Why is the PoE fanbase so toxic?

This honestly hasn't been my general experience, at least with PoE1 (haven't engaged much with PoE2 chat). Usually when I see a question being asked, it seems like a race is on to give (or elaborate on) the most comprehensive answer to it. People usually love talking about the game's often confusing and overwhelming mechanics to anyone who asks.

And at the end of leagues, people will often take all the stuff they've collected into standard league and do big giveaways (trivia contests, random draws, first come first served, etc.) for the people who play in Standard.

That said, there's been an air of frustration and disappointment surrounding the PoE2 launch, which a lot of people are less than pleased with (for some good reasons, IMO), and other people who don't see the problems with PoE2 take offense at that. So you might be getting some collateral damage from that.

Because some people just have that elitist mindset and attitude.

Honestly as long as you avoid global chat, reddit, yt, steam forums and most of this forum it's fine. The ppl I met via trade or some group stuff were chill.

The toxicity is everywhere these days just avoid social media

I think toxicity gets thrown around too much. Its just like "troll" now. Used to be Troll was someone who wasn't at all serious and was just trying to get under peoples skin. Now it means "anyone who disagrees with me or says anything I don't like". Toxicity likewise instead of meaning someone behaving in a way that harms society or people specifically now means "people arguing or saying things I disagree with in any way thats not completely civil".

You can be blunt and not toxic, you can be confrontational and not a troll.

Tbh I think lots of people these days are far far too sensitive for their own well being and peace of mind. You have to have some mental calluses in life and on the internet you might want to double them up because 99% of what you read is going to come from anonymous human beings, and humans don't do very well when they're free of consequences.

Assigning motives or traits like toxicity to someone who's disagreeing or arguing about a subject is a sure sign of this.

PoE fanbase is not any more toxic than any other online game's fanbase.