Why Mazes??

Why, why, why.
There’s a good chance that someone has already expressed their thoughts on this topic. However, if that’s not the case, I’ll share my own perspective.

I hate labyrinths.
Ever since I started playing POE, I’ve hated maps that resemble labyrinths.
I hated running them, farming them, and even doing them in the campain.
In the endgame, I avoided them like the plague, and if I did play any, they were the simplest ones—the ones with straightforward corridors.
I think other players had similar feelings because those maps never sold well for me.

I know that in POE2, you have a slightly different approach to the endgame. But why are two out of three maps labyrinths?? And even if they’re not exactly labyrinths, they’re massive.
Right now, the endgame gives me no joy whatsoever.
Every labyrinth is full of nooks and crannies, and I constantly find out that there’s an elite monster I missed somewhere behind me, forcing me to backtrack.

Someone might say that I don’t have to do these maps.
But unfortunately, to maintain Waystones, I have to kill bosses, so I don’t really have control over which maps I want to play.

I admit, the maps look fantastic. They have their own atmosphere. But why are they so big??
Why do they have so many dead ends?? Why are elites needed to complete the map only revealed after some time?? Especially since they’re essential for finishing the map??!!
Why are there so many obstacles on every map??
It’s no fun at all dying because, yet again, I got stuck on rocks covered in flowers or leaves.
There’s even a map where all the obstacles are covered in leaves or flowers!!!
In one place, I can run through the flowers, but in another, I can’t.

I also have to mention the issue of Minions and doors.
I don’t know—are they afraid of them or something??

At the moment, I have very mixed feelings.
The game is fantastic, and I really enjoy it. I know it will be even better in the future.
But for now, I’m one step away from quitting POE2.

I’m waiting for the new POE season.

The answer to each of your questions is to increase your playtime. With enough increase in playtime you will eventually 1) buy more MTX or 2) quit. The devs are betting on the former.

Also DARK SOULS is quite slow and DARK SOULS makes everything better.

First of all, I’ve already spent 300 hours in *Path of Exile 2* and still don’t like having to backtrack for elites, wander through labyrinths, or run into obstacles invisible to the naked eye (and I’m not talking about enemies).

Because of this, increasing playtime feels like a poor suggestion.
A simple option, like marking an elite on the minimap once it enters your field of view, would already feel much better and give the light radius some actual purpose.

Why also make obstacles blend in, obscure them, and make them look like walkable areas?
This forces you to constantly stare at the minimap, distracting you from what’s happening in front of you.

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Secondly, I don’t play *Dark Souls* because I don’t enjoy that type of game—not due to the difficulty, but because half the time is spent running around aimlessly.
For the same reason, I don’t play *Diablo 4*. I don’t load up a map just to spend 2 hours running from one location to another.

My favorite genres are hack-and-slash and RPG/TRPG. As you can see, these are very different, and I enjoy them equally.
If you didn’t notice, I have no problem with tough enemies or challenging bosses. I didn’t say that collecting gear is an issue either.
What I wrote is that the map design drains the fun out of the game.

After a few maps, I’ve had enough and would rather play something else. When I die, it’s not because I couldn’t handle the enemies, but because I got stuck again—either on an invisible obstacle or because my minions refused to go through a doorway.

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There are many good aspects of *PoE2*:
- The number of monsters on maps
- Endgame crafting
- Breaches, bosses, and other mechanics

But so far, there are also a lot of flaws:
- Rarity!
- Armor
- Melee!!!
- Minion AI
- Early and midgame gambling (not crafting, but pure gambling)
- Essences
- And the map design!! <-- This is what I’m talking about.

I agree with everything you just said. I said the dev/company's point of view, not mine. You need to keep in mind that big budget (yes POE2 had a big dev budget) modern game development is strongly influenced by employees/executives who either actively hate videogames and/or have a very warped financially-centric view of what a game is supposed to be: a retention machine.

The list of "why is the game like this? because it just is, THAT IS THE VISION" features of both POE1 and POE2 stretch on for miles. POE2 has repeated so many mistakes of POE1 that one can only assume by now that these are no longer accidental but instead made on purpose. My best example here is that the combot in both games has zero visual clarity.

probably because it's a beta and not mature yet, all GGG are doing are giving an area a size and a few other things and letting the game fill in the blanks (hence randomly generated maps) they need to add more perameters.