Honest 700+ hr HC review

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read. My goal is to isolate a few key areas that genuinely cause a loss of interest for me as I progress

Initially, at every level all player movements speed is painful. The game plays so slow and it's hard to get into a flowstate especially early in the game. There is a player bias against the fast mobs but ultimately slowing the game down is the wrong move. It's already unbelievably slow and now everything happens even slower. Boosting player movements and sense of agency over the movement would allow meaningful positioning and control and would be so much better than the current state. I simply can't play warrior with any enjoyment. I've tried several times and end up abandoning the character entirely due to how miserably slow the play is.

Drop rates, loot, crafting - there is a fine balance to be struck here and I understand the intent but with no meaningful way to make gear, you are chained to trading with players and the game becomes centered around currency farming to buy gear. The use case of currency is a net waste in the games current state. It's better in most cases to buy an upgrade than to roll the casino style gear system. What this does is makes the progression about success in trade. That's not inherently fun. Especially at end game for top end items. Without a meaningful way to have agency over your characters gear you are chained to a luck basis. While a certain amount of luck is great, it is dominant in how this game works and that isn't a good way to keep players. In the past, I've played through almost all of act 1 and got 1 exalted orb. Other play throughs I've gotten 20+.

I've made it to maps with several HC characters, ultimately the hardest part of the game is act 1. I actually dread act 1. It's a barrier to enjoying the game which really starts after act 2.

Level design - Most act maps are designed as mazes and reward you with dead ends and run time illuminating how painfully slow characters move. Again this breaks flowstate play which is critical for enjoyment.

Meta builds and creativity- I am an extreme contrarian - I love to pick off meta skills and ideas and try to make them come to life. That gives me the most enjoyment in arpgs. I accept most ideas will be lacking because they are nonmeta but what this game has in massive skill tree it lacks in skills and balance. I genuinely feel like about half of all abilities need a meaningful place in the game. The scope of play is limited because of this and when considering how slow the play is, how difficult this game can be, you are isolated to very few choices. Especially in HC.

POE has always been my favorite game. I genuinely want this game to thrive. My review isn't from a position of anger but one of concern for the game and it's future.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Happy to discuss further.