks to the trade, you degrade everything that drops to an equivalent of buying power... gold (Chaos in this case). On top of that, after having tryed SSF, trade league feels like easy mode poe. "I need X, i buy it", "I want to do Y, i buy entrance", "I need Z to enable the build... i buy it".

[@Tehed82]

I started this league in SSF but then switched over to trade. This was only my second attempt at SSF and in general I really love it. It's a really nice experience, but at some point starting at T14/T15 I'm running against a wall. After switching to SSF I found that it was only one, at most two missing items that made my build be able to easily do T16. Only one item, but that's where I was getting a bit impatient or annoyed... not sure what it actually is, tbh. As I said... in general I really enjoy SSF and I'm pretty sure I'll try it again next league. Maybe I just need to get better at crafting stuff. ;)

[@gmoddude12]

the only thing that has kept me from playing ssf is simply how going from campain to maps is like going from walking at a nice slow pace to running for your life cause a rabid dog is chasing you like i can do campain just fine no issue then immediately get one shot by anything and everything on tier 1 maps XD

[@derzweig205]

Always enjoyed the hunter & gatherer loop, so there was never a point in trade or shared stash for me. Biggest addition to game would be some button where I can just clear the entire stash :)

[@sidian4257]

I don't have the time to grind all the items i need for the builds i want to play. So buying key items for builds is way better for me. I enjoy finding or crafting upgrades for non-key-item in trade league es well. In this league i crafted a +2 minion gem wand for the first time, and just with the resonators and fossils i farmed myself. That felt great!

[@alexanderpushkin9160]

It's very hard to play real ssf if you unlucky to be poor and only have 4 regular tabs.

[@Noblame93]

Idk if I am just different but I only play soft core trade League and have multiple times wait for someone to finish a trial or even Uber lab for an item if you're mad about the trade system seems like you need to get the salt stuck out of your ass and zizaran I have learned from my mistakes from that sunday's roast I got maybe a year and a half two years ago I now know what a good Jewel looks like and how to roll my flasks thank you

[@fernandom5122]

The problem about SSF is the great knowledge you need to have in tons of things to performance great

[@beatshox6638]

we need the china trade system rly hard

[@PsYchotic666Joker]

Always wanted to play hc and ssf but I never do because I have a lack of hours to play especially now a days with a wife and 2 kids 4mo's and 2 years old and 12 hour days at work. It's why I am considering to play standard from now on

[@voodoo1069]

I like the idea of ssf but as D3 was basically ssf it always was very annoying to know I had something good but it was never going to be useful to me so I had to just delete. So that makes it hard for me to enjoy ssf outside of event type stuff that only last a few days or a week. Also I really dislike how not everything in poe is target farmable so if I have a build in mind to play it I could just never be able to play that build even if I played every league to the end of time depending on your luck. If we would had kept harvest 1.0 I could have seen myself going to ssf or a super small private league with just friends at some point but rip that. I also enjoy doing 40/40 every league and hats off to the crazy people that do it in SSF.

[@MirridonOnslaught]

I get people who want to trade and bail before they even get to the hideout. its annoying popping a portal scroll just to have them cancel the invite.

[@davep5788]

I hate the trade 'system' but I play trade league because I play with friends. Since I'm there I dabble in trade, but everything you mentioned is true. GGGs insistence on 'player interaction' (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, "ty") is a big downside to PoE.

[@btarczy5067]

Finally my opinion is now confirmed objectively true! Whenever I will get bullied for bringing up that I play SSF in a conversation I can point to this video. It might still get awkward when they ask me what the fuck Path of Exile is or just to move away from them but at least I‘ll know I‘m right.

[@andrewoberg]

i play trade league but i mostly just find/craft my own items, just nice to buy that one item now and then that you can’t seem to get

[@farlonmuentes6004]

yeah. it's really weird to me the reasoning behind playing ssf only, like you can still do ssf in a trade. sounds like they just can't restraint themselves from using the mechanics that the game offers so they purposefully gimping themselves of it. it seems like the concept of piggy bank, that the only way to siphon it out is to destroy it when you can just put your money somewhere hidden and just don't spend it but at least if you need it desperately, you can easily get it rather than destroying a porcelain container.

[@Sophaurus]

private leagues or group SSF are great solution. there might be few people to trade with especially as weeks go by but i haven't had anyone getting mad because i had to finish a map.

[@LittleDelp]

Ya I sold a unique flask the other day and it took like 40 minutes after I sold it to stop getting whispers, it was pretty annoying.

