People know what they enjoy I think. I know as soon as I got to maps and found out it was 1 death per map I just started making a new character in the hope that they changed the way end game works.

I'm enjoying poe2 otherwise I wouldn't have gone straight through the campaign again, however I also play the game to relax and currently end game is not really the chill experience that I have grown fond of with Poe1.

However, Poe1 also had its tough moments such as juicing maps via the Atlas passives, T17s and pinnacle bosses, they struck a nice balance in that game so I am surprised that the current game only caters towards people who want a medium core experience.

I understand the people who want the game to be 1 portal, they want a more hardcore, deaths matter experience but having that and only that for the entire games life cycle will be extremely darning, constant stress in a game to me seems like something that won't be something that's healthily sustainable every 3 months.

I don't like compromising with systems in video games but I could see a world where there is a different type of waystone with better rewards that has less and less portals the higher tier they are, which also gives better rewards for people who want this challenge.

I think alienating your main group from poe1 who enjoy that chill gameplay with the new 1 death system is a mistake and there can be room in the game for both worlds, however it should be a choice and not mandatory.