Suggestion // Revitalize PVP, Update Accessibility

Hi.
I figure there is no risk in posting some thoughts here.

As a fan of PVP and a fan of Path of Exile,
it's disappointing to see the PVP community stagnated by item restrictions,
legacy equipment, and a lack of new blood as a result.
And while legacy equipment makes for an interesting and high
economy PVP environment, it cuts off new players entirely.

Accessible PVP is an area of untapped growth for POE.
And I think there are a couple of fairly reasonable changes
that could be implemented which could breathe new life into the PVP community.

First, creating a separate league intended purely for PVP interaction.
Incentivize play. Offer seasonal rewards, have them compete for standing.
A natural format for this is to offer rewards just for playing,
but invite the top grouping to an invitational tournament to be streamed.

Second, the League should allow players to roll a character of any type
at any of however many level intervals.
Do not necessitate that a player need to level on this League/server.
While 28 makes the most sense in terms of balancing and autonomy of builds,
offering 38 and 48 level brackets could cater to a broader range of players
without breaking things.
You could focus on whichever League has the highest concentration of players,
or most evidently balanced playing field.
The idea is to generate more attention, and create more spectatorship.
Players love the builds in POE, let them see more of them.

Third, offer a new hub area which where players can purchase with(or without)
restriction items pertinent to their level/division.
A level 28 character should be capable of purchasing from a vendor all uniques
of and below their level, as well as whites with maximized sockets and links.
Provide additional benches that will allow players to fully customize the white
gear they have purchased from vendors into plausibly rolled items.
By giving players the most optimized gear, you're negating the monetary aspect
that limits the current growth of PVP.

(However, if the design allows for it, challenging players to do more with less
could create more creative and dynamic builds. This could mean having players
create level 28's with X currency, and all vendors/benches require Y currency.)

Fourth, having given players full control over their builds, the gameplay will
need balancing. GGG's first foray into PVP surely had to be worth a lot of information.
Instances of one-shot trappers, perma-freeze flickerstrike builds, midrange arc'ers.
I think this reflects the game's D2 design roots, and is definitely fun in it's own right.
But in terms of spectatorship, this will not necessarily draw in new players and viewers
without higher risk/reward.
A key factor in designing a more dynamic play experience ought to focus on putting
damage within reasonable ranges, and a higher significance on proper flask usage.
It should be an exciting choice when a player has to make a metagame decision
like running a Ruby Flask over a Health Flask, to steal a round from some glass canon
fire-damage centric build.

Fifth, additional fixes that might be more difficult on the programming side.
Given the players field of vision covers far more at the top of the screen than the bottom,
there is a distinct advantage to being beneath your opponent.
Finding some sort of solution which keeps the field of vision equal in almost all regards
could be a huge quality of life improvement to PVP.
This might be something that needs to be done expressly with the shape of the maps,
or possibly handled like Bloodline Champions, where the map is rotated based on spawn points.

This is all I had in mind. Regardless of whether or not POE
develops into a more fullbodied competitive experience or not isn't of import to me.
I'll keep playing it for a month or two with every content update.
But I think there is an opportunity to grow here that is being passed on,
or otherwise kept quiet.
Good luck to GGG and keep producing an incredibly satisfying game!
Long live POE.

In reality legacy gear breaks the balance of lld more then any other form of pvping. High level you have way more tools plus no level cap to overcome gear deficiency. In lld 28-40 you're locked in and that alone means the ceiling is only so high and if other ppl have legacy crafted gear etc you're going to feel it more

In high level there's top gear but there's viable gear several tiers below it. Tools,builds and experience will take you further here. People just don't seem to see it yet or the thought of leveling into the 90's isnt appealing.