Passageways in the Grand Arena

I personally think the passageways connecting the arenas are the most boring an uninteresting areas in Path of Exile so far. They could really use some improvement. The statues coming to life is so predictable and its like the whole area was some quick filler content designed to slow us down. The fact that the art of the tiles in this area is just the same wall of pillars repeating in a straight corridor is very repetitive.

Its too bad since the arenas themselves are cool, but it just pulls the overall quality of Daresso's Dream down in my opinion.

Considering that you have animals entering from the arena floor and sides, why not add elements reflecting that to the passages as well? In ancient Rome the passageways served not only to get the gladiators to the arena, but also to get the animals into the arena as well. So why not add some sort of pulley/ramp system that would be used to get the animals up to the arena, as well as cages that they would have been kept in. Having these cages could then thematically allow a greater variety of monsters to spawn in the passageways, which would be an improvement to having just the boring statues.

Another option is to add some sort of preparation room for the gladiators (where they would put on their armor or whatever), or you could even add baths (thermae) or something.

The last passageway (leading up to Daresso) can be kept like it is then.

I know it's probably too late now that Act 4 is already out and that future work will probably be on other part of the game, but please consider improving this area a bit.

The hallways exist to provide contrast to the intensity of the arenas, similar to how the area leading to Brutus is empty. They provide a resting place to listen to the plaques about Daresso and the statues provide flask charges without disrupting that atmosphere too much. One of the best things about the hallways is that the cheering stops when you enter them, so that when it starts up again as you enter the arena it feels like you're in Daresso's shoes. There are already too few areas like this in the game and these take less than ten seconds to run through. That hardly counts as "content designed to slow us down." It's all right for GGG to foreground art over action once in a while.