Not a big fan of new Atlas.

Lets ignore the issue of map scarcity and the high punishment from deaths.
After spending some time with it I don't like how the new Atlas functions at its core.

Separating the map item from what the actual map is, is cool on paper. I thought I would love it from the EA reveal presentation. It seemed close to what I already do (Maven) while making things more interesting. Turns out it doesn't feel as fun as PoE1's Atlas. Which was confusing to me. I should like this, but I don't. Here are some thoughts on why that might be.


--1-- EXTRA STEP --1--
The biggest change to mapping is adding one extra step to getting into the map.

Find a node, THEN put in a waystone and go.

That extra step of finding a node, actually has a significant mental payment over time. PoE1 you could always just throw in a random map and go. PoE2's Atlas is far more involved and intricate, which adds an unavoidable mental tax.
While still possible to just throw in maps and not care about where you're going, its still an extra step. As of right now, finding a node to run, in addition to thhe waystones to run is the part I dislike about PoE2's Atlas the most.

Unlike Honour, I believe that this is a mechanic that can be fixed.
No idea how to do that, I'm no game designer. The Node+Waystone system might actually be fine, its just all the other problems that make this part tedious.


--2-- INFINITE --2--
Infinity can be boring.
PoE1's Atlas had an end. You could finish it. PoE2's Atlas has no end. The goal of running X amount of each Tier is not as fun as running one of each Map Type. This is functionally identical, and a far nicer system than PoE1's Atlas progression. Ultimately, it's not as satisfying as seeing all the progression present on the PoE1 Atlas map screen.
It could be fun to have a secondary completion metric for PoE2's Atlas. Some kind of checklist, or secondary Atlas tree for completing each type of map base on the Atlas. That way there will be something more tangible about the PoE2 Atlas that can be completed and finished.


--3-- CONTENT --3--
To be fair to the EA nature of PoE2 vs PoE1, I am looking at the high level goal of a map.
- PoE1 you have to find one mob and kill it.
- PoE2 you have to find several mobs and kill them.

All PoE2 Atlas maps feel like a dull Warframe extermination mission. Those are fun every once in a while. But for Every single Warframe mission? No thanks.

The map variety is great, but that can only help so much. Its always the same thing. Hunting down and fighting 5-8 yellow mobs. It's just not as exciting as finding the one guy you had to kill in a PoE1 map.
Could you run some experiments with lowering the Yellow mob count?
PoE2 also has a variety of alternate goals built right in.
What about the possibility of map completion for a successful expedition, or breaches instead?

Lets take a quick look at bosses. Boss fights are the best part of PoE2 right now. In campaign they felt just right. You get one per map and you could throw yourself at the boss as much as you needed to. That gameflow changes far too much in Maps. It also makes it impossible to build characters focused on bossing. If you want to make a character that does nothing but fight bosses, that is not possible. And if you want to hyper focus on a specific boss, like Sirus or Maven, impossible. Want to focus on farming boss keys to sell, impossible.
That makes me curious as to why waystones/keys are deleted after a single failure. Speaking about failure...


--4-- PUNISHMENT --4--
Lastly, failure feels far too punishing at the moment. As mentioned at the start, this is not something I am too worried about. The volume of complaints about that is high enough that I will be shocked if that does not get fixed in EA.

My two cents? Turn up the difficulty, turn down the punishment.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella is a good example of why that is a good thing.
Player looses nothing on death, or retreat. It is still an accomplishment.

+1 to pretty much everything