I need some help here. I tried this many moons ago but never got into it at the time. I recently decided to go through my Steam library and play a few old games I haven't played for a while, and since being tempted by the recent Diablo III price drop I thought I would give PoE a go due to the similarity of the games.

However, I am finding myself very drawn to PoE. The game is very well made and presents a bit of a challenge whilst offering an ridiculous amount of choices in skills/talents etc. But this is where I am struggling.

I like the choice, but I think there is too much for a beginner. I have tried to read a lot of threads, websites and wikis which offer assistance, but I would just like to jump into the game and get to know it whilst not immediately thinking about exact talents until I know more what I would like to do, which will only come to me after playing for a while.

I have seen several people talking about "cookie cutter" builds, like pure 2 handed warrior doing physical damage to necromancer style characters who raise an army of undeads to do their fighting for them. All of them seem viable (from what I can tell, being a beginner at the game) but none of them offer an in depth guide on what gems to pick and use, where to buy upgrades, they just seem to say use this talent tree and find stuff with +<insert attribute here>.

Does anyone know of some really good newbie friendly guides, preferably written so I can read them on my lunch break or whilst travelling?

Alternatively, do you know of a good character to create to start the game and get in to it, if you play it a lot? Also, any information that you think would help a newbie would be great!