Bosses are frustrating

Here is the problem. If you have a less than optimized setup, every boss is hard. I am still in act 1 and I get stuck at every single boss. I am way over-levelled and still cant seem to get past the bosses until about 12 deaths.

Skill issue...maybe. Fun it is not.

Bosses aren't hard, they just have cheesey gimmicky abilities and phases.

There is so much room for improvement with them.

Honestly, I am far from a skilled game and it just takes a little bit to know their mechanics.

Due to the game having just been released and not having any guides, I was really forced to trial-and-error on my own. I follow your logic that this lack of optimized setup makes bosses harder and requires one to be overleveled. But it's also very rewarding to learn the intricacies of each boss fight organically and also reconfigure my skills, items, and passive tree organically.

My only complaint is that the passive tree part is difficult because it spends my Gold. Perhaps refunding passives could have been cheaper for the sake of all players.

Also, I have the advantage of having played PoE. So I knew to look out for things as fixing my resistances for some bosses. I can see how a player who hasn't played the first PoE would be super frustrated as they might understand the mechanics of the boss fight but not be able to survive due to gearing problems.

Finally, there are players out there who find fun in the difficulty. To each their own.

My number 1 tip for you: find increased movement speed. Best way to do so, is to check back with the blacksmith often, to buy boots with this stat. Will make a world of difference. You will be able to avoid abilities so much more easily.

Also, if dying to same boss a lot, do an attempt where you just study his moves.