I remember that in the early access the stats were more important: str gave you phys armor, int gave you magic armor, finesse upgraded crit chance, wits evade, etc... so your character stats mattered more, making builds like spear fighter more viable for example, and you can spend more time with your low level gear because your stats made up for it. Now all your armor and evade depends on your gear, and a big part of your damage too. In a game with no respawning mobs to farm for loot, as stated.
I am really enjoying the game but this kind of loot-based mechanics do not think suited the game, as most people stated here: huge level gaps in damage and protection in armor and weapons every level in a game with no respawnable mobs (like diablo-type games)and loot and lots of "points of no-return" forces you to grab what you can, depending on sheer luck and change your gear every odd levels, making unique loot pointless ( unless they have civil skills, like justinia´s gauntlets, Captains´compass or gloves of adquisition. But you are not going to use it in combat anyway).
Also forces you to always max economic-type civil skills (thievery, luck and barter) because you are gonna go shopping a lot. Even containers have a level cap, so if you outlevel that particular zone you will only find loot of your level in traders.
You are not going to farm mobs or containers to loot, you farm shops for loot ¿? . And i think this is a weird option for a story-driven game with no respawning mobs. Personally I prefer more dialogue and fighting and less shopping. Too much shopping already with my gf, do not need more black fridays ingame, thanks.
I do not mind strange combinations in gear because sometimes I do some weird mix of skills in my characters and it is nice to have equipment for them ( one handed with +2 int goes well with my phys-based necromancer, as robes with warfare, or a plate with finesse and scoundrel to my 14 str rogue, etc)
That's all these rarities really mean when you boil down to it. A slight increase to armor and magic armor that the other rarities wouldn't normally provide. That's not exactly fun when I want gear. It eliminates the incentive to boss hunt like The Corpse of Alice or The Harbinger of Doom. I want unique items or sets from doing these optional boss battles, not just the satisfaction of just beating them and gaining some EXP.
I challenge anyone to forego shopping altogether and see how much more difficult the game is when you rely solely on drops.
I am currently using some mods to counteract this: reduce bloat to close the gap between levels and reduced xp ( I found that most of the unique loot I found in unmodded was one or two levels below me, now when i found it i can use it, so optional zones and boss battles to get unique loot are worthy. And tougher), all coupled with monster madness, leveled monsters and tougher bosses. If I found some mod to make stronger unique level loot it would be neat.
It has some drawbacks and it is not perfect but I found this playthrough more enjoyable to play. Maybe it is my dopamine talking...
