Always feels like I'm going backwards...

I've sunk over 1k hours into POE2 at this point. I tend to always play dex based chars and in the one run through the campaign in POE I had a templar but didn't play end game at all.

Coming to POE2 took me a bit of convincing and eventually I did and was hooked on all the new crap to learn and how to figure out this game and I had a good time in 0.1.0

Sadly that has not carried over into 0.2.0 I decided to try a gas arrow ranger (again) in DotH thinking "Ok cool, everything else was toned down maybe this will be viable" but once again I was wrong. In 0.1.0 Gemlings made a better monk than a monk. Ok, hell they were a better everything than any other class. Now Amazon makes a better Ranger than Rangers, Rangers make a better Amazon than Amazons do but why the focus on lightning. Looking at the Ranger passive tree there are a few nodes near the Harness the Elements notable but Exposed to the Inferno is 12 nodes away while Snow Piercer and Surging Currents are right next door? This is just lame.

Also what's up with tornado shot? Lightning rod I can throw out 3 projectiles and I get 3 lightning rods where I placed them. Tornado shot though I get one of the 3 and it picks a random one which is stupid. If I only get 1 tornado off of it then make it the one in the middle not one of the side projectiles so the tornado gets placed right up against a wall.

Seems that no matter what you're planning on doing in the end you're going to have to abandon your class ideals and stack Energy Shield.

But you know what really sucks in an ARPG? Standing around waiting. Waiting for on death effects to dissipate before I can keep moving down the hallway. Waiting for spells from the mob I just killed to stop chasing me for 8 seconds before I can proceed. Those giant dudes with the pillars smacking me from off screen while they're guarding a choke point WTF? Getting through a map to die, lose XP and hours worth of time? Again not fun. Sure I can buy Omens of Ameloriation but that gets irritating when there is general inflation of 10-20% per week and I'm not finding enough currency to even keep up let alone be able to purchase or craft gear upgrades.

I'm pretty much avoiding the new (and old) encounters. Sure I could get good and buy top tier gear and follow a meta but damn they're all basically death traps. Chasing a wisp through a ton of trash, probably gonna die. Rat tornados on a ritual? Good chance things won't go my way. Expeditions? Is there even a reason?

I'm ok with the changes to pinnacle bosses not giving xp or removing it on death. But you know what? I still wait until I level up before I bother with Sek or Chaos since I'm not playing a one shot meta build and deaths are a little less annoying after wasting your time for no reward.

Corrupted Nexus are a hinderance not a benefit. The people I know who have progressed basically just bought the Grand Project tablets and hopped their way to the nexus nodes. How is this engaging game play when the goal isn't to buff nodes with towers and then clear them out but to just skip over all the content there just to get your atlas points and ignore everything else? Not following this mindset has put me at level 90 with a whopping 10 atlas points (4 from unique maps). Sure I said screw it and chased down a few nexus nodes so I'm all the way up to 16 points now at level 91!

Anyway thats most of the rant on my mind currently. Some will agree, some will tell me to get good.

Stay safe Exiles!