Feedback after completing the campaign, and halfway through cruel

So I've been playing since Friday, and have completed the campaign and am about halfway through Cruel right now, and thought I would stop to give feedback so far. For reference, I have 5k+ hours in Path of Exile, and it's probably my favorite game of all time.


The Good:

- Difficulty is good, the game is challenging and rewarding. I'm playing on Standard, and have died many times, mostly to bosses. I'm playing an evasion based poison Pathfinder, so I'm probably more prone to being one-shot than, say, a Titan would. The bosses feel impactful. Some bosses actually feel too easy, such as the Azarin, the Forsaken Son, Tor Gul, the Defiler, and Rathbreaker. The act bosses on the other hand feel dangerous, and great to fight.

- Combat feels really good. It's visceral, and every action feels intentional. Please do not change this. Having to be 100% locked in against bosses just elevates the entire experience.

- The environment and ambiance are incredible. Every single zone is so unique and captures the vibe of the area so well. The music is amazing and elevates the immersion. The boss soundtracks in particular make it feel like Elden Ring levels of action. I loved every single boss, even the ones that were a bit too easy.


The Bad:

- The Ultimatum trial in act 3 feels insanely difficult compared to the Sanctum trial in act 2. Some of the trial mods, such as volatiles, the circles that expand and explode, and the lightning runes on the ground feel insanely overtuned. The bird boss that isn't Scourge of the Skies (can't remember the name, but the one with the attack where he flies up and crashes back down) feels way more dangerous than the other two bosses that I saw, being Scourge of the Skies and the Chimera.

- Maps sometimes feel way too big. I believe a large part of this is not having movement speed, because going through them again in cruel feels a lot quicker. You can feel it most when having to backtrack through a massive zone, though. There are so many corridors and passages in 30 different directions sometimes, and it feels like navigating a massive maze. I'm not sure what the solution would be to this. I don't know if some zones should be smaller, or the layout should just be less random to provide some sense of direction.

- Not enough info displayed when hovering over skills on your bar. I understand you can see the info by opening your skill menu, but it would be nice to be able to hover over them on your bar and get a brief summary like in PoE 1. Not sure if that's planned already, but just hovering over the skill and seeing the name feels very bare bones.

- Runes feel bountiful, but the items to socket your gear are the opposite. I basically had a stash full of runes the entire game, and no sockets to put them in. This makes it hard to patch up your resistances as you go through the game. The same goes for transmutes and augment orbs vs all of the other currency. I barely crafted any useable gear while leveling, due to being limited to just those two currencies. I mostly relied on the vendors, gambling, and floor loot.

- Quests being bugged is frustrating, but I assume they will be fixed soon.


That's all I can think of for now, but wanted to pass that along while I continue playing. This game has already been such an amazing experience, and I haven't even touched the endgame yet or tried another class.

EDIT:

More Bad:

-The map sometimes takes way too long to load when opening it, or vice versa closing the map to go back to the game. Not sure why that is.

I just got 1 shotted by the wolf boss when he was at 3% because I didn't roll fast enough... enjoy your souls game I'm off to find an ARPG.