POE2 Grinding Gear Community Game ?

Hi, my name is Alexander and I recently passed the 1,000-hour mark in PoE2.
I believe I’m also speaking for my friends and hopefuly for some of you guys here too:

SSF for friend groups or a community is one of the few things PoE2 is still missing.
You can argue about the name “Solo Self-Found for friends or community”… but hear me out.
Personal trading inside the lobby/friends list or guild, but just like SSF without the currency market.

Our league experience from start to finish:
Sometimes someone finds a new weapon and carries the group for two maps, then a buddy suddenly hits a power spike again… Sometimes you find something great you can’t equip yourself, but within seconds there’s a new owner inside the group.
With the main story thread and permanent upgrades everything feels really good; sure, many players like us would love to earn more inventory slots, but what costs us more energy is the endgame. Since release there have been many extremely good changes, yet in the end the currency market always pulls us apart.



As soon as your first character hits 65 and you take the first steps into endgame, the currency market takes center stage. Everyone already knows you can “save” a lot of playtime with a few Divines… so everyone starts chasing currency while prices shoot back up to the moon.

The group falls apart because different playstyles show up:

The guide player who’s in T15 after a week and already stops playing.

The trader who barely plays until he has a Mirror.

The player who spends all his currency on a few upgrades and burns out on the way to level 90.

And the one who plays to 70, realizes the real play would be the market, doesn’t feel like it, and never comes back.

These are behaviors encouraged by trade. None of them keep players engaged for long. Of course sooner or later everyone wants to know what “max power” feels like. But if, in group play, you always have the option to simply buy upgrades, it screams for a second mode that turns off that shortcut so you can enjoy the game in full.

Sure, towards the end people often play together again, when T15 maps can be run with sunglasses on and a few key presses… Without the market, though, the group’s power levels would stay closer together for longer. Important moments would become highlights of the week. You’d keep items that a friend can use. You’d talk more and spend time together. Loot suddenly becomes valuable again… like in the story. You’d communicate more when you know people are in the same level range/power level. In a no-market group, just like in SSF, the game’s true milestones would be put back in the right light.



We think SSF is the better mode—unfortunately it wont allow us to bring friends.
When we tried SSF, the game was hardly recognizable, as if you could play the league start over and over again without access to the market… Currency suddenly has a different value. Crafting decisions are no longer taken lightly… Endgame event bosses like Olroth suddenly feel like a titan, and you don’t even think about the Arbiter because he’s still so far away—but that’s exactly what motivates us in PoE.


We want to play together, without the market shortcut.
We want to play the real game in a kind of “SSF for friends.”


Grinding Gear Community Game? <3

Yeah, you have to agree with your friends to not buy items from the market during progression because it will ruin the experience for everybody and don't play too much separately, mostly it's about not buying weapon. Using essence +all to skills on weapon also bricks the whole feeling - huge power spike.

Until you're all close to t15, just don't use it - it will make you all better at creating good builds.