End of act 3 to cruel problem & ascendancy trial blocked access

So the overworld map changes every time you interact with the gate but the game sends you to the riverbank every time. And because zones reset; you have to clear the riverbank and kill the boss at the end every time.

Ascendancy trials seem to be inaccessible in cruel difficulty as my Trials quest in act 2(cruel) is bricked and I have to go to normal to access trials of the sekhema. Same problem with act 3 except getting back to normal act 3 is a major pain in the ass since it warps me to old era and going back through the portal sends me to riverbank on cruel.

Do you only test with admin commands giving you gear and ascendancy points or did you think this was fine?

You can just use a Waypoint instead of the portal once you cleared to Act 1 town inc ruel?

Or did I somehow misunderstand you horribly?

Town portal is locked when you spawn on riverbank and there is no waypoint in riverbank.

The Act 3 portal also changes which waypoint is visible and which waypoint you teleport to. So when your map shows old era, the waypoint will warp you to old era. The waypoints available change depending on which side of the portal you are on so you have to interact with the portal to go back. But every time you interact with the portal after defeating the act boss, it sends you to the riverbank.