One thing D4 knocked PoE out of socks is ambiance and lore char design (also visual)

Course because they don't read like yourself and complain about it.

PoE's lore is too complicated and also boring at the same time. Complexity is a good thing only if it's interesting enough to dive into (eg: FROM software titles)

Otherwise just keep it simple like D4 did. Makes the average player actually care about the story & lore.

I don't think it's even up for debate at this point, story & characters are one of the weakest points of PoE. I can bet you that only 1% of PoE players actually know wtf's going on in the campaign, especially in part 1.

You'd have a point, if it wasn't for a disconnect that is already there, one between the low fantasy mood and the high fantasy magic. So, you've just been washed ashore in a single rag, a quick stroll and suddenly you can shoot 40 fireballs a minute. I even refrained from buying armour mtx before, in an effort to keep the mood but this time quickly realized it's pointless, now it's full glow storm god mode right from the get go.

D4 I'd say has a similar problem, the world is muted, pagan and quasi realistic but magic is full D&D esque insanity. Personally I also hate the daemons theme, it's overdone and limiting.

Anyway, it's all secondary and incoherent, provided just to set the dark mood the genre is know for and that's it. Also I'd say the beaches, pirates, sirens and vomit theme would run out of steam much quicker than spacy stuff will, and humble beginnings to cosmic horror is a valid theme to go for.

Atmosphere is 100% better in D4, no comparison. POE lore is paper thin and just seems like bits and pieced added after the fact.

Comparing lore concepts kin to reading all the books in elder scrolls and yet still some of that information isn't in those books is kinda silly. That's PoE lore in a nutshell.

While reading said books are interesting you still know the main plot, faction agendas and see characters develop over time. If I had to read a wiki or every random book to understand the situation of the game I'd call it a pretty trash implementation of story.

At the same time this is where the introduction of voice acting as a standard has diminished RPGs of all types. When you're talking to an NPC and lore / information is given through dialog.