Granted, it was a long thread and it quickly derrailed, but there were people saying they enjoyed it.
I also find Sanctum fun. I don’t find Arbor fun, though. And I think Bastion is ok.
They did. Dungeons have been around for a long time before launch. People enjoyed it. The devs, as players, enjoyed it. Some people won’t enjoy it, but whatever you come up with will always be true.
So, once again, fun is very subjective. That’s why ARPGs are a niche genre to begin with. Because the majority of players, and even the majority of RPG players, don’t find ARPGs fun.
And I can guarantee you that any alternative design you can come up with there will always be people that don’t think it’s fun.
Much like PoE has dozens of endgame systems and there isn’t a single one that everyone will say that it’s fun.