ascendancy points

First, I’d like to say that the game has massive potential and is incredibly addictive and fun at its core. The game loop is great, but in my opinion, there’s a significant flaw and issue that needs addressing.

Getting 7–8 ascendancy points feels completely nonsensical. I’ve completed 10 Trial Ultimatums, and then I need to get 3 specific keys. On top of that, the keys don’t drop what you need—they’re completely random. And after all that effort, you only get ONE try. If you fail, you have to find those 3 specific pieces all over again. That doesn’t seem like a good way to design the game. You say it’s hard, and fair enough—but the boss itself isn’t hard. The problem is that you have very few attempts to actually engage with this content.

Then we have Sanctum, where there are 4 floors, which is no problem. But at the end, there’s a boss that does some AOE damage and has an absurd amount of health. Even with good DPS that can eliminate other bosses, including ultimate ones, in 10 seconds, this one only loses 25% of its health in a minute. I don’t understand why there are artificial barriers in the game that seem designed just to frustrate players. I’m not saying it’s hard—I’m saying you don’t even let people try. And by the way, Death’s Fate barely ever drops, which is a complete epic fail.

When you add the fact that the game often crashes—whether during Ultimatums 1–4 or once every two runs of Sanctum—and you can’t even re-enter the instance, it’s a prime example of an unfun mix of amateur performance tuning and extremely poor game design. The game is supposed to be about creating builds and overcoming challenges, and that’s fine. But don’t make BLATANTLY ARTIFICIAL barriers just because you’re afraid you messed something up and are trying to hide it.

Other content in the game, however, I find enjoyable. The story may be a bit cliché, but I don’t mind that, and the overall options in the game are fantastic. That’s why I’m so frustrated to see such a glaring issue in this otherwise great experience.

Please, get some sense and adjust the process of obtaining basic ascendancy points so that it doesn’t feel like optional bonus content. How are we supposed to test what the game is capable of when you won’t let us access half of it—or only let a few people in, those playing something either ridiculously overpowered or blatantly meta?