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

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D_V_I_I#3838 wrote:

I think the trials are okayish, a bit to hard in my opinion.

The main problem i see is the first 2 ascendency are infinitely replayable which is perfect.

After that you need to grind everytime you fail a trial to get another djinn barya.

IMO the firsy 4 ascendancies shoud be infinite tries, after that grind should be okay

There are only 4 ascendancies, so the "first 4" would be all of them.

Likely when they add the 3rd option in it will also get an infinite attempt token. But the 4th should always be the hardest.

I never thought I'd say this, but...

Can we just have Lab back?

Totally agree so frustrating getting to last trial and getting hit and honor disappears. This is a breaking point for lots of gamers because it hinders character progression.

Adds zero fun to something that should be fun. Hard day at work , unwind in the game and have fun and get some character progression, Trials says "No I don't think so". Absolute cancer.

I feel gatekeeping ascendancies behind ultimatum and sanctum is awful and completely out of touch. It feels misplaced and shoehorned in poe2, possible the worst design decision in poe2.

I will be very surpriced if the current ascendancy system makes it even close to release, it feels unrewarding and random. It is a complete joke to see multiple people above level 90 with only 4 ascendancy point.

Ascendancies are the worst part of the game. I'll wait until there are more options. Grinding feels like a waste of time. I have a job, and POE is not it.

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B2theReeves#3164 wrote:

And can we talk about what a "minor" affliction is?

This did make me lol as well, minor affliction, "here's your -50% damage bro".

The Cruel trial takes a lot of preparation.

It honestly gets a lot more manageable once you complete a 2 trial run and have some decent Relics. Maximizing your honor resistance is basically a requirement.

My problem is the affliction system. Sometimes you can just get screwed with bad choices, and the affliction system is very badly explained. My Monk friend ended up with randomized afflictions - which is terrible by itself - and then got hit with “No Evasion.” Doomed his run instantly.

It’s a problem that these trials are just that much harder than anything in the game. I’m level 75 now and I’m going to be trying trials at 67. Like really? I blow through maps at 67 on auto pilot.

Throw us a bone here devs. Required Ascendancies are not where you should be making your stand on the difficulty scale.

POE2 has been an almost completely enjoyable experience until I hit trials. It feels totally unmanageable as a melee class (monk), and the decision to gatekeep a core system (Ascendancies) behind an unrepeatable boss fight with a ~20 minute lead in is absolutely wild.

It's such a shame because the experience of the Trials has thoroughly killed my motivation to continue with the rest of the game until they are fixed. This is notably unlike other boss fights which were punishing, but where I felt I was making progress - either learning patterns or adjusting my build and gear to manage them. With the honour system, it feels like the only way to stand even a vague chance is to switch to a ranged build. This seems completely contrary to all GGG's comments about making melee more fun and viable.

I would love to see:
- Honour system changed to make melee viable, e.g., honour increased by killing monsters to balance loss from damage, or used only to determine quality of rewards (rather than as a hard fail state)
- Ascendancies decoupled from trials

Sanctum and Ultimatum are both forms of content that require super specific builds, the idea to have them as ascendancys IS a cool idea. but it should have been a choice of ONE or the OTHER.

Having to do both and build a character that can achieve both forms of content just for 4 points (possibly to respec and never do one or the other again) isnt a fun form of gameplay and or challenge. It FEELS like a way to gate players and to make them invest countless hours doing attempts and tuning their build just to get through. although that is fun for a small percentage of players. most people will hit that artificial challenge wall and quit or ignore it completely, and in an early access model this is not what you want players doing.

A suggestion to fix ascendancys:

3rd and 4th ascendancys can be gained from trial of sekhemas 2 & 3 stage runs (level 50 or 65 zone and 75+)

&

3rd and 4th ascendancy can be gained from 7 & 10 trial ultimatum (60+ & 75+)

this fix could be hotfixed and wouldnt require a ton of development to create an entire new system.