Ramblings from a casual player that doesn't fully know what they're getting themself into.

It's easy to get overwhelmed if you're looking at the ceiling off rip. I played PoE1 for years and never hit the hyper minmaxed endgame and am cool with that at this point; I just enjoy the league up through mapping and call it once I start getting burnt out. Bit of crafting for personal gear but nothing intricate. I started PoE2 this league and the optimized temple builds are a bit much for me so I'm cool not hitting that level. It's still easy to enjoy and self-pace and scratch the arpg itch.

Don't worry, at this rate you won't get to that end game until POE 3 releases :)

I also think it's weird and would rather play my own build, see how far I can go. I think SSF is the way to go

It's a game. You decide how you wanna play with it and create your own rules. We tend to forget that sometimes, with the flood of content we have at our disposal anytime.

Never really got into the super endgame stuff on 1, and decided to try out 2. But before that, I decided to try and really squeeze every drop out of 1. I've been doing homebrew builds (1 for each character) with my very weird self-imposed ruleset and been having way more fun than when I tried to follow builds and farming strategies or whatnot.

I've been only engaging with the aspects I want to engage and been able to get farther than I've ever have, so I recommend you do the same thing. Find your fun!

Fellow Destiny 2 exile here. I left for the same reasons except over 2 years ago. I saw the direction Bungie was taking the game and never found my “forever” game since, until POE 2.

This game is overwhelming for sure. 1000 hours in and I still find things I’ve never seen before. This game is basically a mega nerd’s spreadsheet disguised as a game and that’s exactly why we all love it. Hang in there and be true to yourself and you’ll have so much fun here. Stay sane, Exile.

Seeing endgame gameplay fries my brain. It gives me a feeling of disassociation between myself and the enemies in those clips. Like there's a feeling of disconnect seeing so many projectiles, or huge AOE attacks, or a hundred explosions.

It looks cool, but there comes a point where my brain stops connecting the dots and just checks out. It makes me worry I wont like the game if I get to that point.

You might and you might not. It becomes a different game at that point. Closer to Halls of Torment or Death Must Die.

You are very spot on with disassociation feeling. This is exactly how I feel in the temple or juiced abyss maps. You just can't focus on anything, look for the most threatening attacks (that probably killed you in the past and you won't always be able to see coming) and hope that your big numbers will carry you through the rest.

I wouldn't worry about your brainpower. Many things are difficult at start but become intuitive as you get familiar with them and you no longer really think much about them at some point.

If you started from zero PoE2 might've been a dangerous choice, but it's not like you are new to game systems with your experience with Destiny and Borderlands. Neither you are unfamiliar with a flashy clusterfuck fights, that also happen in those games. 

Playing the game at release ≠ playing since then. You said you’ve never cleared the campaign, so I’m inclined to believe you’ve simply booted it up a few times, got stuck or something, then back to other games? No hate, just trying to understand just how much you’ve played/learned about the game.

The things you’re seeing about endgame are most likely minmaxed builds with tremendous effort out into them. You don’t just finish the campaign and have access to that kind of power. You will still be weak for a decent while afterwards, slowly gaining power as you gain knowledge and items.

Trust me, you will not have access to the things you mentioned in your post. You have to learn the build craft first and foremost (hideout warriors don’t bother, op already said they want to actually play the game). You will be alone for 100% of your gameplay unless you find friends and ask them to play with you.

SSF will make it significantly harder. Not only do you need to understand build craft there, you are forced to learn crafting as well, which is just as complicated and even more time consuming than build craft.

there’s a gradient here. the uber endgame stuff i haven’t been able to build into and figure out, but man it sure is fun to do my lil maps with my headhunter belt and homebrew crap gear and tree. keep pushing, OP.

If you are referring to CoC Comet Ele weakness build, I hate that too and do not want that to be the future of Poe2. I prefer a more modest endgame similar to how Quarterstaffs or Spears play, where there is at least some visual clarity and “class style”

about that endgame point, i think it kinda makes sense and is overall easier to understand if you see your build improving slowly and on your own screen instead of just seeing the end result of all shit exploding

SSF is going be alot harder for someone who cant make builds on regular league. SSF is all self found, versus regular league you can trade and buy from other players so it makes it easier to make builds. Need a weapon with certain stats or a unique to get the build going? Easily done in regular, but in ssf you either craft it, find it, or you cant make the build work. You also need alot of currency to craft, and learning to craft probably takes just as much time or more than learning to make a build viable.

And most endgame builds you see videos on that clear maps in seconds are usually fully min/max 500hrs in league builds.. most do just fine doing all content. My best build this league was slower but did all content, most maps done in 10min or so (thorns).

Step by step, league by league, it does get easier