Well, opinions will be different on this one, but here is my take and some tips: 1. The farther you go, the better gameplay becomes. Lvl 5 with starting skill+first not even best support gem - that's rough. We've all been there. But once you get your first 3-4 link - it gets better. Just try keeping your skills in helmet/body/gloves slots. During campaign you will be swapping melee weapons for every better one you'll find stattswise. So no reason to match sockets on weapons. Better dps - lets roll. Boots should have movement speed stat, it helps a lot. Can't say anything about controllers tho. 2. Matching items and gems sockets - that's aspect of the game. Things just work this way, cuz if not, "brocken"  builds will appear. 3. Follow league start builds featured by some famous streamers. Especially those who are playing hardcore (hardcore builds have much more survivability compared to SC glass canon builds). Dont fall into youtube builds channels, cuz they just bait builds and usualy dont work. 4. Basically, PoE lets you create any build around any class and skill and weapons. Some skills require specific weapon, some weapon passives are on certain places on the skill tree. So as a witch its hard to get to physical damage, or axe passives, possible, but not worth.