Stuck in impossible Labyrinth

Been having a blast up until now. I decided to finally get through the first labyrinth since I over level it at 49. I ended up in an area with no exit of any kind. I can't backtrack and the map is uncovered 100% except there is a locked door I can't pass through because I have no key.

Is this a bug? I don't even understand the game's intention, because to be honest, it seems so poorly designed in many areas.

Did I screw up by not picking up a key earlier? Can you get "stuck" by design? Is it a bug? I spent an hour running around checking for any missed drops or chests, hoping to find a key. I just exit the game from frustration. Any advice here?

Sounds like you hit a Golden Door. Where there is a golden door, there must be a golden key. In First lab, the Golden Key should be in the same room of the Lab as the Door. Actually, I think that now holds until Uber Lab.

Alternatively you just found a dead-end room with a silver door. Finding the silver key to a silver door wont help you progress - there's just treasure behind them. In that case, you need to find another exit from a previous room.

im pretty sure normal and cruel labs cannot have golden doors.

anyway lab is pretty ironed out. i highly doubt it was actually impossible to progress. but its also very hard to help without like...i dunno watching a stream and guiding you or something

Well the title should maybe read "seems impossible". I assure you the area was not even that large and there was no red/orange door to back track and no way forward. I read the lab changes every day so maybe I will give it a shot tomorrow. Feeling pretty burnt out after wasting all the time running in circles.

If you entered the area, the exit will be there. Hit the little boxes by the begin or end of each zone. They will bring up the lab map.

You may have ended up in a silver room that dead ends.

Also, there could be a lever. Hit your Z key, maybe labels were turned off while avoiding those damn traps

Yes, I held down ALT while I searched so it would highlight anything. Although I just learned the Z key seems to toggle on/off. That is handy.

I noticed the thing you can click on that shows you map progression in the spheres. But my main map (tab) didn't show a red door as an exit like it normally would. I even went back to the map object, which seems to always be by a door, and there wasn't a door there. I'll just give it a shot tomorrow. The game is designed so overly complicated in many regards I wasn't sure if labs had some mechanic I didn't know about that wasn't fairly obvious.

There literally isn't even a dead end in today's normal lab. The reason you can't backtrack is because you just cleared an Izaro phase. The reason you got stuck at a locked door is because you failed to notice a "lever" or "switch" nearby that unlocks it.

"

The game is designed so overly complicated in many regards I wasn't sure if labs had some mechanic I didn't know about that wasn't fairly obvious.

Don't blame the game. The labyrinth at launch actually was a bit bugged, but the thousands of players at the launch of the Ascension expansion were able to figure out the labyrinth mechanics pretty easily. In this case, the door you found was either the entrance or exit to a mini gauntlet that you didn't understand.

POElab.com might help you out. It shows the daily labs at leach level.

So I finished the lab but it was a little odd. Thought I would check if this is normal here.

I went back and tried again today thinking the layout would be different. The room I was getting stuck on was the same. I went out and back in and then I eventually died to a trap in the same room I was stuck in. Then I went back in a third time and the room I kept having problems with completely changed and I was able to get through without any issues. This all happened between 730-830PM.

Is this normal? I know the layout changes each day but seemed very odd the problematic room changed when I went in the third time.

The Lab(s) layout changes at 8 pm Eastern time.