Early Atlas Progression

Just a data point...

First few tiers the map drop rate was fine. No problem getting through the t4 quest. Didn't have to buy any from Doryani.

By t5, useful map drops suddenly dried up. Lots of t2-4 but minimal at the quest tier. (Yes, I had atlas nodes like Constan Crossroads, The High Road, Fortunate Path, and some Higher Tier.)

The t6 and 7 quests felt dicey. At one point I was still getting no drops and was down to one or two questable maps left. I tried running some t4-5 but they dropped nothing at all. I was also trying the "just run boss maps and you'll be fine" strat and bosses were dropping nothing.

FWIW, I did lose maps a couple of times to my own mistakes, and probably more times (but still not many) to game issues like zone-ins into the middle of six packs, unkillable mobs, and boss arena lock.

But drops suddenly picked up again and t8 is going smoothly.

I realize from POE1 that this is all intended RNG, so what's my point?

Maybe the design decision was that some % of new players should get stuck on atlas quest progression. If so, you probably don't need to change anything. Or, if tier progression is intended to feel fairly smooth, you may want to tweak map drops.

Higher risk, higher reward. If you want a smoother waystone sustain you have to high risk it by rolling suffix modifier on it. Also make sure you take the atlas point on tree that will help you getting higher tier of waystone.

And also use the reforging bench. That help a lot when you start.

You can also cheese it by just going with a public parties till you get all your base atlas done and start sustaining that way.

Of course, on all your suggestions. You miss the point though. If an experienced player, doing all that (plus tablets - just not public parties since I play SSF) can still nearly run out of maps, imagine how frustrating it will be for a typical newbie. But then it's always been that way in POE1, so maybe it's something they don't want to change.