Hey all,

I'm formerly a diablo 3 player trying to change over to path of exile. I've been playing PoE for about 12 hours total over the last two days. I'm doing this because I feel tired of Diablo. It feels as if seasons are the same thing over and over, and that sense of progression that I once felt from the game simply isn't there anymore. I've tried this a couple of times before, but have been too intimidated by the game/ too much of a pansy to fully commit. I've finally gotten around to going all in and grinding through the learning curve. I plan on posting my progress through the coming weeks.

I have about 1200 hours in Diablo 3, and 500 ish hours in Titan Quest, (Anniversary Edition), and 150 hours in Van Helsing. I never played Diablo 2, (A gaming sin I know), I never had access to pc gaming until a few years ago. I've fallen in love with the top down isometric hack n slash ARPG genre though.

I'm level 30 about to enter the Ebony Barracks. (took forever to find out how to kill the undying blockage, mostly because I suck at video games.) I'm playing a marauder and am planning on eventually doing a righteous fire build for him. (I'm not sure if the build is popular, I just typed in popular marauder builds, it came up, and I watched a few videos on it and it looked fun.) I might start a second character at some point to try and make my own build have some more fun, and learn about the skill tree (forest) more in depth, but I'd like a relatively stable build for learning that is established.

A couple notes on what I've noticed about the game. From a new players perspective and a former D3 Player.

1. Enemies do not go down as easy. Sometimes feel like I do literally no damage. (might be because I suck)

2. THAT MAP OVERLAY OMG. Feel like I'm back in the 90's. I'm getting more used to it now, but as a newcomer, I feel that GGG could attract more players by making the UI, specifically the map, a little more eye appealing.

3. I have no idea how trading works lmao. I've tried reading some guides on this. I'm concerned about how to acquire gear in the end game for the maruader, (once I eventually get there), it feels like all the loot now is useless and that the only way to get better gear is to upgrade with currency. I'm a little lost in this department. Diablo There were clear cut legendary's you would look for depending on build but here it feels more grey. In PoE I feel as if I don't understand quite how gear works yet, or even what I should be looking for to use until I acquire (Insert build guide's gear here). Advice on that would be helpful.

4. The amount of content in this game is overwhelming. That's great. Like scary, but great. I'm slowly trying to learn a little bit at a time. I really like Ziggy D, from back when he did diablo, gonna watch his vids on PoE. (wondering if some of them are still relevant with how many patches have hit the game), if you have any recommendations for good community teachers, I would love them.

5. Art Style becomes much more appealing the more I play. As shallow as it sounds, it was hard for me to get into it, because i felt the game looked... muddy? Idk how to describe it. (I"m obviously a fake gamer because Real gamers play regardless of graphics.) Anyway, looking forward to see what the game looks like in act 4. Heard things get hard there. Like Dark Souls of isometric ARPG world hard. (challenge accepted)

Anyway, if you read this, first off thank you. I plan on posting here in about 4-5 days to talk more about my progress. Would be playing all weekend but St. Patty's Day is tomrrow and I have a whole amazing evening planned out with my best friend Jameson and his buddy Irish Car Bombs. Plan on back on the grind on Saturday night or Sunday. Thanks for any advice or links you provide. I'm excited to learn the game and see the future of it, and am hoping I'm not to late to finally start playing.