What it would take for GGG to get this POE1 player back?

POE2 is already a sequel. It should relate to that sequel. Otherwise a lot of POE1 players will quit and they will be left with only you driveby ADHD type gamers that dont buy any MTX.

Clarified point 13 as there was confusion in what I was suggesting.

POE1 players were lied to repeatedly and the latest was that they would continue to support POE1. That isn't happening. They had admitted this. Do try to keep up with the news.

After spending a couple of weeks playing other things, I am irrevocably drawn back to one truth. Namely that POE1 is the Best ARPG ever made, including POE2. Last Epoch has a cool skill system that is better than gems in a lot of ways but I find myself missing the old system. It was cool to drop that 4 link and so on. But it was just annoying to drop the 5. Diablo IV does story telling really well but their open world feels too disorganized and unconnected. Its too easy to get lost being in completionism and then trivialize the campaign.

What confuses me is why POE2 doesnt continue what is great.

What stands out as obvious to me is all the bad decisions made along the way. Obviously, the person at the helm of PoE1 is not making the decisions for PoE2. And whomever it is(is it really Jonathan?), if they really love the game and want it to succeed, needs to step aside and let someone with a better head for it make the decisions. Right now they just seem like they step the wrong way every single time.

1. Nerf the screen clearing power builds that dominates the endgame. The builds should feel powerful at VERY late game but not ridiculous.
Agree

2. Nerf the enemies in endgame because currently if you don’t have a zoom build you just die ... a lot.
Partially agree, enemies swarm too much making it boring. However, if you build huge defences you can deal with it also.

3. Restore the notion of being able to use all of your portals in a map. If you die, it costs you a portal. If people want to play one death per map that could be a league setting.
One portal per map feels ok to me, although the punishments can be very bad.

4. Bring back deterministic crafting. The POE2 crafting system is a slot machine. Integrate the POE1 crafting into POE2. I would like to see harvest back in the game and the crafting bench come back. One affix per item being deterministic shouldn’t be too much to ask.
I agree with more deterministic crafting, but new systems instead of harvest.

5. Change the endless map to be like delve. There should be a direction to go, maps should be stronger the further you get from the initial point rather than waystones.
The Atlas needs a lot of work. I don't think delve is the solution.

6. Ditch waystones and restore scarabs to the endgame and let players craft on scarabs.
I'm not sure what this would do.

7. Restore Harvest to the endgame.
I'd prefer new systems, but its ok.

8. Shrink all map zones by 50% minimum and re-evaluate all of the layouts with a mind to NOT NEEDING checkpoints anymore.
Agree, layouts need work.

9. Restore map bosses to all maps. They don’t all have to be pinnacle bosses.
Agree

10. Change the least played skills to make them viable. Currently only 4 or 5 skills per class are usable.
The game needs shit ton of balancing.

11. Restore popular POE1 skills like Righteous fire and molten strike.
Let them cook with new skills (or old ones, both is fine).

12. Put in damage caps for DPS on bosses so they canty be one shotted by silly OP builds.
The game needs shit ton of balancing.

13. Change the gem cutting system. You should be able to buy an uncut gem from a vendor that can be cut with level restrictions. Stop dropping them and allow them to level with experience.
Not that important

14. Fix the gem support system to not allow 50 6 links. For example, tie the number of supports to the SLOTS rather than gems and give the first 2 slots 6 supports and the rest 4 supports based on level by endgame.
Not that important

15. Allow me to use a support gem in multiple skills.
When more supports are added the limit of 1 is cool.

16. Fix the passive tree so that you don’t have to burn as many points to reach other parts of the tree. Right now its psycho to go around the tree and do nonstandard stuff.
Fully agree with this.

17. Add nodes to the passive tree to make life builds viable.
The game needs shit ton of balancing.

18. RESTORE THE POE1 ATLAS TREE. If I want to do Delirium every map I should be able to do so. This means dump towers and restore the tree. If you want to keep towers, fine but they should only reveal nodes to find cities, pinnacle bosses and so on. DELVE IS A MASTERPIECE. If you merged delve and the atlas the engame would be a work of art.
The Atlas needs a lot of work. I don't think delve is the solution.