Lynnander said:
I read in the forums here that the game is too hard to begin, and too easy at the end. I would like to know What levels people are, and what level things start getting easy. I currently have 2 characters at or near level 10.
Now, I've been thinking about that too: game balance, really.
In the beginning, I think the game's not especially difficult except in that you're learning how to judge your character's capabilities against individual fighters in the arena and against enemy warparties.
So, if you're relatively rational you'll strengthen your stats by eliminating easy prey like river pirates and upgrade your equipment through loot and earning money from the simpler assignments.
It's challenging but not too frustrating: at the beginning, you think you'll alway have money problems or never be able to deal with the Dark Knights.
Middlegame, a fuzzy hard-to-define stage, is actually the most interesting to me: there's still plenty of room for stat growth; a need to acquire even better weapons, and generally the capability to successfully command high-level troops against the strongest of enemies. Fairly well-balanced.
Endgame, or rather "the gameplay past level xx" when ever that may happen for you, let's arbitrarily say level 40, is a bit of a bore: your wallet's swollen with denars, you don't collect loot anymore, you can raise all the top level troops you want, in combat you decide to do trick shots just for variety. You start questioning the meaning of all the endless killing and say "Can't we all get along?" Extremely poorly "balanced" (for lack of a better word).
I'm not looking for a great plot or saving Calradia necessarily but I could live with acquiring stuff: land, houses, titles, etc: hell I could fight a 1000 more battles in that case before once again I'd ask myself, "What's it all about, JStrange?"