I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to actually do progression stuff in the game up to the current level, but I'll have to hit you up on discord once it released on PS4. Any tips to what character I should play starting out.
Also, just out of curiosity how much of the game is based on skill vs how much is based on just gear.
That’s hard to say with how they changed up things so much. Also no idea what you would even enjoy.
You might be better off checking out the build section on the forms. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum
You are pretty much looking for anything that says league starter.
I’m really loving marauder but it was a slow and a struggle to level up. Now he’s like a crazy tank. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2211489
Gear and finding the right setup with skills is very important. If you lack resistance you are dead. If you lack enough life/ES you are dead.
Player skill more comes down to understand a boss mechanics and getting out there way of powerful attacks. Gear can carry you very far.
The player skill end of the game tends to focus more around speed running. How good you are at level up quickly without getting killed with whatever you find.
I had a guy give me a bunch of high-end gear for my "mage" on Diablo 3 and still did terribly. Granted it was the first time I played in 3 or 4 months, but couldn't get my spell rotation and timings down to save my life.
I then pvped a friend who was a "hunter" with half my gear and easily killed me off.
So wasn't sure if this was going to be the same way or not. WoW on the other hand is more what you described. You have a realtively easy spell rotation and as long as you don't mess up the basic mechanics of the boss fight, you just need the gear to be able to dps fast enough.
It all comes down to what you end up playing and if you are paying attention to what is going on.
If I end up getting 20 stacks of bleeding on myself i'm not going make it very far. So most carry a flask to remove bleeding just for that alone.
The build I linked to the toon i'm playing now is not very complex. I mostly clear trash with one skill called Molten Strike. If i'm dealing with a hard pack i'll use blood rage which is an instant cast for an extra boost. Once I get to a boss or something even harder i'll drop an Ancestral Protector totem and keeping up my Flasks till they run out of changes.
There are a lot of detail guides out there on different ways to play a class. The hardest part is finding the right passive skill tree points, what skills to put in your gear, and what gear to use itself.
There are some out there that only create build guides and they have been for almost as long as the game has been around. Theory crafting is there fun in this game.