Can't experiment with builds or effectively respec when needed, costs are just too high.

DISCLAIMER: I love this game. I like the general direction. This is NOT a complaint post. I'm here to explain a reality many players are bumping against that SEVERLY impairs our enjoyment of the game.

You can't really expect people to experiment with different builds if the respec costs can make it so you literally paint yourself into a corner and can't effectively farm enough resources or gold to buy back the points you spent within a reasonable amount of time.

Diablo 4 tried this and they had to SEVERELY cut back on respec costs in order to allow for efficient build testing and respec. Just an example; I don't expect or want PoE2 to be a Diablo clone, FAR FROM IT.

I love the game. I love the dedication of the team. I love the paced and careful approach to changes they're making, but I find myself in a situation where I STILL haven't reached endgame because I just don't have the time I would need to dedicate to this game to make my build viable.

And before anyone starts trolling and complaining about "players not willing to farm more", please realize some of us (like myself) are parents, we work, we have responsibilities, and we don't have 3, 4, 5 hours to dedicate to farming gear and gold just to respec a character. I had to take a break from this game for more than a month because I was making NO progress and the loot and gold just wasn't enough not matter how many hours I put into it.

A bit wordy, but please understand. I don't believe you should have to spend hours and hours of repetitive, mindless farming or start a whole new character from scratch just to redo a build or experiment with a new one. Even with its complexity, I LOVE the passive tree that was designed for PoE2. I just can't really interact with it creatively and expect to make any kind of progress.

In fact, I'm still struggling to get to endgame. Stuck in Cruelty Act 2 because I don't get viable gear and, you guessed it, can't fine tune my build without farming for 3+ hours. I just encountered a mini boss I can't kill because I don't do enough damage to it... AFTER FIGHTING IT FOR NEARLY AN HOUR.

Please reconsider respec costs. They're WAY TOO HIGH. I would prefer they didn't cost anything at all. There's not incentive to that other than forcing players to do repetitive, mindless farming. That's not engaging OR fun; particularly when you're still trying to finish your second playthrough to get to endgame.

I'm still struggling. Not because I think it's too difficult, but because I can't polish my build and I just don't have enough hours to dedicate to the farming and respec.

Thank you for taking the time to read my TED Talk, LOL.