Atlas points map progression

Two things here:
1) the number of maps to complete before getting atlas points
2) the progression of map mechanics

About me: I love the game! Super excited to see more! Level 81 ranger deadeye lightning arrow pseudo ssf (not trading, but am on standard softcore league). Just finished 2nd tier 10+ map progression quest.

First, I don't really like the way the map rewards are done right now. You have to do 10 maps to get the first two atlas points. In poe1 you complete a map, you get a point. It felt more rewarding to do each new map. By the time you get to the point of having to grind the same map for invitations (Maven, EoW, or Exarch), you've already set up your atlas tree with a good enough baseline that will feel rewarding because:

a) you've spec'd into mechanics you want to see more of
b) you've set yourself up to sustain more maps (assuming your tree was built properly)

In poe2 however you're forced right into the invitation grind style of play but you don't have the reward and you're just aimlessly grinding. I'm assuming as the atlas tree expands with content (the base one), the interval of rewards will be shortened. If that's the case, then I guess this is fine for now.

Second, I'm finding it frustrating to engage with the map mechanics right now. I have to engage with them because I need the gear upgrades, but they're so weak at the baseline, that I'm not finding ways to actually make use of them. Am I supposed to just push through maps until t15 and then engage with them? But how if I can't get any decent gear upgrades to effectively kill monsters, and not die, and also sustain maps? All my currency is going into failing every gear upgrade I try to craft (another topic probably). I wish there was more incentive to do them earlier.

EDIT: I realized I never actually mentioned my point for the map mechanics lol. I'll focus on expedition because it's the mechanic that I want to engage with. I need to engage with the map mechanic to get the logbooks, but I won't actually get any progression to my logbook unless I get logbooks that are of a minimum level requirement. This is a bit frustrating because the base version of expedition is very underwhelming. I don't have enough currency to sustain the crafting. I don't have enough refresh currency to reroll bases. I can't get more currency within my maps because the base version of bomb placement really sucks with certain maps and I end up just wasting my time trying to place them to reach decent remnants.