Trial of the Sekhemas misses the mark

I think it's interesting that the league mechanics I am not a fan of just happened to be implemented as mandatory for Ascendancy points. The tutorial variants are OK, because they're not ridiculously long and tedious. Beyond that? No. Why would you ever think that Sanctum is a fun thing to have in a game at all? So I have to sit through THREE FLOORS of Sanctum just to get 2 points.. Like why?? Why is there a hardcore, roguelike mechanic in my softcore playthrough? Why do I lose Honour from being hit by projectiles I can't even see due to screen clutter? It doesn't make any sense to me to have a trial that is meant to test your character's abilities only testing your ability to dodge a bullet hell minigame. It's so miserable.

It's not even that I hate challenging games (I played through Elden Ring + DLC naked on level 1), but this? This is an ACTION RPG. Not a roguelike.

Bottom line is that I don't see myself doing these challenges more than once. Not once per league. Once. That means zero build experimentation and no returning for seasonal content.

I really don't see how this content made it past the idea stage in your development process.