Beginner questions coming from a Diablo 4 Player

TLDR:
I play D4 a lot with about 2000 hours since release but got bored with it and trying to learn PoE 1 while waiting for PoE 2. I will still play D4 while waiting for PoE 2.

Long Story:
I'm a very experienced D4 player with my own YouTube channel. I don't follow the meta, but doing difficult PvE challenges is my thing. I am also quite capable in PvP. Recently I got bored with the AoZ, it's a broken endgame dungeon challenge, because it's mainly designed for two broken builds. There are other issues I won't mention.

Anyway, I started playing PoE 1 maybe for 3-4 days now. So far, I am enjoying it except for the graphics. I can't play it via Xbox streaming app because the game is too dark, and there's no way to adjust the brightness. Playing it on Xbox Series X, I have a series of questions though. I am not following any guides as I want to learn things as I go, but I do Google and watch YouTube for terminologies because they can be quite confusing if you are someone invested in Diablo 4.

Here are my questions:

1. In the endgame, are all builds equally capable of clearing the most challenging content? I understand some builds may perform better, but all I am asking is as long as you build something reasonable, you can do the endgame? When I say all builds, I mean every Ascendancy class. If there are 15 subclasses, are all they equally good at the endgame?

In Diablo 4, there are two endgames that are somewhat still debatable. With Nightmare Dungeons, kind of similar to Atlas Mapping in a way but still worlds apart, there are certain builds that can easily crush them. Some builds are barely able to do it. Take, for example, Ball Lightning builds. This crushes all Nightmare Dungeons easily. But if you do an Incinerate build, you're gonna be sweating to finish the final tier. In PoE terminology, Ball Lightning and Incinerate are like Ascendancy classes. Does PoE have such disparate differences among subclasses as well, where one is ultra strong and another one is barely able to do the endgame?

The problem with Incinerate is no matter how you build your character, you will still end up with a poor build. With PoE, does it have the same problem with any of the Ascendant classes -- that is no matter how you build it, it will still suck badly?

2. I see folks mentioning currency farming. The way I understood it is you just keep running Atlas maps that your build can clear fast enough. Get materials and trade them. Rinse and repeat.

Why exactly are we farming currency? So we can get more currency that we need so we can buy the currency we want? So we can gear up better and run maps again but this time, it will be faster and more efficient? Then we just keep repeating the same process until you insta-delete all maps?

3. How's PvP in PoE 1? What's the dev support? In Diablo 4, the devs had made it clear they won't balance things in PvP. Things are broken in PvP. Damage over Time is considerably strong. Right now, the ones that rule are Barbs and maybe Rogue (my opinion). In the D4 forums, the PvP population is a minority. Is that the same case with PoE 1? How balanced are each class/subclass?

4. Can other players carry you in PoE 1? In D4, other players can carry you in leveling, in bossing, in farming Uber items, etc.

5. In PoE 1, how important is item level? The thing I am surprised to see lower-level items vs max level items don't have much variance unlike in Diablo 4 where the variance is too obvious. It looks like in PoE 1 the main value of higher item level is it can give more sockets and the mods you can roll has a higher range (but this range when compared to the lower item level isn't really drastic if compared to Diablo 4).

With this variance difference in PoE 1 and D4, does it mean in PoE 1 a +5 Life vs +10 Life is already a huge benefit versus in Diablo 4 where a +56 life vs +66 life doesn't really mean anything at all.

6. Are rares instead of uniques the king of items in PoE 1? Except for MageBlood and similar, I see a lot of folks getting their power more on rares than uniques. In Diablo 4, rares are only used as a crafting material to imbue some special ability to make it a legendary. I guess you can call it a legendary rare. With Season 2 Uber uniques and new uniques have become key items in almost all builds in D4. The legendary rares had taken a back seat.

7. In the game, I have already bought a bunch of MTX (also did for Diablo 4. I am a former whale in other games btw). Most of these will carry over to PoE 2, right? I think I read they will but just wanna make sure again.

8. When PoE2 close beta comes in June 2024, will it be available on Xbox Series X? Will it only be available first for folks who buy a supporter pack that will be soon released? After the close beta, will it be a complete wipeout for open beta? Another wipeout before the official release?

9. When it comes to trading, can I trade with other systems like PC and PlayStation or am I stuck with Xbox-only players?

10. Is there a way to change my forum name so it doesn't use my Xbox tag name?

Note that I have not played D4 so I cant compare.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

1. In the endgame, are all builds equally capable of clearing the most challenging content?

Simple answer: No. Most builds dont "clear" the most challenging content. They arent made for it. The most challenging content is also just a small part of endgame. Most challenging kind of: Uber bosses, Valdo maps some likely, some deep Delve, Im likely missing something.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

I understand some builds may perform better, but all I am asking is as long as you build something reasonable, you can do the endgame?

