Faulty expectations

I was introduced to POE in 2017 and I play 2-3 hours a day, a far cry from some POE legends, but there is a life out there and I come here for my leisure, yet I have almost 10k hours in the game.
A lot has been said, a lot has been published, expectations have been rising...
While it has certainly surpassed the quality of the graphics, there have been few, if any, innovations.
- The freedom to choose and use gems was limited (e.g. you can only use one gem in the entire build).
- Trying to get 6 links was frankly a struggle, but it gave you a rush of joy when you finally succeeded. Same with sockets.
- Ascendency / LAB There was so much talk about removing LAB because it was difficult, but this new ascendency has given new meaning to the word difficult (after the fixes it's better).
- CRAFT was good, but it's over. A small taste of what it was remains...
- Maps here I don't know what to say, we have 5 types of maps. When you die, all the portals go (I don't agree, but I can accept that), but what I can't accept is losing the characteristics of the map, either what is given by the towers, or even by default. Are we being punished? What's more... I never expected the same to work for cities (because finding them isn't like making a map and then failing once and that's it).

Chris Wilson should have continued in development, but higher forces rose up...
POE1 I hope the desire to close it down doesn't come true.
I know that some will say that it's a Beta, which it may be, but the development wasn't focused on gameplay or the joy of playing a game.
I don't want to be right about everything, and I'm sure I'm not, but the number of players who have stopped playing POE2 should at least merit the attention of those who currently have the authority to make decisions.

I hope for better days for POE2

Its reassuring to read some constructive, 'non-two year old whining' post. You can rest assured that this is going to be the worst version of POE2 we will ever have. People seem to forget that the game is in early access and far from fully complete. The end game we have currently is also the product of GGG slapping something together in a two month time frame. The skeleton of the game is phenomenal. Now we just need to exercise patience and constructive feedback while they develop the rest of the body. Cheers mate!