My progress through POE

I started last year during the pandemic locked home and bored. Decided to install Diablo 2 to pass time but couldn't find my CD or CD Key. Didn't feel like spending on money on something I already purchased three times in the past and I hated Diablo 3. Google around for D2 clones and I arrived at POE.
So like many people, I started here as an ex-Diablo player.

1st League (Partial Delirium) - Played 2-3 hours a day in Delirium. I did read through all the story, interact with the NPC, and mostly did self found items and randomly click through the passive tree. It probably took me a month to just beat ACT 10. What I love about this game is the kindness and generosity of in game players towards new players. One time I joined a leveling game and didn't realize the guide was charging 10C per person. I didn't have any Chaos so one person just gifted me 30C. Afterwards, the guide gifted me an Exalt(didn't know what an exalt was at that point) The in game players are just wonderful, the opposite of Diablo. I also love the average intelligence of people I meet in game. I chatted with people who were programmers, engineers, doctors, physicist...etc. It makes sense given the complicated mechanics of this game. At the end of my first league, it was thanks to some very generous people who had the time and patience to walk me through mapping, using POB, and item filtering. Since I really enjoyed the game, decided to invested a little bit of cash starting with some stash purchase.

2nd League (Harvest)-Very Kind German walked me through my Uber ascendancy for the first time. Finally learned a few mechanics like Delirium, Syndicate, Alva, Delves, etc...wasn't really good at any of them but I spent a lot of time on Delves. Near the last month of the league, I was finally able to tackle red maps (5-10 minutes each) and beat conquerors.

3rd League (Heist) - Decided to do a Creeping Frost from Bigduck's guide on youtube. DPS was low but was hoping this will help me learn boss mechanics. While I made no progress in Heist in terms of end game content, I did learn more about the mechanics of bosses as oppose to just pure overwhelming them with Necro DPS. First time I came close to completely the Atlas. Still got swatted by Sirus. The best advice I got from a player this league who was around since POE Beta testing was don't worry too much about my HP. The key is to kill monsters before they kill you and to blitz through maps to earn currency faster.

4th League (Ultimatum) - Finally beat A1 Sirus after 3 tries and A8 Sirus after another few tries! Finally beat the Elders. Finally learn to play flask Piano! This was my happiest league. I finally can blitz through red maps like how I watch other people do it. It feels like I finally learn to play POE! I can't wait for the next league!!! Think I'll get more stash and invest on some micro transaction so my in game characters don't feel like such a noobie anymore.

5th League (Expedition) - After downloading 3.15, all my previous league characters can no longer take on a red map bosses. Starting a new Expedition character and my experience through Act 1 was frustrating. I don't care about the slower pace and NPC interactions, I did all that when I first started a year ago as a new player. At this point, I feel sadness and despair because all the progress and advances I made in a year trying to learn this game feels completely futile. Reading the developer's manifesto, it feels like the direction of the game is the opposite of what experienced players taught me. I tried logging in a few more times to see if I can slug it out through Act 1, but each time I load up the game and enter a waypoint, I feel overwhelming dread....this is just not fun. I feel like a new player again and I don't like that.