For utility, Kniles the Flenser practically *spammed* Netherswap on me. Was annoying as hell to deal with.
I think AI keeps raging your characters because it lowers your resistances, so the AI algorithm believes it's a debuff. Something in its valuing system that places the debuff as worse than the buff.
Also don't take co-op mode as evidence for how easy or hard this game is. Trust me it's much harder when on your own.
You can steal skillbooks? Not in my game. 550 cost at 3 bartering, 3 thieving isn't even close to being good enough to allow stealing that much. Back when I could steal them, sure, I did that.
Not sure where you're getting this "readily available legendary weapons" thing. They never were easy to come by, even in earlier patches. But at later stages of the game, you *should* have the chance to have *some* great pieces of gear. Fort Joy is only a very small part of Act 1.
Necrofire surfaces don't go away either fyi
