Thoughts on one of the main reasons PoE 2 is losing it's endgame player base [After 450+h]

Hello,
The problem with atlas forcing you to go on bad map layouts and just bad maps in general is bigger than some people may think and removing some things from the floor or adding more bosses will not resolve it.

Most of my friends already stopped playing at the end of December because of this reason.
The rest stopped after patch announcment stream and is waiting for the patch to see if it will do something about the maps or not.

At first I was like, ok, but we need good and bad map layouts and there is nothing wrong with a little challenge right? Yeah, not really.

After hundreds of maps I started to get irritated by the map design, it started to feel more like it is hostile to me (and my character is godlike zooming through maps).

After next hundred of maps there was no irritation, it was a pure feeling of disgust, it feels like the design of the maps is forcing me to quit the game. Like it's made to be so bad that with time even maps that you thought are good will be unplayable for you.

I think it is not intended and the procedular generation of the maps is just bad at this moment. There is no space, everything is a obstacle, your fun will go away after first one- two hundreds hours of endgame gameplay.

My current atlas route looks like this -> Mire -> Hidden Grotto -> Hidden Groto -> Augury -> Willow -> Blooming Field -> Decay -> Seepage -> Crypt -> Seepage -> Augury -> Hidden Grotto.

As you can see it is forcing me to do hated maps 90% of the time.

Feeling like doing some breaches or rituals? Yeah, these maps will spawn them in spots that are just bad, even semi open maps will have obstacles that will stop you at most crucial times, and they are barerly visible... If you have good build you will 99% of times survive it but still it will be iritating, and this feeling will only grow.

I love the game, I love the challenge it takes to make you strong if you are not going through some prepared build by other people.
My character went from squshy to godlike, it was very fun and I'm still having it, just not on the current endgame maps.

Currently I decided to still wait for the patch and in the meantime I'm going through Twisted Domain Breaches, Trials of Chaos, trying Sekhemas without losing health, everything that takes me away from maps.
But if next big patch will do nothing more than removing some grass and stones from the maps then I think the amount of endgame players may went down even more.

Thank you for your time.

1 button game play is boring. Running 30 bland maps with no league mechanics to juice 3 maps with league mechanics that are still empty and repetitive isnt fun.

The game is boring, feels like chores, and nothing ever happens. Its just a boring game after the campaign.

i feel the same way.

game is forcing me doing maps i dont want to run.
why?
for variety? forced variety is bad, feels like waste of time and results in not having fun.
but, why? to get to some towers i also dont like doing so i can juice some random maps. imagine everytime you want to put a scarab into your map device in poe1, you had to run a tower. its the exact same thing, its terrible.
but again on the "why?"
ah yes, we also can lift some fog so we can find citadels right. after next patch we can see them through the fog. so the one thing we are searching for in the fog isnt hidden anymore by the fog.
so why is there fog if its nothing hidden?
to simulate there could be something. there clearly is nothing, but at least it looks like it could.

this whole atlas brings nothing to the table but restrictions and forced variety for the sake of fog that is hiding nothing.

No that's not why I lost interest. I lost interest because of Breach, Delirium and Ritual and endless spam of trash with all mechanics ignored and 0 hp bosses that die to 1 hit. I don't want same braindead gameplay that PoE1 has and it's exactly what PoE2 endgame is now. So I just stopped. I quit PoE1 because it devolved into that crap and I do not intend to play a game that does exactly the same shit. Campaign start is amazing though, just make entire game like that and I'm sold.

i can feel the pain. this is a smal part of an other feedback post from me,
(original feedback: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3694952)
99% of the maplayouts are BAD... WHY?
... WAY TO MANY OBSTACLES!!! i can't say that loud enough... WAY TO MANY OBSTACLES!!!
it is NOT FUN to have 30+ trees on the screen with 5 mobs you have to, 1st ofc visualy find and scout in this mess, and 2nd be able to hit or even do any form of damage without blowing all dmg on the 30+ trees instead of the 5 mobs. (i know it is a bit exaggerated but this is how it feels 99% of the time).
also to have a damn LABYRINTH to solve to find the next mob (like the worst map of all.. Vaal-Factory)
idk how you think this map is no problem, it is a bad designed labyrinth!
BACKTRACKING IS BAD MKAY!
(here my other post about what would make maps better.. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3692759)

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inspecktadeck#3108 wrote:

1 button game play is boring. Running 30 bland maps with no league mechanics to juice 3 maps with league mechanics that are still empty and repetitive isnt fun.

The game is boring, feels like chores, and nothing ever happens. Its just a boring game after the campaign.

+100000000000000000 this

Game should be called chores of exile.

I don't mind the one buttom gameplay tho.

I've run 400+ [500+?] maps and I'm just burned out basically feeling the work isn't worth the rewards yet.

With PoE1 I can run the maps I want [and avoid maps I don't want] ; I can run the mechanics I want [and avoid mechanics I don't want] ; I can find an economic niche that I can use to progress my character.

With PoE1 I don't particularly feel like I'm wasting time [other than trading for scarabs or similar] while in PoE2 I feel like I'm wasting more time than I actually spend progressing.

+100
Most of the maps are terrible. In PoE1 NOBODY want to run similar maps. In PoE2 we are forced.
Layouts terrible, too big, you have to backtrack all the time because missed rares. Leauge mechanics don't work properly. Breach in many maps is useless. Delirium too.
Like Mire? I refuse to run that map.
Oh and the whole leauge mechanic thing with the towers. You would expect if you try to influence your maps, you get influenced map AROUND the tower. But nah, full random.
In PoE 1 you can just run the map you like (and you have to run it 1000 time to farm) and you can use scarab to put the mechanic on the map you like. Or just use atlas tree to have ALL THE TIME the mechanic. It's just brilliant. Everybody like it. PoE2 feels like a game before PoE1, except the graphics.