IS POE2 GOING TO BE LIKE DIABLO...IF SO YIKES

SO iv seen alot of stuff that has been posted about PoE2 reasontly and even more so about the Druid and the bear.... and how the Bear can Cast Lightning to shock ....erm... do this mean that "skills/Attacks" are locked into Certain characters?

example in PoE1 if you want to try Explosive Arrow on Elementalist or EA on Duelist Gad you could, might not be as good but you just slotted the Skill gem in and then away you go.

Now i know not every single character in PoE1 is able to successfully work with certain gems to the point of having a viable build but the option to pick up and play is there, However the more and more i see things the more it looks like stuff/Skills are locked within characters, and you kinda build upon them like in Diablo.

I really hope this isnt the case and im missing some vital information, but it just the more and more i see things the more it looks like there going the simiular route to D4 and imo, for my liking of this Game gene, D4 is not my cuppa tea i dont like the style of a character holding certain "attributes" and there for Skills are only locked for that 1 character.

And im kinda getting the feeling PoE2 is going that route and that kinda puts me off it but like i said i might have the wrong end of the info so if its not and someone genrally knows please feel free to let me know or drop me a link for some better info on the whole thing

No, skills aren’t locked to characters. They’re grouped by character/attribute in the interface (when choosing to make one from an uncut gem), and they’re being demonstrated that way to build a bit of class identity I guess, but GGG have said that any skill is still usable by any character.

ascendancies will have exclusive skills on its tree as for as we know

Segregating poe2 from poe1 will be like how D3 is to D2. The beginning of the end.

Not sure which Druid you watched but it was specifically called out that any class can use any gem and bears are gems.

The only class exclusive skills will be ascendancy skills like we already have in poe1.

When I watch those videos PoE 2 looks more like sequel to Diablo 4 than to PoE.

Ok, so you know how you go through the campaign in POE1 and you can get a limited number of skill gems until you get to act 3 with siosa and then later you get lilly roth in your hideout?

I doubt they're going to change the pacing on that too much. You want a bit of the experience on rails but you also want train stops so people can get off the rails and go explore and then you also want things for them to be able to expore.

All skills are gems, just like in POE 1. Classes have ascendancies just like in Poe 1. And just like in PoE 1 certain skills work better with certain ascendencies, but in the end you can mix and match.

For promotional purposes, showing off certain classes with certain skills is done in a way to fit a theme. So, Druid is the obvious choice to show off shapeshifting and nature magic. And I'm sure that the Druid ascendencies will work better with those skills than others; but you will be able to use the same skills on other classes if you wish (just like you could try a summoning Slayer in PoE 1; if you're insane enough).

I don't like the the idea of spreading thin and running both. It is most likely going to split the population, and I feel poe2 just being a fresh continuation would be better.

However maybe they can manage it properly, though you would need to put POE1 basically just on maintenance mode if you want to work hard on POE2 updates with your resources.

It is just the theme the skill belongs too, like how quest reward skills are als based on class theme in POE1. But this doesn't mean those other classes can't use those skills.

Like how many necros use the templar themed skill absolution and many guardians use the necro themed summon skeleton skill.