My Atlas Feedback (a.k.a. Venting Session)

First things first: I hate the Atlas, and nothing GGG could do short of scrapping it entirely would fix that for me. This feedback isn’t meant to be a list of demands or suggestions—I know full well none of this is going to change. Consider it more of a vent. The team behind this game still thinks "identifying your loot" is a cool mechanic, so I doubt we see eye to eye.

- Randomness
This is the root of my problem with the Atlas. Everything I dislike about the system stems from this one core design choice. The randomness permeates every layer, which means certain issues can never really be addressed—because they’re not bugs, they’re features.

- Towers
Towers are the main way to juice maps, but the system feels tedious. You waste time and resources chasing them—waystones, map nodes—just to end up needing two or more to make it even feel worthwhile. It's a grind that often leads to nothing.

- Water
The ornamental "water" areas—lakes, rivers, oceans—are the worst offenders. You find what looks like a perfect cluster of towers, clear the fog, and… surprise! It's just water right in the middle. These dead zones exist purely to waste your time, and it happens way too often to just chalk it up to bad luck.

- Map Choice
Yet another aspect that feels outside the player's control. You’re constantly at the mercy of what the system gives you.

- Luck-Based Progression
Gaining Atlas passive points relies way too heavily on RNG. Whether it’s Citadels, Corrupted Nexus, T16 drops, or Audience with the King—what matters first is how lucky you are. That kind of progression just doesn’t feel rewarding.

- Infinity
The infinite Atlas sounds cool on paper, but in practice, it's exhausting. Sure, the shortcuts, zoom features, and bookmarks help a bit—but like Checkpoints, they're Band-Aids on an issue that goes deeper. Infinity with no real intention behind it becomes noise, not opportunity.

- Extra Content
Slightly off-topic, but can I please see what content is in my map before I fully clear the fog? I spec into specific mechanics like Strongboxes or Azmerian wisps(horribly designed btw), only to miss them completely because I refuse to chase blindly?

In Conclusion
Maybe GGG could improve some of these elements, but as long as randomness is the foundation, the Atlas will always be a problem for me. There will always be friction, not because of player error or difficulty—but because the design thrives on unpredictability for its own sake. Some things should be up to the RNG gods, sure. But others—especially core progression—should not be.

I’d go back to POE 1 in a heartbeat, but that game was robbed of the visual and QoL upgrades it deserved. It crept beyond it's scope into POE 2 and I don’t see POE 1 ever receiving the upgrade it needs. I’ve played enough POE 1 to see how brilliant it is—but not so much that I’ve become numb to its flaws.

I Agree. It is by far the number one issue I have with PoE 2.

I wish they literally just copy pasted POE 1's atlas and atlas talents to PoE 2 and went from there. It felt great to me.

Yeah Campaign very good, Endgame/Atlas terrible