New player - standard or solo self found?

[Nox]

New player here, what should I go for? Standard or solo self found?
I take it solo self found is that you can't party with others and go it alone the whole game?

[Nico]

Usually the most important part of SSF is that you canot trade with other players, since usually trading is a pretty major part of the game. It usually requires a lot more grinding and especialy a lot more experience in how to get the gear you need to play SSF. It's much easier to just play in the trade league and sell valuable stuff for currency and then use that currency to directly buy the equipment you need from other players. Which is why I usually would suggest standard (or usually the current new league) for new players.

Also, there most likely will be a new league or some other kind of a reset in around 2 weeks, which will also have a huge new update, so it might be a good idea to wait for that new league. After a league ends all league characters get usually moved into the standard league and a new event league replaces the old one. And usually those new leagues have unique new content compared to the standard league, but PoE2 is still very new and we do not yet know the details of what happens on April 4th so it might be a bit different this time.

[Nox]

Originally posted by Nico:

Usually the most important part of SSF is that you canot trade with other players, since usually trading is a pretty major part of the game. It usually requires a lot more grinding and especialy a lot more experience in how to get the gear you need to play SSF. It's much easier to just play in the trade league and sell valuable stuff for currency and then use that currency to directly buy the equipment you need from other players. Which is why I usually would suggest standard (or usually the current new league) for new players.

Also, there most likely will be a new league or some other kind of a reset in around 2 weeks, which will also have a huge new update, so it might be a good idea to wait for that new league. After a league ends all league characters get usually moved into the standard league and a new event league replaces the old one. And usually those new leagues have unique new content compared to the standard league, but PoE2 is still very new and we do not yet know the details of what happens on April 4th so it might be a bit different this time.

I take it leagues are equivalent to seasons in other games? So if I start now and new league starts on April 4th will my character be wiped or will I keep my progress while the league stuff gets added on?

[Hiroko]

Originally posted by Nox:

I take it leagues are equivalent to seasons in other games?

yes

Originally posted by Nox:

So if I start now and new league starts on April 4th will my character be wiped or will I keep my progress while the league stuff gets added on?

no, it all moves to standard (non-seasonal) when the current league ends. Standard characters cannot interact with league characters, so in a sense it is a wipe, but you can continue playing them all you want. League mechanics usually have a couple items 'go core' (becomes part of the base game) and several mechanics get chopped up and mixed into future leagues in some form. The first few leagues will likely introduce missing beloved poe1 league mechanics (with new twists).

[cAipi_rInHa]

Standard is really easy to progress in quickly.
Every time you get some currency, you can just go and buy another upgrade from other players.

In SSF, you can only rely on drops, crafting, and vendors.

Both offer different experiences, but I think SSF would be better for new players, as it forces you to engage with the game's mechanics instead of just relying on buying items that others have found or crafted.

However, you won’t be able to progress super fast, and chances are you’ll never be able to play many of the mainstream builds that everyone in Standard League copies and plays, since you can’t easily obtain the necessary unique items.

[Duze]

Correct me if I'm wrong but as it is SSF only blocks trade, while nothing obliges you to use trade on regular, right ?
I'd understand the interest if there were a loot boost, but I don't even think that's the case.

So it's just to “prove” to others that you didn't use the trade for your character ? Really ? x)

[Nox]

Originally posted by cAipi_rInHa:

Standard is really easy to progress in quickly.
Every time you get some currency, you can just go and buy another upgrade from other players.

In SSF, you can only rely on drops, crafting, and vendors.

Both offer different experiences, but I think SSF would be better for new players, as it forces you to engage with the game's mechanics instead of just relying on buying items that others have found or crafted.

However, you won’t be able to progress super fast, and chances are you’ll never be able to play many of the mainstream builds that everyone in Standard League copies and plays, since you can’t easily obtain the necessary unique items.

I think I'll actually give SSF a try. I always prefered good old grind over spending god knows how long in the chat looking for items, bartrering etc etc.

[Tom]

Originally posted by Nox:

Originally posted by cAipi_rInHa:

Standard is really easy to progress in quickly.
Every time you get some currency, you can just go and buy another upgrade from other players.

In SSF, you can only rely on drops, crafting, and vendors.

Both offer different experiences, but I think SSF would be better for new players, as it forces you to engage with the game's mechanics instead of just relying on buying items that others have found or crafted.

However, you won’t be able to progress super fast, and chances are you’ll never be able to play many of the mainstream builds that everyone in Standard League copies and plays, since you can’t easily obtain the necessary unique items.

I think I'll actually give SSF a try. I always prefered good old grind over spending god knows how long in the chat looking for items, bartrering etc etc.

You could play standard like its SSF, grind like normal with no trade but if you ever hear of 1 specific unique you really want to try and its not likely that you'll get it through normal means in a reasonable timeframe, particularly if you enjoy making your own nonmeta builds that could make useful uniques both cheap as no one uses them and too difficult or time consuming for you to farm.

[Hiroko]

Originally posted by Duze:

Correct me if I'm wrong but as it is SSF only blocks trade, while nothing obliges you to use trade on regular, right ?

and party/guild "solo" "self-found"
You are correct though. Nothing forces you to use those features, and there is 0 incentive to be SSF (no drop boosts or anything). poe do it this way so you can opt out of ssf any time you want. I'm not sure if poe2 has the ssf->non-ssf conversion yet though.

[arjensmit79]

Originally posted by Hiroko:

. I'm not sure if poe2 has the ssf->non-ssf conversion yet though.

It does