Feedback after 80h - Long post. Pros and cons listed.

SSF Merc. Witch Hunter. Self made, simple 2-click granade build. No build guide used.

80+ hours of game time. Currently clearing tier 4/5 of atlas maps.

Quick background - Played PoE1 since 2013. Favorite aRPG - Grim Dawn.

Pros:

WSAD - God tier movement.

Boss fights - One of the best bossfights, not only in loot based aRPGs

Campaign - I'm in minority of players that like replaying campaigns in aRPGs. For me campaign was fun, enjoyable, exploration was great and pacing was good. I don't mind at all replaying it each league.
Also - Replaying 3 acts on cruel went WAAAY faster than playing those 3 acts at the begining. So I'm 100% sure that in time we'll be beating the campaign in the same time as in PoE1.

Slower pace - Feels good and unlike 90% of other aRPGs

Skill tree - Better and more clear than PoE1. Bunch of interesting ways to build up your character

Moment-to-moment gameplay - Fantastic, punchy, juicy. Feels good to play the game

Flask - It feels SOOO good not to have flask piano. I welcome the charms as substitute.

Socketing - Probably one of the biggest changes since PoE1. IMO much improvement. Finally I'm exited about good drop right away without having to worry about re-socketing the damn thing

Level design - Again. Im in minority of players that like dungeon crawling in... well... dungeon crawlers. So I welcome bigger, more detailed labyrinthian maps/levels.

QoL - Unlike PoE1, PoE2 has bunch of nice QoL features. Little videos explaining skills, suggestions, highlighted words with explanations etc. Good stuff.

Graphics/Artstlyle/Sound/Music - 11/10. Gorgeous. GORGEOUS art overall.

Cons:

Crafting - I miss more deterministic crafting system. I don't mind loosing bench. But I do mind loosing ability to plan out my crafing more than just rely on RNG and slapping currency onto an item

Fast travel - I do like maze-like levels. But I still with for fast travel between checkpoints. (Thankfully it's already confirmed by GGG to be added in patch)

On death effect - Not fun because there's little we can do about it. Like how am I supposed to counter that? Especially frustrating way to die. Even worse when you combine it with next point, which is...

You die - You loose map - Right now there are too many unpredictable things to make it fair. I think Each endgame map should have checkpoint (like the ones in campaign) with counter above. Let's say 3. So if you die, mobs respawn but at least you have 2 more tries.

Ascendancy trials - Yes. They suck. Labrinth in PoE1 was bad. This is even worse. Sanctum is IMO the worst offender because how build specific it always was.

Dead ends on maps/levels - Again. Love big maps. But right now there are a lot of dead ends. Either improve procedural generation or make sure that each dead-end has smth cool like pack of unique monsters or smth.

Resistances - Right now it's really difficult to cap your defenses. It woudn't be that bad if it wasn't for poor crafting and mana issues as well. Mana I do get - It a resource that finally matters. But without proper crafting there's not a lot you can do to cover both mana issues AND make sure you have resistances at acceptable level.

READABILITY ON MAP!!! - Hey, you see this sepia-colored map? How about we put tiny icons in... sepia color on them. And then make everything else in the same shade of color as well?
Seriously... Map UI needs some rework. Simple things like green "check" sign when you complete the side objective and bigger icons would already be an improvement.

Big balance patches DURING EA should come with free respec - I DON'T like free respec in full games but in early access I think it should be mandatory to give players free full respec after each balance patch.

Meh:

Runes - I don't like them. I don't hate them. They just "are". I do see big potential tho with more interesting runes added in the future. (Just PLEASE NO RUNEWORDS!!!! They sucked in D2 and they would suck in any other game!!!)

Coop - Just like in PoE1. I don't really care about MP. I'm glad it's here for people. I just hope all content will always be 100% soloable (unlike that other aRPG;>)

Glitches/nerfs/bugs/etc - It's early access. I knew what I signed up for and I fully expect things to break, not work, get nerfed etc. I don't mind at all. It is what it is.

TL;DR - GGG, your game is fantastic. It's already addicting as hell and I can't wait for the future. I hope you'll stick to your vision becasue it works great!
I just hope that more customization when it comes to building character (crafting please!!) will come back in bigger form! Also additional QoL readability would be a godsend!
Love the game. It's pretty much 1:1 what I wanted!