[@thealarm7057]

The problem starts when you classify playing the game as "wasting time" in any instance. Like you said, just play and have fun, ignore trying to be the best and most efficient over having fun.

[@darrenleake3343]

I've always played in softcore trade league, but I've hardly done any proper trading. Few bits n pieces each league. I would probably play ssf if I didnt have the need for build defining items. For example I've been into bleed bow gladiator the last 2 or 3 leagues, and what really makes the boss killing aspect of it is the assailum helm and I feel the helm would be next to impossible for me to get. If I was playing a build where there were no mandatory items, or items that seem mandatory then I'd definitely play ssf

[@redfox7623]

I really like playing SSF cause it makes everything that is like a "trash" unique something exciting for example dream fragments is a 1C ring and they drop like crazy normally, well i have been looking for one is SSF to use before i get ele ailment immune on an archmage character. i just found that ring like an hour ago an I'm still looking for more stuff but the chase for even the small things is really fun. At least that's why I like SSF you have to think about how to solve your problems and the answer is never Just buy it LOL

[@simplex4629]

I just like SSF cauze the items you get are worth sth... even rare items without an inflluenced base are sometimes rly good items for you ... in trade you just take items with iLvL 86 with an influence and best base item .... otherwise its garbage .. and btw.. i dropped a mirror in trade and a cospris in ssf .. damn the cospris made me so much more happy :D

[@meaculpa1988]

Ziz, can you make a video on watchstones and what are best mods per region to have ? Like harbingers in valdo's rest etc.

[@xKeKzzex]

Ritual was by far my most profitable league Week one I was able to play a at that point 120-150ex ll carrion golem build, in the rest of the league ive managed to play expensive builds as well 10ex weapon here 12ex chest there but after spending days playing hideoutwarrior because I wasn’t feeling golems to push and my other builds weren’t a blast as well I’ve quit the league after 5-6 weeks and haven’t played the new one as well.. Might start lightys ssf challenge or go to standard where I have a Ton of stuff and try to get every unique on a highroll and Max linked if possible

[@xKeKzzex]

Tbh I f u post something in the tab u should be able to buy it from the tab Keep the website but if someone puts something let me walk to an npc paste the message put in the currency and I get it in my inventory no ah no more lowballing it’s easy but it needs to be worked on

[@Lyqrick19]

in-game trade like auction house in WoW gonna solve so much problems

[@xmikex6997]

Hello can I buy your Item?

[@IIIUNKZ]

Problem with trade that I have is that soon as a ex or couple drop I want to re roll then I am bored then I quit never got to shaper or elder or even situs 5 I play 2 hours during weekdays and 6/8 hours weekends

[@samphillips141]

I spent 3 hours yesterday selling all my fossils, essence, frags, catalysts, oils, maps, etc. It was so annoying have to try and read and keep up with all the trade requests coming in. I may almost do SSF next league. It will force me to actually risk crafting, instead of just saving 50 ex for an end game weapon.

[@SYG_Aegis]

I only have a few hundred hours into the game. And 300 hours into it, i switched to SSF and finally started enjoying the game. Sure it was harder especially since I'm still rather now, but the gameplay fits me better. Good stuff Ziz.

[@godfreyofbouillon966]

I started PoE SSF hardcore, for two - three leagues. Then I moved to trade softcore for another 3 leagues or so, and then I moved to not playing. If they ever fix performance issues I will be going back to SSF hardcore, come to think of it, I had more fun there.

[@rizzocsgo8189]

Last patch fixed almost every issue I had (mainly texture streaming related). I hope it stays that way.

[@Kahlimer0]

Glad SSF exist, trading is usually what's kill a game mood for me, i will never be able to play some builds but worth it, and considering the crapload of currency you need to waste to build a top tier item i find ssf more enjoyable.

[@hanarielgodlike9283]

15 years ago, I tried to make a trade on diablo 2. The dude was so rude that I never traded again.

[@came4861]

this is my fourth league in a row (maybe fifth?) and now that ive got around 600 hours i find the game way too easy in trade league, i can just farm maps until i get the currency to buy what i need, i can completely ignore the crafting aspect which i find the most interesting, and i get burnt out way too easily, i can kill all bosses i can clear all content (apart from 100% delirious and stage 19-20 of simulacrum, but all bosses A9 sirus uber elder etc) but next league im going to try SSF because i want the progression to be way slower, i dont want to worry about earning enough to buy my next item, i want to try farming it myself and taking it slow and not worrying about getting to maps day 1 so i can start flipping and earning currency.