The Labyrinth is everything I dislike about games in one package.

I'm fully in support of the OP's opinion. As I went through my first Lab run yesterday all I could think was 'what a waste of money and resources this is'. Beautiful scenery, interesting (if clearly overtuned) boss fight... combined with terrible design decisions. Gating content behind completely foreign mechanic is the worst possible thing that could have happened, in my opinion.
What a sad day indeed.

Yeah, the lab is garbage. No reason to call it anything but what it is. Completely unbalanced and unfun bosses, extremely high time investment, extremely unforgiving, and yet required.

No way am I doing this on every character 3 times, I'll probably just quit. It's too bad, I was really looking forward to this patch.

I agree with everything in the OP. The style of labyrinth is the total opposite of the game I've been playing for the last 2 years. I hate puzzle-and-trap arcade crap. I feel like I'm playing a Super Nintendo all over again.

I also don't know why people are saying this is how PoE is "supposed to be". PoE is basically a Diablo 2 clone, and that game was nothing like Labyrinth at all. It was monster mashing and looting chests. Just like PoE has been up until now.

The only reason I can think to do Labyrinth is for the ascendancy points. For trap haters like me it has zero replay value.

Agreeing with OP to some extent.

First run, I was wondering why I had to open doors with keys and use levers in PoE but ok sure why not, it's boring as can be: mindless AND time consuming. Ugh.

Died at 2nd Izaro fight. Granted, I just tried to bash his face without strategy, that's on me. I usually like getting my ass kicked and going back in to learn the fight.

Then hey guess what I'm back in town. I didn't know that until I was there. And I wasn't happy to find out I had to start over. Maybe people knew this from posts or something, but that's not what I'd expect from PoE.

I got 2 quicksilvers and sprinted through the thing. It was awful, the traps felt like a useless annoyance (just potted through them) and the doors felt like, well, useless annoying time-sinking doors. Honestly, I think it took less than 10 minutes to get to the 2nd Izaro fight.

So I tried the 2nd Izaro fight again, more carefully. Died. There was no way I was doing that thing a third time. Closed the game and came to the forums, wondering if there were other people who didn't feel like they were playing the game they loved in that lab.

Don't get me wrong. I love challenging games. I love challenging fights. The amount of time I've spent in my life trying to figure out puzzles or wtv is, idk, some big number. My point is that this is not what I play PoE for. Yeah, it can be mindless grinding.

I know I don't "have" to do the lab. But I do want the points. I did want them. I did expect to have to do something for them, but not something I don't want to be doing when I'm playing PoE.

I don't think I'll quit playing, I'm too addicted. I'll probably learn the fight and suffer through the lab to get my points. I'll pot through the traps, because they're just obstacles that deal damage and the fastest way to get through them is to pot and recharge flasks with the usual pack of mobs that comes right after a bunch of traps.

But seeing how much work seems to have gone into the lab, I figured I'd share my point of view. I wish it weren't the case, but the lab made me close the game tonight. I don't think that's what GGG is looking for.

One last very important thing: the Perendus stuff is great imho. The new skills (those I've tried at least) are great. The Ascendancy concept, and I mean the classes with their "specialization", is great. The lab itself has great visuals, Izaro looks awesome. There's a LOT of good in there.

Yeah, that was the least fun I've had in a game in quite a long time. I mean, I get it, Ascendancy points SHOULD be hard to get, they're pretty damn powerful. The problem is, the maps are ridiculously big, and can take hours to finish. Some of us have dogs to let out, kids to feed, phone calls to take, and just can't spend a stupidly long time on an incredibly frustrating map.

I actually like the traps, and the satisfaction of getting through a bunch unharmed is great. But to then get to a dead end, and have to repeat the process for 30 minutes to get to the fork that I chose wrongly is a real punch in the face. Then, I have to go down THAT fork, get a key, and then come back again to get to the door I've already discovered.

Just make the levels half the current size. That would do it. Some of us filthy casuals only have a couple of hours to play a night, and for that to be spent in a the labyrinth slowly backtracking to not even get to the end is incredibly frustrating.

Gating the signature content of this expansion to only the hardcore players - and by that I mean people that can afford to spend a couple of hours in a stretch - is pretty brutal.

I've spent thousands of hours in Wraeclast, and loved every minute. Until now. I'm a casual, sure, but as you can see from my flair on the right, I support this game wholeheartedly, but it'd be nice if you could give a thought to the 95% of people that play this game for fun.

Edit: Suggestions - halve the size. Maybe a switch in certain sections to disable traps you've already run through. Change the tileset so that areas aren't so ambiguous and the path is a little clearer.

Will they remove the traps? I wish they would. I thought this was a DIablo 2 clone. I never asked for this.

+1 to op. 3h per run? >_> Nou tnx.

2-3 hours if you

- do not get stuck
- do not lose your internet connection
- the server holds up and doesn't restart
- you don't die to an overtuned boss
- you don't run into too many traps thanks to the super small field of vision and light radius

And even if all this doesn't happen it is still one of the worst experiences in the game.

"

Vertal0 wrote:

Yeah, the lab is garbage. No reason to call it anything but what it is. Completely unbalanced and unfun bosses, extremely high time investment, extremely unforgiving, and yet required.

No way am I doing this on every character 3 times, I'll probably just quit. It's too bad, I was really looking forward to this patch.

Sums it up perfectly.

It should have been like this:

-Lab divided into 3 parts, each being a check point from which you can continue on later,
but the area is still randomised every time you reset it.

-Killing Izaro #1 grants 1 asc point, killing Izaro #2 for another asc point,
and the final big Izaro fight per lab run is optional, rewards no asc points,
but a lot of coins or other orbs/items.

-Reruns after you obtained asc points will grant same loot table that Izaro #3 has, for #1 and #2.

This has killed my reasons to make new characters. This is not enjoyable the first time but no way in hell I will do this on other characters.