Some difficulty spikes in Act 1 + 2

Tide Striders ever since the Act 1 rebalance hit like trucks. Maybe that was intentional to steer people towards cold resistance before Merveil but we encounter them very early. Especially if you get magic or rare versions, they are bosses in themselves. Can chain stun with their massive hits, spawn out of nowhere. Even in late game with 75% cold resistance they still hit a lot harder than other monsters at their level. I feel like these are the last outlier from the Act 1 rebalance.
I even had to mention this to suitsizesmall as I just turned on his stream as he was peppered by some of those in early game and was exclaiming "What was that?!". Kind of weird that there wasn't more feedback about them since the rebalance. I guess a lot of veterans just play the fire and forget skills (frost bomb, traps) early on so they don't really interact with them. And there are probably a lot of newbies who either get massacred by them and quit or think this is normal.

Similarly, the new Skeletal Spriggans in act 2 are currently a nightmare. It's a cool concept to make Veins harder to deal with than just teleporting out of them and the correct way to fight them seems to be the anti-quicksand method of never standing still. Problems with this are that they are almost invisible in the forest zones and you're focusing on other monsters that are visible and actually charging/shooting at you. I usually only see the yellowish explosive pods pop up and then I'm already in deep trouble.
-So, you have to immediately try to slooooooooooooooooowly walk away while you have to stop to deal with the other monsters currently attacking you.
-Health Potions can help but often don't save you as the pods escalate and hit quite hard. (don't know what their damage type is but probably something you aren't prepared for at early Act 2)
-Disabling Movement Skills is hard to understand or notice in the panic, especially for newer players. It's unprecedented (afaik?) and you would have to look at your movement skill icon and even then, since enemies usually don't just disable your skills, people will wonder if there's an issue with the skill gem or their mana or whatnot. Once you're looking at your dead character and have a second, you can't figure out what went wrong.
-So, once you notice, "Oh crap! I guess there are Spriggans around somewhere", you might already be beyond saving. There is often no out, no way to solve it by playing once they caught you. Can't move away (only at what feels like 5% movement speed, again, while other monsters keep attacking you), which is especially tough when paired with the the exploding bandits. Can't outheal at that point in the game. Killing them quickly in retaliation is made quite hard due to having to spot them first, then reach them with damage while you can't move.

I think they would be ok in a vacuum like an arena fight you vs some/one of them but as they are currently implemented, they are a terror. I can't remember having to relog or even make a new zone in early Act 2 before.

So, what I would do to at least make them a learning experience and tough challenge but not the source of frustration and confusion they are now:
-Make them (more) visible. It makes sense for Spriggans to be forest colored but then at least give them like Fireflies swirling around them or have glowing elements akin to the exploding pods on them so people can make the connection and notice them in any lighting condition.
-Make the grasping vines more visible. In actual gameplay conditions I usually only first notice the pods and then I'm often already stacked with vines.
-I actually think the pods aren't even needed or should at least be less punishing. Make them grow slower, make it so there can only be a few and with some minimum distance and tune down the damage somewhat, at least in early game versions. It's already a tough situation when you suddenly can't move and other monsters are swarming you, some of them even exploding themselves.


Other little tidbits so far (still waiting for the console release and only dabbling around in early game a bit):
-My "The Wise Oak" unique flask doesn't go into the unique affinity tab anymore. Of course, that's because of the new Flask tab/affinity but unique affinity should have priority.
-I hope Marks won't stay indefinitely on players.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1286785440?t=1h47m0s
Suitsizesmall runs into a couple of Striders.
It's the Devourer problem again. They are damaging but ok when encountered single or when you constantly move but they spawn simultaneously and fire their mortar attack together in synch and while spawning. resulting in a bunch of overlapping damage on the ground where you were when they spawn. The added effect of a very powerful chill/slow makes these extra deadly as followup mortar volleys might finish you off when you can move away fast enough.
Solution: Have them fire their mortar attack staggered and not immediately after spawning. This might actually help them be a moderate threat since their damage isn't so concentrated on one deadly zone anymore.
Also maybe tune down their 162% damage mod to something like 135%. This is a Nerf.

Yes, the two temple areas in the latter part of Act 2, Vaal Temple and the climb to the Act Boss, are over tuned for damage.

All the outside/open-air areas appear to be fine to me though.