Early access feedback from the standpoint of a new player

Disclaimer! I would like to clarify that this is just my personal opinion. I have about 640 hours on the game (hence the new player on the title). This thread is not intended to slam the devs or talk ill about the game but simply to reflect my opinion. I would like to start from the negative parts and work my way up to the better stuff.

1) Levelling

Levelling on a first character with the hype of a new season is tolerable. Bad, but tolerable. Leveling on a second character is simply horrendous. Even with super alt gear. Act 1 is nice, Act 2 is ok, Act 3 has 2-3 terrible areas and overall is much larger that it needs to be, but act 4 is just too big. You could eliminate 3 islands and it would still feel longer than necessary. Interludes felt really good. Act 1 and interludes are probably the best part of the campaign.

2) Builds

Even though I understand that the game is still in early access and things will get refined as time goes by, I feel like the direction of builds is on a completely wrong path. Most skills feel generic with no identity. The worst part is that all skills have build-in intolerable conditions that simply make the builds not fun. Some example would be "stacks up to X stacks" or "Consumes up to X amount of Charges" or "can generate up to X amount per second". All these lines simply feel as if there was no time for balance and we just wanted to make builds that wouldn't be able to break the game. Obviously its a tremendous amount of work, no doubt about that. Lastly I would say that combo skills in an ARPG simply have no real place in map speed clearing. Grinding maps and skill rotation do not match. I feel like the game could be must more fun with 1-2 button spam with visually pleasing skills rather than this 6-7 skill combination. I personally don't like the idea of pressing 4-5 skills that do nothing but simply buff my 6th skill.

3) Crafting mechanics

Since the introduction of the currency tiers, i can wholeheartedly admit that it was an incredibly move for the better. The idea of having a good base and work your way up is simply amazing for the game. The reason of why this mechanic in my opinion is perfect, is because it scales with the game it self. In the beginning you can create items with a couple great mods and progress early maps and work your way up to 4-5 perfect mods in the endgame. I also agree with removing homogenizing but targetable or blocked mods should still be possible (Omen of Catalyzing Exaltation is a very good method but only for rings and amulets).

4) League mechanics

0.3 felt amazing!! An incredibly complete mechanic. You interacted with it in every map, it filled gearing gaps, aesthetic was great. Hoards and hoards of monsters always feels amazing in an arpg! Overrun by the abyssal is probably the best map experience (Alongside with 10 breaches on 1 map). Abyss was super fun (except the elites that one-shot you, some balancing issues there should be looked into)! Imagine the shock of someone playing 0.3 and then going straight to 0.4. Even though i understand the idea of that mechanic and I can definitely see it having a place in an arpg, the implementation of that mechanic in 0.4 was simply awful. A league mechanic that you interact with once every 6 maps (if you are lucky and stumble upon that small circle in an otherwise gigantic map). Worst part is that the mechanic is useless in the early game and boring in the endgame! What a soul-crashing sight to watch the path you created after 40 maps to reach this one room you wanted only to get destroyed when you close the temple! I am absolutely certain people will figure out how to abuse the mechanic and target farm certain rooms but that just makes the mechanic even less appealing! Poe 2 is supposed to be a more straight forward game that poe 1 yet that mechanic has the word "counterintuitive" written all over it!

5) Conclusions

The game in undoubtedly a step above any other ARPG (with the exception of PoE 1). But having seen the amazing playstyle of PoE 1 and the wonderful ideas that you guys have created there, I am absolutely certain you can recreate the feeling of greatness in this game as well (hence the feedback).