SC vs HC vs SSFHC vs SSFSC

Hi everyone,

Would like to grab your thoughts on the above. I've been a long-time HC trade league player, but recently I've realized a few things about playing HC:

1) It just means you can only play a few meta builds able to survive the longest.

2) The game is no longer really viable for HC unless you're quite a bit above average as a player (one shots, power creep etc.)

3) I'm quite bored of playing the same builds just to get lvl 94+

4) For me it just means I can't experience all the games content and what it has to offer.

So it got me thinking... what should I play?

SSFHC league

Really this just runs into the same problems trade league HC, except even harder as you have to find your own items.

While I relish the challenge, I'm quite bored of the narrow build diversity and repetitive game choices HC presents.

SC trade league

A bonus here is I can play with my friends who play on SC trade league. But looking at the game as a whole, it just seems too easy.

a) Gone is the challenge or risk dying, and in it's place dying doesn't mean anything until about lvl 92+

b) Items are much more easily obtained because there is no perma death, so the market and everyone's wealth slowly forever increases.

So everyone automatically gets better, it's easier to get the items you need and there is no intensity regarding death until late game. So I'm just playing to watch stuff die on screen forever an eternal optimist about loot drops?

SSFSC league

I've landed that this may be the best option. While I'm sad I can't play with my friends, at least this mode has some trade offs.

i) Death is still mostly meaningless, but items and drops are meaningful

ii) Drops are less about "how much chaos is it worth?" and instead, "how can I use this to improve myself?"

The only downside to this is it may also run into the same problem HC has with regard to build choices. Since many builds are item dependent, playing SSF might just mean playing builds that can run more on rare items than uniques. So it is just another fancy way to narrow my build choices down.


What does everyone else feel is the most fun to play, taking into consideration risk and reward and build choice?

Please keep this discussion mature and not about what mode is better than another. Thanks.

Just as a thought:

Might as well run a SC private league with your buddies- if they are into it ofc.

Would limit everyones trading capability to the participating players, so its kind of a group found challenge league and isnt as restrictive as pure SSF.

"

a) Gone is the challenge or risk dying, and in it's place dying doesn't mean anything until about lvl 92+

I don't think anyone who hasn't ever killed Chayula, Uber Aztiri, or Shaper (much less uber elder) has any place really saying that.

The risk of dying once is very low, the risk of dying 6 times to one boss is still noteworthy (lost set--early league that's a lot of currency). Can most content be facerolled? Sure. But that's why everyone in Softcore is all about bossing or deep delving unless they're participating in the race to 100.

If you don't have an interest in bossing, then sure, keep playing the basic loot-grabbing gameplay loop in hardcore forever. But someone who has never even attempted uber elder probably won't first-try uber elder when you finally get to it in softcore.

tl;dr actually try it before writing it off as trivial. People in softcore who want a challenge are tackling much, much harder content than what you've ever let yourself attempt.


Edit: to be clear, this advice is tailored to you personally. It obviously doesn't apply at all to players like Ziz who do all bosses in hardcore every league.

more like
Coffee vs. Orange juice vs. Coke vs. Pepsi.


I prefer lemonade btw.

"

codetaku wrote:

"

a) Gone is the challenge or risk dying, and in it's place dying doesn't mean anything until about lvl 92+

I don't think anyone who hasn't ever killed Chayula, Uber Aztiri, or Shaper (much less uber elder) has any place really saying that.

The risk of dying once is very low, the risk of dying 6 times to one boss is still noteworthy (lost set--early league that's a lot of currency). Can most content be facerolled? Sure. But that's why everyone in Softcore is all about bossing or deep delving unless they're participating in the race to 100.

If you don't have an interest in bossing, then sure, keep playing the basic loot-grabbing gameplay loop in hardcore forever. But someone who has never even attempted uber elder probably won't first-try uber elder when you finally get to it in softcore.

tl;dr actually try it before writing it off as trivial. People in softcore who want a challenge are tackling much, much harder content than what you've ever let yourself attempt.


Edit: to be clear, this advice is tailored to you personally. It obviously doesn't apply at all to players like Ziz who do all bosses in hardcore every league.

Exactly my struggle. I consider myself an S tier campaign runner (4hr 50m best), an A tier mapper and everything else B tier or F tier (looking at you Delve).

HC has made me NOT want to experience certain parts of the game because I don't want to lose my investment in a blink of an eye. After 3-4 years of playing PoE, I'm getting bored.

I think I'm leaning towards either SSFSC or a private league SC.

SSFSC is good fun and might fit what you're looking to do.

It tests a different set of skills, particularly resource management. You do stuff you might never consider in a trade league (e.g. gathering stone hammers for the first 90% of the game so you don't run out of chisels in red maps...)

OP #1 isn't true which cascades down your list, meta builds are strong for a reason they are your crutch while your learning the systems and the game but you can succeed without them.

I've played HC quite a few leagues the only skills i've played twice are ones I love or ones I wasn't satisfied with how i progressed the skill vs where I died at. I usually avoid meta completely as more than anything i'm a tight bastard and don't like spending currency.

I outfitted every character i made this league for less than the core items for a real necro, even shit items like efficient trainings and rumi's you could get an ex for a couple of weeks in.

as a caveat I think anyone who regularly gets to 90+ in HC will find SC feels hollow, but it can be exciting to do truly crazy content without restrictions.

I wish there was an intermediate level where death had meaning, but not getting kicked from the leauge.

Perhaps lose 2 levels (last two passive tree points are unallocated on death) and each of equipped items has 50% chance of being deleted. Thats a strong incentive not to die.



Of the leagues, I personally

-SC trade league til Uber Elder death

-Restart in HC. If I manage to kill shaper (VERY unlikely) then restart SSF HC.

HC play is fine, so long as you don't set the same goals an SC player would. You're a typical example of someone who thinks that they need to achieve the same thing other players do in order to "win". You don't.

You can play any build SSFHC... it doesn't have to be meta. You just have to enjoy that style of play. If you make it to mapping, great! If not, you had fun while it lasted. That's great too. But you don't plan on making it to level 90+. That's not reasonable, and if it's your goal, the game becomes mind-numbingly boring. You simply can't take the risks that make the game exciting. But it's up to you.

Play how you like. Don't let others tell you differently.

Alot of good feedback here. It's really a hard decision for me, I'm sure I'm not the only player stuck in this dilemma.

I don't measure myself against what others are doing to "win," per-say, but I do want to experience that content. I'm tired of making decisions to skip or ignore content just because I have no experience doing it and will probably die. Playing SC for a league, getting the experience and then going back to HC is the logical thing to do... but... *shrugs*

Ultimately I could play the way I want, but alot of items/excitement/content is gate locked behind harder content (as it should be). I could choose a less-than optimal build because I enjoy it, but if I'm wet noodling things or not able to complete certain parts of the game because I'm not strong enough - just feelsbadman.

I wish you could de-level in SC. That would be enough for me to totally switch to SC. I find it truly irritating that realistically I will just save my boss fights until I have leveled up, as to lose no EXP on death.

Someone mentioned portals and resource consumption - yes it is there, but really? I'm playing intensely so that I can keep some portals up and not waste my map/content investment?

It really is a tough one, for me. But the answer is likely the most logical one... Play trade league SC, beef up some character, do all the new 3.9 content and learn... then come back to HC at some point.