Ascendancy Trials Feedback: Understanding Player Concerns

Disclaimer: I'm running a Witch minion build through these, which is essentially easy mode, and haven't tried the 4th yet. I will be running a melee character through them next week.

Observation: many players are ignoring the point of the Trials and applying the wrong techniques to it. The chests are to be ignored; everything is to be ignored but getting to the end boss. Minimizing debuffs at all costs is the winning strategy.

Players entering Trials without +%run speed or some form of backup attack+gem combo other than their main ones / CC are not utlilising their entire tool set. That's on them. Likewise: Since you can re-run this Trial for free, it is perfectly possible to get 2-3 +% honor relics during even your 1st attempt: I got x2 %18 resist to Honor loss relics, which both fit in the starting recepticle. I strongly doubt many players here complaining actually use these.

Many players are ignoring these mechanics and just want to run through a mindless linear monster path. Which is fine, but I personally enjoy the extra challenge.

A suggestion to change the Honor system slightly is for flask charges to stop Honor loss while active. i.e. you can spam a flask charge and not get Honor loss (or have it mitigated by X%) for a few seconds. This would allow melee chars to first strike in and out. Please add a nice pink bubble around the player while this is in effect to show carebear mode has been engaged.

Another solution would be to keep Honor, but at zero Honor all damage is now permanent for the run and no chests can be opened. i.e. all Health & ES regen is removed. This will allow players to simply brute force the levels which is what they really want.

Many also seem to think that they should have eight Ascendancies by level 50, which isn't the design mechanic at all.


Trial 1: Fine, nothing wrong with it at all, barring the obviously unfairly weighted honor system. This can be mitigated by adding a hidden buff or two to melee chars. e.g. they get an inherent and unseen +50% regain to honor when it is given back to them.

Trial 2: Floor 2 is fine and even easier than 1 if you go in over-levelled and have decent runspeed. Most players skip 1>3 so do not have the benefits of the extra relic slots unlocked by this run. Given the slots that unlock here, it is easy to add a +maximum Honor +20% in here. Again, I feel most players in this thread have not bothered to do this. The boss mechanics are slightly too wide to avoid imo (flame wave) with the current Honor loss.

Trial 3: The hit boxes / timer on the poison gas is far too tight and non-responsive. I have rolled out of a room with the gas (2.9k honor remaining) and suffered an instant death while being obviously clear. Otherwise, much the same.

For all timed challenges, in all three level, boots with +15% RS were enough to do each first time and with plenty of time to spare. 15% RS is easily achievable by level 25.


Solutions: I would cut the number of potential debuffs by a third per floor, make certain ones less severe (i.e. instead of 0 ES, -50%) and fix gas traps.


Chaos: Up to 4.

Some of the environmental penalties are frankly broken. e.g. Beams & Floor AoE circle. Compared to Sentry Guns these feel like a personal "FU" and maliciously OTT. Far too large range and/or fast. Some of the monster spawning penalties appear to be broken or far above their stated numbers. e.g. +20% rare monsters will lead to five spawning at once...

Bosses: the bird has a ranged meat pillar attack that can 1-shot any build and is too difficult to dodge correctly. Chimera is just annoying due to the ice remaining for far too long and it keeping the flight timers of the original fight which is in a much much smaller area. Keep it on the ground more and reduce the floor spam persistence.

Solutions: if you want to make it an Arena style carnage match, then do so - but spawn powerups players can get just like in Doom / Quake. +HP / regen, +Damage etc. Temporary 5-10 second powerups that really boost the character.

~

Wall of text over.

Since I'm in a minority in this thread in that I think the idea of Trials is fine, and while I found some of the 1-shot deaths overly tuned, I enjoyed them, it'd be nice to keep them & the bonuses in the game. Have them give small (5-10%) permanent character bonuses like the side quest minibosses to the Ascension skills themselves. i.e. I do 3 Ascension Ascension Trials - I get 3 little stars I can put on the Ascension skills themselves to boost them. So now I have Altered Flesh* that gives 22.5% Cold damage taken as Fire Damage or I have Minion Life* that gives 13.5% extra minion HP instead of 12%.

Drop rates of coins is likewise... fine. I have got ~8 or so getting to level 76 of the correct level range (60+) and 15 or so in total (others were under 60). Perhaps slightly up this in certain maps. You can really tell people who levelled themselves and those who got carried by the complaints that they don't have enough coins, but I digress.

TL;DR


Trials are fine, actually, just need some tuning and made slightly less fierce.

Very well formulated post and i fully agree.

Shortly before the EA start i was even joking with a friend that since now theres no more lab we will probably have to do sanctum to get the ascendancy points, we had a good laugh about that frankly ridiculous idea.
I guess GGG had the last laugh there....

+1

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Void_xy#2904 wrote:

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MarsAstro#7928 wrote:

This disappeared again, so I'm bumping it yet again so it doesn't disappear.

I'm here on the same mission.

Good to see I'm not the only one! I check back regularly to see if it's still high on the front page, if not I bump :P

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Nameless_One#4282 wrote:

(...)

Trials are fine, actually, just need some tuning and made slightly less fierce.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It might just be me and where I'm coming from, but writing all of this in favor of the trials (while incidentally supporting one of my points about specialization with details about specific builds, movement speed requirements, and relic combinations), only to conclude that "trials are fine" feels like even more damning feedback than what I provided ;)

Very well written.

+1

Totally agree. It's hilarious and disappointing to me when I see that low-level coins are more expensive.

I'll give TLDR bullet points:

### TL;DR of Feedback on PoE2 Trials System:

- **Core Concern**: Locking fundamental class progression (ascendancy) behind optional mechanics that feel disconnected from core gameplay is a puzzling and frustrating design decision.

- **Randomness**:
- Trials are overly random, with difficulty ranging wildly due to unpredictable modifiers.
- Unlike PoE1's Labyrinth, trials lack predictability, making progression feel inconsistent and unfair.

- **Specialization**:
- Trials like Sekhema/Chaos require specialized builds that deviate from core gameplay, unlike the Lab, which was build-agnostic.

- **Mandatory Mechanics**:
- Previously optional, niche mechanics like Sanctum (Sekhema) and Ultimatum (Chaos) are now mandatory for class progression, alienating players who disliked these systems in PoE1.

- **False Choice**:
- The illusion of "choosing" your ascendancy path is invalidated by the universal desire for immediate access to class powers. Players are funneled into a specific order.

- **Mismatch with ARPG Expectations**:
- Trials introduce gameplay styles (e.g., roguelike, survival, autobattler) that deviate from core ARPG mechanics, breaking the player's expected progression loop.

- **Misunderstanding Player Sentiment**:
- Lab was disliked not due to its structure but because it diverged from expected ARPG gameplay. Trials double down on this mismatch instead of resolving it.

### Recommendations for Improvement:
1. **Adjust Honor Mechanics**: Remove or minimize the impact of honor to make trials accessible for all builds.
2. **Reduce Randomness**:
- Standardize modifiers and difficulty to ensure predictable progression.
- Remove randomness in access tokens—tie trial access to player level instead.
3. **Create Build-Agnostic Content**:
- Introduce boss rush modes or class quests as alternatives that align with the ARPG core loop.
4. **Alternative Approach**: Scrap trials and create narrative-based class quests for ascendancy progression.

### Closing Plea:
- The current state of trials risks alienating players and creating a significant quitting point in PoE2. Listening to feedback and adapting mechanics to align with core ARPG principles will safeguard the player experience and long-term success of the game.

+1

great post, but will GGG actually do anything about it? Not one word from them about any of this and people have been saying it for the entire week it has been out.