I am sorry for the off topic. I dont know how to start a new thread, so I will just post in here.
Finding the exit portal in ashen waste is such a waste of time. What I currently do is I just exit to main menu, then start a new game. It feel stupid though.
Is it not a waste of time down in the other areas too? 
Honestly, don’t know what you expect to get from this post. That’s the way the game is designed and it really doesn’t take all that long to find them. I often find the exit portals before I find what I went in there for.
It is not a waste of time in other areas, because there are mobs which you will kill and loot while you are looking for exit.
In other areas, the gate/door/entrance/exit will be marked on the minimap once you crosssed near it.
Exit in ashenwaste is not like exit in, for example, undergrowth cave where you will just simply reverse your tracks.
If you often find the exit portal before finding what you went there for, the keyword there is “often”. Thus there will be substantial instances where you already found what you came for, killed all the monsters, but then you still have to find that exit.
Anyway thanks for the reply. Maybe I was optimizing too much, I was thinking of those times spent looking for that exit, I could have cleared cronley’s base for a chance to drop his trifecta rolled ring.
Same for the Ashen Wastes isn’t it? Even once you’ve found the item there are usually plenty of foes to fight if you want to clear the area. And Foresaken Wastes is a larger area to clear too. Do you do the same for that?
Maybe it’s just my strategy when I’m down in the void areas. I always stick to the outer edge all the way around and the exits are usually towards those areas it seems to me. Once I’m back where I started I then proceed to clear out any remaining foes in the still black areas. Sometimes an exit won’t be near the edge, but I don’t think I’ve ever cleared the whole area and not spotted it along the way.
I guess it depends on how you like to play the game. If you want to farm then it makes sense, but I just play through clearing all areas and never bother to farm anything.
Forsaken wastes is a gazillion times easier to exit than ashen waste. Forsaken wastes’ exit positioning towards obsidian throne is constant. And Obsidian throne’s exit point is constant. And you are guaranteed to have mobs to kill as you go towards those exits.
Whenever I farm ashen waste I also stick to outer edge first, plus I do it always clockwise. Still it feels inefficient compared to cronley farming, forsaken wastes or altar of rattosh farming.
This is grim dawn. This game deserves far more than just one run.
It probably is for farming purposes, not sure it’s even considered a farming area since I’m not one to farm stuff.
There are a few items which only come from specific enemies (MIs, Ravager helm, Krieg’s set etc.) but the majority can drop anywhere. There aren’t really any farming zones in this game. Although more heroes or bosses in an area increase your chances of finding good gear (which is why Twin Falls and Royal Hive are popular runs), you can “farm” anywhere you like. The best items can drop from trash mobs and small chests.