Ascendancies and current implementation feedback

This is not a bash fest, this is purely what I feel would be greatly appreciated by the community

I want to start off by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the game so far. It was my most anticipated game and GGG does not disappoint. I love the game, even as it is in early access, I find myself only really playing PoE 2. After logging in 110+ hours so far into the early access and 5000+ in PoE1, I have found some things lacking in terms of implementation. Which brings me to the topic of Ascendancies.

Currently the way ascendancies work is pretty straight forward in a sense. You do a trial of either Sekhema or a trial of Chaos. Some of you may remember these from PoE 1 as Sanctum and Ultimatum. Once you complete one of these, if it is of the required level and difficulty, you will be awarded with Ascendancy points. If it is your first time doing a trial, you will instead be able to pick your chosen Ascendancy. If you fail, you will have to retry it again until you succeed.

The issue with this however, is that it takes away from the player's choice and power. No matter how you decide you take on the trials, the result of your efforts can be severely influenced by the RNG of the trial you attempt. Want to do ultimatum for your third ascendency point? Better hope you don't pick any of the modifiers that increase movement speed or action skill speed and get the bird boss, you wont be able to outrun the tornado. Playing an energy shield character in the trial of Sekhema? Better hope you don't get the minor affliction that makes it so that you have no energy shield. Of course you can avoid some of these modifiers by avoiding to pick them, but sometimes you simply cant.

I think it has already been brought up many times that most players don't like the RNG of these trials, and I believe that player power should at least be somewhat deterministic. Having some of the most character defining and powerful nodes locked behind RNG mechanics that force a certain playstyle is not fun or engaging to most people who just want to play their character the way they want. I realize that its supposed to be a "challenge", but this is not difficult, its just annoyingly obtuse in design and engagement.

My possible solution

To make ascending still challenging and rewarding, we could instead have two different mechanics. A possible boss rush mechanic where the player must defeat a certain number of bosses without dying, including the final boss (Izaro inclusion possible?)

The other idea was a survival mechanic, similar to what we have in both the Ultimatum and Sekhema trials, but in a more breach themed focus. The player simply needs to survive a set amount of time against waves of enemies that get progressively harder as the time goes on. With one of the breach bosses spawning at the end that the player has to defeat.

Both of these would cater to different people and allow for more player agency and choice, while still retaining levels of difficulty. Is your character one that was made for bossing but not the best at clearing in maps? Use the boss rush lab where Izaro awaits a worthy challenger. Made a character who is either Tanky or mobile and able to clear through maps with ease? Enter the lab of the breach and see if you have what it takes to survive the onslaught of Chayula.

I want to preface this by saying that I don't want the Trials of Chaos or the Trial of Sekhema to be removed, I still think they have a place in the game and have unique mechanics that can be enjoyable for some people (I actually loved ultimatum league). I just do not believe they should be Ascendancy trials. I know GGG are still working on one more pathway to Ascendancy trials that hasn't been revealed yet, so I am hoping they make one that is less of a hassle to go through.

These are simply suggestions and in no way do I think that I know better than GGG or anyone else for that matter. Instead, I implore others to come up with their own suggestions as well so that GGG can see our feedback and make the game the best that it can be!