First citadel since 0.2, dying to one shots and losing it sums up this games horrible design

I'm sick of being punished for literally just playing the game and trying to progress naturally. Citadels taking so long to find only to be bricked if you die too many times genuinely makes no sense to me. I have 600 hours, several 90+ characters, and have only found a few citadels in 0.2. Zero citadels until this patch, where I finally somehow discovered one and got one shot by the boss on every attempt. I'm sure people will parrot "skill issue" because they beat the boss, but that's not really how that works. The amount of complaints regarding this issue show there is a clear design flaw in the combat and boss design, just because you can beat it doesn't mean it's designed well. My build (gardener druid) is not bad lol I'm clearing every activity on t15s including juiced abyss maps with zero issue, but the horrible "oh you dodged into the wrong spot one singular time so you die" punishment design philosophy for citadel and pinnacle bosses is so fucking aggravating. Not only because it's a silly design choice, but also because it goes directly against GGG's stated design goal for PoE2.

They seem to want this game to be "soulslike" and yet it almost feels like a comical parody of a souls title. In souls games you do not get one shot by every boss and lose access to the boss entirely, you are allowed to attempt as many times as you want and there are only a few attacks in all the souls titles combined that actually one shot the player. Sure, the bosses are punishing, but you can just keep trying. In this game if you die a few times, go fuck yourself I guess? Punishing me for wanting to play the game and get better is so confusing. GGG clearly wants this game to be soulslike what with the addition of rolling and the clear souls inspiration in the design for the campaign and it's bosses, but the endgame is a genuine parody of what a souls title is. Like the endgame is something I'd see in 'Smiling Friends' with them making fun of how bad it is as a souls parody.

GGG is probably wondering why player retention is at the worst it's ever been for PoE2, but continuously uphold this awful design and refuse to just implement 5 portals into the game and stop punishing players for things that are out of their hands. I'm not even a casual, and I'm sick of the leagues every single time two weeks in because of the same bullshit, the only reason why I have yet to drop the game altogether is due to the lack of WASD support on PoE1 and the lack of a decent ARPG that feels similar to Path of Exile. I can't imagine how the dad gamers or people who don't have 50+ hours a week to dump into this game are feeling, and the player retention reflects that.

As it stands I might be skipping 0.5 altogether, it will be the first big patch I skip for PoE2. I sincerely doubt the endgame changes will do anything meaningful to the core design of this game, and the player retention will likely reflect that in the next patch as well. People have been shouting from the rooftops since day one about this issue to deaf ears, and again the player retention is a reflection of this. If you want my money, if you want my time, then listen to the playerbase. Or don't, and people will keep leaving.

Since day 1 a year ago, I have not fought Arbiter once, and I never will. xD I did find 1 iron citadel and beat it, but I was like, "nooooope." Absolutely never wasting my time with this chase. I considered it this league for those rare tablets, but then I realized I can get them via Atziri's Temple, and that's good enough for me.