Ascendancy Design Is Trash

I haven’t had the time to race through the content and get to Ascendency yet.

I can add to the chorus who can say they hated Sanctum in POE 1 … I never complained as it was avoidable content and many players liked it as it was great farming material.

It absolutely punished tank builds though. I hated the mechanism and dread getting to that stage. That is a gate keeper that would be a serious problem if these three forces come to play:

1. Content is not optional and is part of progression (this is true)
2. Absolutely punishes a specific legit build type (tank builds/thorn builds that depend on being hit)
2. Cost of respecing is very high (this would require multiple respecs)

That is bad design.

Love the game so far, yes I do think the devs have tuning opportunities, but I love overcoming challenges and learning mechanics.

I do not like mechanics which force character design.

Agreed Sanctum design is overly punishing for strength melee based builds. Ascendancy trial should test the player's skills without inherently handicapping them due to their chosen class. Don't gate Ascendancy behind Sanctum where rewards aren't reached until full completion.

I think Ascendancy trials can be redesigned to be a simpler mechanic. Maybe just spawn waves of mobs tuned to be a soft DPS & defenses check? No timer needed. Give meaningful rewards for the given area level incrementally between waves (gear or currency). Randomize mob mods and rewards but again tuned for the area level. As in the name, a player should be able to Ascend once they have reached a certain threshold (power level).

Lastly bring back Ascendancy respec.