Few question

Hi all, i'm new to this game and there some question i want to ask.
First: should i stick to the standard league or start playing in speacial league? what is the benefit of joining speacial league?
Second: About hiveout,what is this for? any guilde about it?
The last: is summoner witch valuable in pvp? i started this game with fire build templar, it was okay in normal but when i reached to cruel mode the game just so hard.Then i started over again with a summoner witch and the game seem like easier but i don't know if this build can be good at pvp too or just good at pve.

1) Once a set of 3-month temporary leagues start, they have a set of mods exclusive to them, usually offering more chances for loot with some amount of risk involved. Also, economy is fresh so demand is high, trading is more lively and it's easier to earn cash, near the end of the league gear prices also drop lower than in standard and HC.

2) It's an area you can use to get some privacy, catch a breather, get some chicks and throw a big party, stuff like that. Sure, you can do that, however you're usually too busy for that so you use it to invite masters so they can offer you daily missions, store crafting benches and make an extremely useful setup 'map device - vendor - stash' in some corner. It starts with room for three masters + Leo, but it can be expanded to five masters by levelling the one whose hideout you chose.

3) Summoners are generally not used for PvP, with an exception of a Summon Raging Spirit specialist. PvP isn't a huge thing in PoE, it needs a highly specialized build, you usually don't use your regular build to do some PvP on the side.