Ascendancy trials are by far the worst decision made in PoE 2

First of, the game in it of itself is great, I love it. I think I'm not alone in thinking that. While I get a lot of the feedback from other threads in terms of lack of content and skills, it's just what an early access game is. This is already something we can expect to get more of in the future and is therefore not on issue we should care too much about in this moment.

Instead I want to focus on some of the fundamental mechanics that make or break the game experience.

Now, there is different types of players of PoE 2, some are hardcore others are not. I for one, am a casual. I liked the first game, but I never got to the end-end game due to finding more fun in experimenting with different playstyles. You can imagine my excitement, when they introduced re-specing.

Playing the campaign in PoE 2, has been a lot of fun. Testing different playstyles and slowly seeing the possibilities in combining weapon slots and combo's is absolutely amazing. Most of the bosses are great fun and quite interactive.

However, a central piece to a lot of PoE builds, in both games, has always been the ascendancy, and the importance can't be overlooked as its the one thing, you cannot change on your character. You're locked in.

So after killing Balbala and learning the way to ascend, it felt like a punch in the gut. I had heard rumors, but trusted that it'd be a bit different still. At this point I was playing melee monk, so having to somehow get through the trial while not getting hit seemed impossible.

The trials and their designs are fine, even the bosses. But the whole honour mechanic literally kills all fun about it. It's a place you get punished for exploring, instead of boons. Any melee character is at a severe disadvantage since range difference, but also having mechanics around getting hit. Even for the ultimatum, which would seem like an easier choice for the melees, there is so many mechanics where there is things chasing you and constant hazards forcing you to move.

There is no place for you to take your time, and play however you want. You are forced to play on your tippytoes. With honour involved, the average melee player, will have a tough time getting through it when ascendancy is introduced in the campaign, and waiting feels so so so bad, not to mention unfair.

With these mechanics I feel like the viable build variety is almost cut in half, due to the very specific style of play in the trials.
Difficulty isn't the issue here, it's the mechanics that ruins the fun. Personally I think the ascendancy trials should have more neutral mechanics while still being hard. Being forced a gimmick over your head, makes it feel like I'm not justified in being average or grinding hours on end.

At this point, I think I'm almost done with PoE 2 altogether, because a central piece of the character building gets taken out unless you want to suffer through insufferable game mechanics. Personally it actually kills the game so much for me, that I'm ready to put it down for good, and go back to the first game.

I think by far, the choice to make these mechanics the way to ascend, is the worst choice they've made and is the biggest this game has right now.

TL:DR
Game is great, design, setting, bosses, builds, and skills is great
Ascendancy mechanics are not neutral enough for casuals and has mechanics that kills the fun.

Sounds more like you not using the appropriate relics for your build or picking very wrong choices. If the run on trials, be it Sekhemas (sanctum trial) or Ultimatum (chaos trial), leads you to choices, which are too much against your build, you can always leave and start a new one. No big deal. Godhood should be earned, not gifted. You may be missing certain defenses when running the trials, e.g. not enough honor resistance, immunity to corrupted blood, not overcapped resistance, etc, etc.