macOS - "Failed to connect to instance" error

This seemingly worked for me:

Log in to character selection, go to options and change Render Resolution to No Upscale before clicking play. The game may need to be full screen, I don't know. You can switch back in game.

Could have been completely random, but I do think there's something going on with the Render Resolution because it also changes from 56 to 59% when I don't get in and the blurry load screen fits a resolution issue.

Here's what I've done that has helped the issue tremendously. It's not a perfect fix, but it has drastically cut down on issues for me.

1) Use /dnd when in the game or it will crash.

2) Always exit the game using CMD+Option+ESC to force quit the app.

3)
- Go to ~/Library/Application Support/Path of Exile/Preferences

- Edit production_Config.ini

- Set resolution_height and resolution_width to the appropriate values for fullscreen on your monitor.

- Set fullscreen=true

- Set borderless_windowed_fullscreen=false

- Set maximize_window=true

- From Terminal in the above directory run 'chmod 444 production_Config.ini' to make the file read only. (This will make you unable to save changes made in the Settings menu in game. If you want to undo this, you can delete the file and the game will create a new one with the original read/write permissions the next time you launch.)

Now when you launch the game it should open in fullscreen instead of windowed mode.

Using this method I was able to get into an instance in just a couple of tries (instead of 20+), and after getting it to work, as long as I exit using the force quit method, it works every time.

Hope this helps someone!