Yeah if you are new to the game it's probably best to follow a build (make sure it says BUDGET on there). Most people don't have the patience to start a character/build, realize it doesn't work as well later on and then start a new character.. most people just quit altogether.
Once you have chosen a build, just play through the game as it comes doing all the side quests. Look up videos on YouTube under the channel Engineering Eternity and have the PoE wiki up all the time on your browser. Whenever you run into a term, don't try to guess what it is just read it online.
Some new players tips:
*"More" is way better than "increased". "Less" is more significant than "reduced". This is why support gems are strong in this game because they give "more" damage. More is a multiplier. If something says "take increased/reduced damage" that is actually a multiplier too.
*The white items you should be picking up and vendoring early game are 3 socket linked with the colors red, green and blue as this item vendors into a chromatic orb. That and qualitY flasks and gems, more on that later.
*In fact, learn all the vendor recipes. As a rule of thumb, three of a kind upgrades to a higher one of the same thing. This is useful for life/mana flasks early on, later on this is useful for stuff like maps and sextants. Later on you want to start using the unided full set of rares above item lvl65 for 2 chaos (or ided for 1 chaos). Remember that pressing Alt shows the itemlevel of an item (don't known command on Xbox).
*Do all the side quests. This means Prophecies, Master quests Labyrinths, Pantheon etc. Some of these are annoying but later on it adds up especially master levels (masters max out at 8 though).
*You can carry all secondary weapon set that you can swap to. In this you should have white weapons with full sockets to level up extra gems in. Whatever main skill you are using for your build that's what you should be leveling up. Because when they turn 20, you can vendor them with a Gemcutter Prism to get lvl1 gem with 20 quality. Then you level up to 20 again which gives you a 20/20 gem which you can Vaal to get a 21 level gem. That's you level 6 of the same gems, more chances to succeed. If they don't succeed, selling a 20/20 gem is still worth money.
*When you increase quality of an item, using one currency on an item gives you 5% quality, 2% for blue and 1% for rare/unique. So if you are trying to increase quality of a utility flask, first make sure it's white, then use 4 Glassblower Bauble to get it to 20 quality then make it into a magic and craft it. This is especially used for maps later on, for now use it on flasks. Getting Armourer Scrap and Blacksmith stones are fairly common.
*There is a vendor late game that sells all the regular gems in that game. I believe 3 exceptions are Enlighten, Empower and Enhance. So don't pick up gems unless they are quality. Quality gems can be sold together adding upto 50% for a Gemcutter, same for Flasks and Glassblower.
*For any build, you can use a couple of auras to reserve your mana for some type of permanent boost, a curse (that synergizes with your build), a totem (decoy, spell, ancestral), a war cry, a movement skill, cast on damage taken set up and a couple of Vaal gems to support your build. This is very helpful early on until you start narrowing in on the focus of your build.
Example: I am using Physical Earthquake build. I can use Vulnerability curse to make opponent take more physical damage and bleed. I can use Enduring Cry to make Endurance charges. I can use Flame Golem for more damage. Leapslam for mobility that I can attach Fortify with. Ancestral Warchief Totem. Hatred and Herald of Ash or Artic Armor for auras. For Vaal gems I can use Vaal Lightning Trap to shock bosses for more damage and Vaal Ground Slam to stun enemies. I can also use Blood Rage if I have the space. Cast on damage taken, Immortal Call, Molten Shell.
*Don't spend currencies like Chaos Orbs early on try to craft low level items. Chaos orbs are used as the gold type of currency in the game. Far larger purchases we use Exalts which are worth like 30-40 chaos right now. If you find a Mirror then Uninstall the game because you beat the game.
*When trying to craft some item for personal use, make sure you aren't actually using it. You don't want to change colors/links on your item, then realize you don't have enough chromes/fusings and you are stuck with an item you can't use. You also don't want to be going for 5 and 6 link until you have the right end game weapon/chest.
*Colors are decided by the base item and the item's stat requirement. If an item requires like 150 Dex to equip then that means it is very likely to get green sockets. Higher the number, the more it leans towards that color. There is a Vorici calculator that figures out chance to chrome items that is very useful. This isn't a big factor for 4 sockets but for 6 sockets it's a big deal and it impacts your item choice. Ie. You don't want to run an Earthquake build using a Beast Fur Shawl chest because that item rolls blue sockets and for Earthquake you usually end up needing like 5 red sockets. It's still possible to get 5 red 1 blue but it's very expensive and not at all worth it.
*Learn about ailments. TLDR version is that we have 3 Elemental ailments and 2 other ailments, and the ailments are applied either by flat chance and/or applied through a crit. Physical damage has a chance to cause bleeding, Chaos damage has a chance to cause poison. 3 Elementals and their ailments are Lightning/Shock, Fire/Burning and Ice/Chill and Freeze. You want to have your flasks to at least counter act Bleeding and Freeze as they can kill you easily. You also want Curse immunity for later game if you can. Crafting flasks is easy just make your the flask level is high enough to be able to roll these affixes.
*Learn item Affixes for Rares. Learn prefixes and suffixes. This is kinda complicated but necessary especially for evaluating items. Generally speaking, life and energy values with offensive stats are prefixes and resistances/crit are suffixes. You can have 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes. Have POE Affixes opened up in your browser as well. It gets complicated for Jewels too.
*% Physical damage reduction, block (to attack and spell), dodge (attack and spell), Fortify, Endurance charges are important defense layers to your character that should not be neglected. Of course you should still have a high HP pool (life), capped elemental resistances at 75% and high secondary defenses (armor, evasion and/or energy shield). Chaos resistance is not a priority, don't fret if you have like -20% chaos resistance just be careful about bosses that can do chaos damage.
Probably a bunch of other stuff I am missing. In my experience trial by fire is the best way to learn. I can tell you that Freeze and Stuns are a problem but you won't know why until you die from it.