Kind of yes. Depends what you mean with "endgame". Some builds are better at some things, others at other things. Like mapping vs bossing.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

When I say all builds, I mean every Ascendancy class. If there are 15 subclasses, are all they equally good at the endgame?

In PoE "build" does not mean Ascendancy. Many "build"s can be played on different Ascendancies. There are 19 not 15. Some Ascendancies are better than others but in most cases not overly so.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

<snip> Does PoE have such disparate differences among subclasses as well, where one is ultra strong and another one is barely able to do the endgame?

No.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

The problem with Incinerate is no matter how you build your character, you will still end up with a poor build. With PoE, does it have the same problem with any of the Ascendant classes -- that is no matter how you build it, it will still suck badly?

No. Ascendacies are just a small part of builds usually. With exceptions.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

2. I see folks mentioning currency farming. The way I understood it is you just keep running Atlas maps that your build can clear fast enough. Get materials and trade them. Rinse and repeat.

Why exactly are we farming currency? So we can get more currency that we need so we can buy the currency we want? So we can gear up better and run maps again but this time, it will be faster and more efficient? Then we just keep repeating the same process until you insta-delete all maps?

I dont play trade league but for some players its pretty much like that. For others they first make a "leaguestarter" and farm currency for the build they actually want to play. Etc.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

3. How's PvP in PoE 1? What's the dev support? In Diablo 4, the devs had made it clear they won't balance things in PvP. Things are broken in PvP. Damage over Time is considerably strong. Right now, the ones that rule are Barbs and maybe Rogue (my opinion). In the D4 forums, the PvP population is a minority. Is that the same case with PoE 1? How balanced are each class/subclass?

No idea. Far as I know PvP is not popular. Except that some players use it for testing game mechanics

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

4. Can other players carry you in PoE 1? In D4, other players can carry you in leveling, in bossing, in farming Uber items, etc.

Yes. Drops are not character adjusted though so "carry for farming" is not a thing. Partying for partying bonus however is a thing.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

5. In PoE 1, how important is item level? The thing I am surprised to see lower-level items vs max level items don't have much variance unlike in Diablo 4 where the variance is too obvious. It looks like in PoE 1 the main value of higher item level is it can give more sockets and the mods you can roll has a higher range (but this range when compared to the lower item level isn't really drastic if compared to Diablo 4).

Depends. Everything can give max sockets per crafting bench so this doesnt matter much. Available mods may matter critically for item price/value though.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

With this variance difference in PoE 1 and D4, does it mean in PoE 1 a +5 Life vs +10 Life is already a huge benefit versus in Diablo 4 where a +56 life vs +66 life doesn't really mean anything at all.

5 life difference are not much in PoE for an item.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

6. Are rares instead of uniques the king of items in PoE 1?

Mostly yes.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

7. & 8.

Dont know.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

9. When it comes to trading, can I trade with other systems like PC and PlayStation or am I stuck with Xbox-only players?

Far as I know not possible, has been requested plenty of times by others, If you want a good market you need to play the PC version. And races are much more competitive on PC.

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

10. Is there a way to change my forum name so it doesn't use my Xbox tag name?

You can make a new account far as I know and use it for posting in the forum. It wont be linked to your playing account then though. Dont know of any other way.

Thanks for the detailed response. I guess of all the responses, the one that probably bothers me most is the trade market between PC and consoles.

Since I have MTX already, if I install the game in PC, will my account be accessible automatically or is there a process to do so?

If the account can be transferred, that means my NTX is also included. If the account cannot be transferred, what happens to my NTX if I decide to make a PC account?

"

BigBoom9240 wrote:

Thanks for the detailed response. I guess of all the responses, the one that probably bothers me most is the trade market between PC and consoles.

Since I have MTX already, if I install the game in PC, will my account be accessible automatically or is there a process to do so?

If the account can be transferred, that means my NTX is also included. If the account cannot be transferred, what happens to my NTX if I decide to make a PC account?

Nevermind. I just Googled and it looks like there's no way to transfer accounts. If I make a PC account, I will have to buy the whole MTX I got for Xbox.

I guess this is one thing where D4 is better as of now. I am hoping PoE 2 accounts can be cross platform which includes MTX.

So for now all I can expect for sure is my MTX in PoE 1 will carry over in PiE 2 for the same platform which is Xbox for me.

Kinda sucks that there is market segregation. If the NTX can be transferred to PC, I might inspired to get a PC. But knowing myself, I will use the PC for something else.

Your profile is set to private so no one can see your characters and offer build advice.

Yes, that's intentional because like I said I prefer to do my own builds instead of following the meta, but in this case, it's also more about the learning process.

I will make it public once I feel the need for build suggestions. So far there's no need yet