An SSF perspective on the new patch
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I've recently re-rolled a Smith of Kitava, my fifth character of the league and my first SSF toon. I was enjoying progressing through maps, but around level 80 felt like I wasn't getting quite enough mats to regal, fracture, and recomb items consistently and took a break. After a few hours of farming on the new patch, I can confidently say that my SSF experience has improved by several orders of magnitude, and I'd like to detail why for players who may not be feeling the same way.
For context, I'm currently level 85 and am just beginning to run t15s. I have 60% player rarity on my gear, and I've primarily spent my time farming expedition. As I continue to try more mechanics and farming strategies, I'll update this post with my observations. Currency and rare drops
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To put it simply, it feels like it's raining currency now. I'm sure there are players who would prefer even more high-tier currency drops (primarily in trade leagues), but even in trade I was alright with the previous rate. I don't consider myself a "giga-blaster", but more of an intermediate player, so I can see why those who invested more time, had stronger builds, and played more efficiently were frustrated that their returns weren't worth all the extra effort and strategy.
In SSF, I've benefitted the most from exalt drops and the increased amount of rares (which equate to regal orbs). I no longer have a tab full of items that I'm waiting to regal/exalt when I finally get the chance. I still need to be thoughtful about using them- mindlessly slamming them on every half-decent item would mean I'd feel like I didn't have enough, and I suspect that's something many players who don't know better are experiencing. I believe that further increasing the drop rates of rares, regals, and exalts at this point would only dilute my experience. I quite enjoy having to conduct some cost-benefit analysis when using my crafting materials, and I feel like this patch has struck a great balance. Tiered Items
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Tiered items seem to be working exactly as intended. I've already equipped a couple of tiered drops that were substantial upgrades over my existing pieces, along with gathering tons of high-quality recombinator fuel. I suspect this will be one of the changes players have the easiest time recognizing.
Chests
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I've always been a fan of opening chests, but I've actually gotten some amazing items from them post-patch and now there's genuine excitement upon seeing a rare one.
Expedition
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Expedition feels absolutely fantastic after the patch. It was already an extremely important mechanic as an SSF player, but I didn't feel like I was getting enough materials to progress in gear via recomb/NPC crafting. Now, mats feel plentiful and I'm excited after a farming session because I'm far more likely to be able to create something usable with my bounty.
Previously, expedition felt like a somewhat necessary slog, but the increased returns make it really enjoyable. Summary The patch feels great. My SSF experience around level 80 previously felt sluggish, but the changes have dramatically increased the rate of gear progression. Tiered drops, the increased access to exalts and regals, and the improvements to Expedition have had the most impact for me. That said, smartly using materials and understanding the intricacies of crafting are still extremely important to the item acquisition process, particularly for SSF. It's really important to me that this is preserved, and I think GGG have done an awesome job striking a balance with 0.2.0g. I'm having a fantastic time. Last bumped3 мая 2025 г., 01:17:32
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I concur. The patch had a significant positive impact for me as well :)
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Same for me as a SSF player.
I would just add about chests, that sometimes, its too much. For ex, I opened a rare chest and got 3 rares items, 5 magic items and 2 currencies. More than when killing a boss... |
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+1 here
I am finding consistently a lot more loot including tiered loot, feels much better than before for us who play the game. (As opposed to traders who just trade/farm currency with gimicky methods who seem to dislike the update) https://poe2.ninja/profile/character/rjum7ks5jqfi/Ash-9143/Ash_the_vile
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+1
Finally there is loot! |
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" I felt this way at first too. I was so used to picking up every item for disenchant purposes that I found myself needing 2 or 3 trips back to hideout just for loot every map. After a couple hours of this though, I was at a point where I was sustaining regals pretty easily and was able to start ignoring a lot of the ground loot. Now that I don't need to worry about picking up all these random rare spears, wands, etc. in order to get regal shards it makes sifting through the loot explosion much faster. Edit: I reread and see that you mean chests are giving too much loot compared to bosses and rare mobs. I agree that the chests seem to have much higher quant. Maybe the solution is to have fewer chest but keep the quant? Последняя редакция: Nickomang#5056. Время: 2 мая 2025 г., 20:20:20
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SSF agreed.
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Maybe I need to try SSF. Liked it in poe1 some seasons
As trade is now with loot balance I have zero desire to play in trade league if this is the new normal. “Not a single item of importance [in the news]. A tower of illusion, all of it, made of illusory bricks and full of holes. If life were made up only of important things, it really would be a dangerous house of glass...So everybody, knowing the meaninglessness of existence, sets his compass to home.” Последняя редакция: nKs#1015. Время: 3 мая 2025 г., 01:17:56
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