I've been doing a lot of reading on builds. It can be overwhelming for sure. Knowing I can't completely respec makes me realize I have to be smart about my build. I know I can get refund respec books and such but I do not know if it is possible to really repec a character completely or not.
I am at this time trying to figure out a good build for my witch. I think I'm on the right path but I can see this taking a lot of time. Hopefully the game keeps me occupied and interested.
The game can definitely get overwhelming. I think what made it easier for me was to realize that my Ranger was screwed up beyond recovery, barring a complete reset, and I'd be best finding something else I enjoyed, and restarting the ranger.
I have seen several posts out "in the wild" of people recommending, just like pancakes, create a throw-away character first. Something to jump in, figure out what the game is like, and some of the basic mechanics of everything. Don't sweat your first toon. Pick a class you might enjoy, and go out and pound/slice/puncture/melt your way thru an Act or 3. Once you get the swing of things, start a new toon, and see what that one does. Around the third toon or so, you should know enough to avoid the major mishaps, and should have had tons of fun seeing the different ways you can destroy the mobs around you
. Then the real fun starts
.
As for "respec", the developers have made changes in the past which are so far-reaching that they've enable a full Skill Tree reset. You'll get a notice when you log in that this has occurred, and also if you go into the skill tree, it will pop up and warn you that allocating any points will remove your "free" respec. On an even more rare occasion, it will force you to respec if they've made such changes in the skill tree that your previous build doesn't exist any longer. I'm hoping for one of those for my ranger sometime this year, but I'm not counting on it. I just finished Act 10 this morning, and so my mage (witch) will be running maps from here forward. I'll pick up the level 15 Ranger sitting in my slots, and start "fresh" with her, see what she can do.
Good luck, and post in here if you need anything. The forums on PoE are very active, but like most game forums, they have their share of trolls and the like. Good Hunting, Exile!
edit: Something to note, especially on the witch and a few other classes, you may be headed one direction (say, Ice specific?), and suddenly pop up 1 or 2 items that are so powerful in another direction that it's impossible to ignore (like chaos or fire). For the first couple of times out, I doubt you'll be so far over-extended that you can't change directions, but, I always kept a few skill points in reserve at lower levels, since they come so quickly, just in case I want to head another way. Suddenly figuring out that you can load up a Skill Echo, and toss in frenzy charges for a machine-gun firing of Ice Pulse can be literally a game-changer for you. It sucks finding that "perfect gear" and realizing you won't have enough skill points to reach the beneficial stuff for 10 levels.
Also, something that a lot of characters (myself included) fall into early on, is ignoring health points on the skill tree in favor of "flash". It's fine to play around with your first few characters, but don't let that get in the way of knowing that when you get "serious", a lot of those flashy little nodes will be sacrificed for "4% increased maximum health" x20
edit 2:
Here's a pretty solid Witch beginner guide. He talks about a lot of things I'd ignore early on, like setting up your own "store" for selling things. However, once he gets to actually leveling the toon, it's solid. Check it out for nothing other than ideas if you get a sec
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1147951
