"As I understand it from reading your original post, your main complaint is that the amount of power you gain per time invested isnt high enough - be that through new gear or new levels (in this case for the long waits between levels you want big steps up in power"
What do you mean by saying "a big step"? .....
Yes fighters get a second strike at some point - this is ONE big increase in their abilities. But for example disarming strike does not work at all - I have used it dozens of times without any result. A fint does not roll much more damage. Fighters actually have the best incriments in their abilities - their "second chance" (I dont know how is it called in english verssion) gives the possibility to strike even four times. I admit that. But these are exceptions not a general rule.
I'd call that a big step... now imagine that you got something that increased your power like that every level (it would need to be proportional to your current power as well, else it'd feel like the increases in power were getting less every level), then it wouldn't take more than a couple of levels of difference between your party and what you are fighting before you're either murdering everything in a single turn or finding fights impossible. It would also in effect turn what is an open area where you can tackle quests in almost any order into something where there's only a single path through each chapter - which takes away a lot of the appeal of this kind of game - and also means missing out the optional content makes the main story impossibe - or doing all the optional content makes the main store stupidly easy.
A small average increase in power (a big step at the odd one level is ok - but would need to be tempered by lesser steps at other levels - e.g. learning an attack that deals less damage but applies a condition) allows players to tackle things in the order they want to and doesn't penalise you for skipping optional quests.
I don't expect a huge step, but I expect something more than a bit o HP and a posibility to change, a choice from previous leveling. The pool of choices for a mage is IMHO very poor and it's several abilities are very dependent from - some difficult to fulfill - conditions.
I've checked the classes you have in your party and not one of them only gets a bit of HP and a chance to change a choice from previous leveling at any level.
The Wizard (which I believe is the class you're thinking of here - i.e. Gale) gains the ability to cast higher level spells (or spells at a high level - thus more damage, etc.) every odd numbered level. At every even numbered level he gets the ability to cast an extra spell at that higher level between long rests, plus he can learn two NEW spells at each level (does not require you to "change" a known spell - although you do have an option to change a spell each level if you feel you've made a bad choice).
The Rogue I'd of though would of been the disappointing one as there's not many levels were you get to make a choice - you just get given something.
Yes, maybe I haven't found each and every good weapon in the game so far. Mybe I have followed the plot leading me to Yourgir to early. Maybe I was iritated that there in a difficult enviroment I had to withraw my good weapon to keep the lantern shine over my team - even thou it has its slot where the torches are kept. But that only means that the game is too much open for such a result where even a player who checkes everything, speaks with everyone, searches every body... will not experience a proper progress. There is too much garbage found in chests and bodies. The features of those weapons are sometimes so much restricted or irrediculously unusable that I was laugthing. It looked as if devs were so stingy and so spared the player of any positive effects that it was almost funny.
I checked my last run I was a level higher than you (7) when I got to Yourgir - and I missed quite a bit of Act I and Act II (I didn't go to Moonrise Towers or the town until after I'd done the Gauntlet of Shar) - but I managed to talk him out of killing me so didn't have to do that fight, which means I have no idea of it's relative difficulty. If you've made it to the Balthazar fight (which is the one I thought you were initially referencing) then let me know how it compares difficulty wise.
Yeah, I'd agree the torch implementation can get a irritating at times, especially as it can sometime suddenly unequip your actual weapon such that the toggles between main hand, ranged and torch no longer swap it back in. You do however have a couple of Cantrips available that can help with that (Light and Dancing Lights) - and if you get to the stage you need a working Moonlantern, you should of freed the Fairy as she'll give you a buff that means you dont need to carry a light source - having to still carry it is the penalty for being evil I guess (which is what I'll be doing this run).
Situationally useful gear is a staple in DnD based CRPGs - and it does help to keep the power gains down - although there feels like there's more "class specific" gear (i.e. gear that works off a feature that's unique to a single class - e.g. Gauntlets of Surging Accuracy which is only useful if you're a Fighter) in this game than I've seen before. Not sure I've seen something I'd class as "irrediculously unusable" so please give me an example.
