It is a map area. It is the boss arena of the Elder. Players must use the following fragments in their map device to fight The Elder. These fragments drop from the Elder Guardians, or rarely from Fragment rewards, and they can also be traded amongst players.
Absence of Value and Meaning map has two parts:
The following is recommended:
The initial zone serves as a staging area reminiscent of The Templar Laboratory, previously accessible after Act 10 (and prior to defeating Sirus for the first time) until its removal in version 3.17.0. However, Absence of Value and Meaning is essentially a rendition of the Templar Laboratory from the War for the Atlas expansion (introduced in version 3.2.0 with the Uber Elder quest), which was subsequently removed in the Conquerors of the Atlas expansion. Elements of the original Templar Laboratory were incorporated into Absence of Value and Meaning by the game developers.
The player’s character currently accesses past events through map fragments. The Conquerors of the Atlas expansion established a new canon, presenting the current Conquerors as the Elderslayers, former protagonists now turned antagonists before the player-controlled protagonist’s "present" timeline. However, the player character is not one of the Elderslayers, as events from the War for the Atlas expansion are no longer considered canon, existing instead in an alternative past universe within the game’s timeline. The Atlas allows protagonists to access past events, facilitating the retention of past game content within the current epilogue storyline.
In the lore of the War for the Atlas expansion, the section of the Templar Laboratory accessed in the Absence of Value and Meaning map was the study of the Shaper, also known as Valdo Caeserius, father of Zana Caeserius. It was here that the player and Zana discovered a device created by Valdo Caeserius, capable of defeating the Elder (as Uber Elder), which Zana employed in the Uber Elder boss fight.
This quest was removed in version 3.9.0, with the War for the Atlas lore now considered partially canon, with the player character no longer involved.
Previously, the player character entered the Absence of Value and Meaning arena via an Elder portal located in the map boss room of an Elder-occupied map. However, since the Elder spawning mechanic was removed, access is now granted through map fragments, with the Templar Laboratory chosen as the staging area tileset. Despite this, the boss fight itself remains unchanged, lacking any explanation for the absence of the device used to defeat Uber Elder, yet Zana still appears in the fight.
An Elder portal from the Templar Laboratory section of the map leads to the actual Absence of Value and Meaning arena, both areas existing within the same game server instance.
Outside the boss arena’s walkable area, there are several human-like sculptures, likely representing souls captured by the Elder. According to Zana’s dialogues in Conquerors of the Atlas, these victims become Watchstones. The flavor text of Watchstones reads: "The memories and emotions of countless victims of the Elder, locked in stone for eternity."
The layout of the Uber Elder arena mirrors that of Absence of Value and Meaning, but the boss fight map is known as the Shaper’s Realm, featuring another portal to the proper arena within its instance.