Ascendancy Trials in POE2 make the game completely unbearable and unfun.

IMO the feedback should focus on the very first trial because obviously the Trial balance is going to have a dramatic change when the Act 4 Karui trial (ToTa League mechanic?) comes out. 99% of players will most likely never get their points 4-6 in Sekhema Trial after we get the new Acts.

We don't even know yet if we will get 4 or 6 Ascendancy points total during Acts. My money is on 6 points because the trial points are an excuse for GGG to make you try a League mechanic. Who knows maybe Act 5 has a 4th trial?

The game went from 578 569 steam player to actually 353 966 peak, meaning in about one month it lost around 38.82% of his player base, and i'm pretty sure the Ascendancy mechanics have something to do with that (not alone, it's an EA, there is still a lot of problems, no movespeed, 1 death maps, loot scarcity, no deterministic crafting, OSed mechanics based on RNG, performance issue, etc), but they should definitely look into the ascencion.

I did mine, but gosh was it a hassle, an hour long run shouldn't end with a boss that have basicly 3 OS mechanics, it should test your survivability, your damage and adaptation capability (Ultimatum did it, it's a way better way to do it, but I HATE ultimatums, so I stucked to Sanctums/Sekhema), not some RNG shennanigan that can break your entire build or the boss fight (Ever tried to take 40% less damage + 50% more monster HP ? Well, don't, he goes up to like, I don't know 35-40m HP pool ? It's a litteral 15 minutes fight if you don't have absurd DPS. Lycia was well designed. Zaroth ? Let's just say that if I could spit on him I would.)

If the game release with these for trials to get character ascendency points it's gonna flop.

Zero excuse for these systems to be attached to your core player progression. Rng slot machines are all GGG is about now.

crafting=slamming.
Ascend=gamble
Gambling vendor lmao.

Just another +1 for both trials being complete ass. They are simply not fun. Even if you make them easier they will not be fun. They're just running and pressing things simulators and every single map in them are just annoying to do. The systems just compound the problem by being absolutely ridiculously bad.

Also if they add TotA as the last ascendancy that's going to be such a shitshow. Worst league by miles.

I'm a Sanctum Runner, and yeah I agree that there are so many things wrong the system should not be in place even as a placeholder. Honestly, I think it'd be better if people just got their ascendancies as part of the campaign rather than being gated behind the existing trials. They are too hard, have a high entry cost when it comes down to time and practice, and honestly just feel unfair.

With that said, for anyone stuck but who are still willing to give it a try to get their ascendancy, some tips:

1) Get 75% Honour Resistance on Relics as your first priority.
2) You can use Dodge Rolls to cross through fireball traps, or most traps, really. The iframe of the dodge when it comes down to traps (except the mines) is the entire dodge roll, to the point where if you're fast enough you can connect a dodge roll with the next.
3) Get two +2 or +3 Merchant has additional choices relics. This increases the odds of you getting the Boon for 50% discount, and the other key boons such as 40% movement speed (very useful against the last boss' one shot mechanic) and 50% increased damage.
4) Blessing of the Wind (+1000 Honour, +1 Boon, -1 Affliction) > Trial Parameters = Large Sacred Water > Sacred Water, when it comes down to rooms. Change Trial Parameters can allow you to remove an otherwise crippling affliction, gain 3 Boons in exchange for taking damage, remove 3 Afflictions, or even gain specific Major Boons.
5) If you can, get % chance not to gain affliction on Relics. Even 20% chance is huge on a final run, especially with the boon to boost Relics by 30%.
6) Prioritize having 40% Movement Speed Boon if this is your first time because of the final boss. There's a phase where you need to collect 6 Hourglasses and your movement slows down progressively, and if you fail it you get one shot. Probably watch a video to make sure you know what it looks like.


If you're gonna try it, I wish you good luck. If not, I don't blame you.

Peace.

I made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...to page 21/22 of this thread.

To All at GGG, great game, thanks a bunch! Kept me busy the entire December and I have had the opportunity to build my lvl 81 Stormweaver without watching a single video on the tube for any builds!

Finally, I am not going to complain about the ascendancy trials, as I am sure you are already working on sorting out the difficulty issue.

I will mention though:

I have attempted both the Trial of Chaos and Trial of Sekhemas, more than I can remember (3rd ascendancy only) and I cannot make it through.

Trial of Chaos - Way too many / strong negative influences against me too really further enjoy.

Trial of Sekhemas - I wish I could attribute positively here to try and help but IMHO, I am more - WAY MORE luckier on the roll of the dice playing Baccarat at a casino, than endlessly trying to just get pass the formidable Sentinels.

At the rate I am going, albeit poor currency drops (1 div and 1 Annulment), I am still having fun clearing entire maps at a relative stop and go pace), and will probably stick around a few more lvl's before packing my bags and waiting for the new patch, which I know will get me back playing.

I wonder if we would see some player / ascendancy stats?

Thanks again and wishing the Team over at GGG the best for 2025!

"

MaxW81#9965 wrote:

If I make a new character I just pay the div and get a carry for all 8 points unlocked. This is how much I hate skanktum.

+1

"

MEITTI#3999 wrote:

IMO the feedback should focus on the very first trial because obviously the Trial balance is going to have a dramatic change when the Act 4 Karui trial (ToTa League mechanic?) comes out. 99% of players will most likely never get their points 4-6 in Sekhema Trial after we get the new Acts.

We don't even know yet if we will get 4 or 6 Ascendancy points total during Acts. My money is on 6 points because the trial points are an excuse for GGG to make you try a League mechanic. Who knows maybe Act 5 has a 4th trial?

We will get 6 in the campaign, just like PoE1. Lv.60 is when you start getting keys for the third Ascendancy trial, and that starts mid Cruel Act 3. Most likely early to mid Act 6 is where this will happen, just like in PoE1 where the last trial is in Act 10, right before Kitava.

Also ignoring the problem won't help when people need to go for their 4th ascendancy and it's just as catastrophically terrible as it is today. The problems people are complaining about don't go away in the 4th ascendancy trial, they just don't know how bad it is because they don't get past the 3rd or don't bother after how grueling the 3rd was.

I'm also a huge fan of how all three Ascendancy options are terrible. ToTa league was complete garbage, they didn't even make it core. Sanctum and Ultimatum only get run for their rewards in PoE1, and require catered builds to do them. They're all awful choices for Ascendancy trials.

For me it's way to much time to invest. You have to farm hours for another coin, then you invest time to try and then you fail. Of course everybody hate it