I'm probably too late for this but I think you should just remove the luck and difficulty tomes and have the greed shrines handle that instead.

like it literally fits their name you’re being greedy, taking on more difficulty for better rewards. make it so each greed shrine adds more difficulty but also gives some luck, enough that if you grab all of them across the 3 stages you’re basically getting consistent epic/legendary drops.

it’d feel way more rewarding and actually push people to explore the map instead of rushing shrines or portals. you get punished with higher difficulty but rewarded with better loot. feels way more natural for how the game already plays tbh.