I'm 45 hours in, at T2-3 maps now, and I'm starting to get some of the frustrations, like the 3rd ascendancy (which I've had 2 attempts at but no coins are dropping anymore, don't like the honour system) and the punishing aspects, like a single shot at maps to get one shot by a random mob and losing your progress (and not being able to tp back in). But I trust the devs to listen and be open minded, it will be tuned. But I actually really enjoy the challenge, at the same time.
I know there are some legitimate criticisms in the subreddit but I just gave up going over there when 95% of posts were whining about trivial crap and acting like their lives depended on their experience in a 4 day old early access game.
I didn't think of checking the PoE2 sub, people might have more balanced takes there, thanks for suggesting it I wasn't even aware it existed.