30h in, here's actionable feedback of a first-time PoE player

First of all, I do enjoy the game! Quite a lot, actually. Below, I will share some of my thoughts on the game as a huge fan of ARPG but a first-time PoE fan. Hope this helps.

  1. Player revival doesn't fit the pace of the gameplay. You cannot survive a 10s animation without getting hit. Consider allowing taking damage while reviving, making me pay with my flasks for a choice of reviving my party member.
  2. Map layout is way too repetitive. I'm just about done with act 2, and all the maps prior to this point were an identical and excessively intersecting web of corridors. I've played a lot of ARPGs, but, somehow, I don't enjoy area maps in PoE2 due to the lack of diversity. Consider mixing different "shapes" of map layouts. Certainly keep the current one, it is engaging for the first couple of times, just add different layouts to prevent map fatigue.
  3. It's virtually impossible to tell how any changes affect the build. With the plethora of interconnected mechanics in PoE2, it's extremely easy to un-equip an item and see spells disappear, buffs go inactive, and the build rendered useless. I try my best to keep track of all the things, but even then I find myself in situations when seemingly harmless change affects dozens of things about my build. Consider informing the player that certain things, like spells or other equipment, will be rendered obsolete if you un-equip a certain item. An item is just an example, as many things influence the build.
  4. Please give a keybind to open the Gemcutting window. There's no reason not to allow me to see what spells I have and what spells I may have until I get an uncut skill gem drop.
  5. This one is subjective, but I'd love if the Passive skills tree retained the focus on the last node I acquired instead of jumping to the start of the tree each time.
  6. When I (PC) invite another player (PlayStation) to a party, their portrait never appears on the left after they accept the invite. I need to ask them to invite me to a party again (which is odd that's even allowed, given the rest of the UI thinks I'm in a party already) to fix this. Just a bug.
  7. When allocating a Support Gem, consider showing *all* gems that would fit the selected skill's keywords. I appreciate the recommended gems, but it's frustrating to manually check other gems for matching keywords for a more custom build. And yes, I know I can search for keywords. That doesn't make it a good UX either way. While we're at it, it would be great to indicate the gems that I wouldn't be able to equip since I already have a gem from that category equipped (still allow me to cut it, just let me know that I won't be able to use it from get go).
  8. The spirit calculation is often broken. From showing full spirit gauge while I have it spent on active buffs, to showing that I lack spirit to enable a buff when, in reality, I in fact lack a *stat* because adding a support gem to that buff skill bumped its stat requirements.
  9. It took me 30h to finally figure out how skills, support gems, and spirit/stat requirements work together. And I'm still not certain I understand it completely. I like the challenge, but in a contrast, I'm playing with a friend who's a casual player, and they are confused most of the times about why some stuff cannot be equipped, or leveled up. This is purely a UI issue that can be solved.
  10. Now, I will say something extremely controversial. Given how objectively complicated (and awesome) the skill gem mechanics is, please consider giving a new player a (1) skill gem and (2) a support gem during the first minutes of gameplay and hand-holding them through the UI what goes where and how things affect each other. Hardcore players can just click through this, but this tiny guided experience will drastically improve the quality of experience for new players, helping them make better decisions in the first dozens of hours playing PoE2.

Okay, let's cut it at Feedback Gem Level 10 for now.