Solo or party?

Both.

prefer solo

Couple years back I played a few weeks together with a friend, until she stopped playing due to lack of time. After that I tried one party with a leveling character, and it was way too rush-y for me. Have been playing completely on my own since.

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Mivo wrote:

Couple years back I played a few weeks together with a friend, until she stopped playing due to lack of time. After that I tried one party with a leveling character, and it was way too rush-y for me. Have been playing completely on my own since.

must be a real pain trying to level masters

I've partied like in 3-4 maps. Hated it. I like going at my own pace in my own direction. YMMV.

Since preference is out, the only answer here is party. There is nothing you can do solo that is not exponentially faster when partied.

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Sexcallibure wrote:

must be a real pain trying to level masters

I play solo, while I did do 1 rotation with some people a while back for Zana, I got 5 masters to level 8. (I have a hard time with Vorici and Haku as I mainly play summoner so they're both only level 6)

For me it's
Party with RL friend > Solo > Party with randoms
Solo wins, since I have no friends who play PoE.

I party mostly for master rotations/challenges sharing and while leveling characters for specific builds, which (characters, not builds:p) are too weak to go solo. Parties make me feel uncomfortable - they're laggy, too fast and Short Allocation is a nightmare.

I perfer solo but lately i've been running duo maps. It doesn't kill my FPS like a full party would, and we can get nice drops and XP.

I play solo, because that is what I enjoy. Party play in ARPGs just tend to make things go faster and easier, and PoE is no exception. Maybe if party play was actually harder and more dangerous, I'd give it a go for the challenge and possible fun. :)