These are just observations.
The skill trees are the stars of Last epcoh for sure, & generally they are good, maybe too good(more on that later), & you can have skills interactions, which are nice than one skill wonders typical of ARPG. But I guess it depends on builds
If I am to critic, I will say there are many nodes (passive & active) seems to do very similar things. Playing as a beastmaster, there are many nodes that basically Minions do more damage/more defense, with very slight difference. They could hvae been grouped togather without losing much depth. But you can say this about PoE. MAny nodes are just same thing, why not let me pump 20 points to one instead of go all over the tree? Its more about a feel thing. Pump 20 points into one stats does feel as good in pumping at different nodes, even when they do pretty much same thing.
I said this before, I feel many of the cool stuff can be instead put on gears. Gears is pretty boring & just pretty much mostly stat stick. Very little excitment in gears.
ARPG char cusumisatiom is 2 parts, partly gear, partly skill tree. Gears is RNG, tree is consistent. The negative about gears is RNG, it sucks when you cannot get the stats & gerars you want., The pro of skill tree is consistency, you always can get the path you want. But it is also less exciting because its predicable.
If I am to design a system, I will make 65 or so cusmoisation on tree, & 35 on gears, so getting that gear can can enhance a skill feel good, but you care not handicp with them.
Now to the layout. They are disportional amount of “cave” maps, that are narrow and many dead ends and path result in many backtracking. One of the main complain about D4 beta is backtracking in dungean. I am guessing it will not be an issue in end game echoes, & the ship already sail in campiagn. But its a small critic.
Combat is standard arpg fare, similar to games like PoE or grim dawn. Passible. New arpg like lost ark (if you considered arpg) and D4 have more action game like combat & feels better. But I know this is subjective & I got the arpg is not about the combat argument. My take is, why not both. In any case, I think that ship has alraedy sail, and as an indie, I think EH does a decent job on combat.
One last thing I notice, & I think theis can be fix, is often lack of feedback when activating skills. Often have me wonder, did the skill activated? Example is raptor rampage. No visual or sound feedback when activate.
Last point is about story. I know the “arpg isn’t about the story” arguments. SOme narrated hand drawn slidershow will help to narate story better, similar to the intro clip for each character at start.
Visual is a mix bag. Some area looks pretty nice, some well very date. I am guessing many visual update will be made. BUt its an observation. It looked always better when I returned, which is good.
I think its overall enjoyable experience, at least the leveling & crafting your build. Maybe I will finally dive into end game if time permitted.
Last thing is very debatable. I think the game should be out once the last subclass is done. The longer the game is in oven, the worse the visuals will age, & more competitions will rise.