I'm taking it kind of slow. I think my attention span for this game hasn't quite recovered from the last binge yet.

I'm level 14 or so on a Gunner. I thought I would suck very badly, since I was horrible at Archer and Skirmisher, but it's not that hard after all. The Steam system adds a little bit of magey-ness to the playstyle, and the mobility skills are fairly reliable. The new zone level indicators on the world map take a lot of the guesswork out of picking the right maps, too. In the past it was necessary to keep the wiki open in a browser tab.

But mostly, I think that it's probably just another campaign where you don't really start dying horribly and often until around 20. I keep expecting newer, more horrible things around the next corner. Zero deaths on Adventure can easily become a character wipe over the course of a single quest sometimes.

Anyone hit the wall yet? Or anyone a little more Nightmare-hardcore-capable crushing the endgame already?

Liking it so far. Playing an Orc Sawbutcher. Level 18 I think. Seems a bit overpowered. Won't be surprised to see Sawbutchers nerfed in a future update. But as you said, things could change in a few levels.

Ambushes are nuts though. Two lives I lost so far was because of the one ambush I accidentally got in.

I've started over because I forgot to use the Yeti mind control thingy.

WARNING: SPOILERY STUFF I get the suspition that I missed something as well. Could you give me a hint?

And another thing: What do the steam valves in the steam quarry do?

Edit: Okay, I think the giant steam valves are quest related, but I seem to be missing the quest…

I haven't gotten far at all. But the Yeti Mind Controller (or whatever it's called) is a hat you receive for killing the boss in the introductory tunnel level as an Orc. Nearby in the overworld, there is a level full of Yetis. You activate the hat from your hotbar to capture a sufficiently wounded Yeti. Use all 8 charges to unlock the Yeti class.

Thanks. I've completely missed that.

I just finished the game on Normal/Adventure as an Orc Sawbutcher. One quest never finished, although I completed the objective and another event happened as a reaction. The quest concerning the steam generators never appeared, but the following quest work normally.

Edit: Ok. I finally got the Yeti Mind Controller on the third try.

Total character wipe at around level 18 or so. I guess I'm still bad at this game. Oh well. I could try Exploration mode if I want to actually win, maybe.

Where? In the ruins? Or Ritch tunnels 4?

Lost a bunch of lives in a couple places. I think the Ritch tunnels was one. The other was some kind of swampy place with tons of snakes, might've been the ruins. Crazy Cthulhu-type thing killed me the last three times or so.

Freed the orcs from their camp and then proceeded to get hit by ambush after ambush and dying in each of them.

Was a fun gunslinger run up to that point. Ah well...back to sawbutcher.

I've read on the steam forums that the ambushes will probably get nerfed. They are really bad until you have a really high level…

Won't surprise me. Admittedly, I should have probably worked on getting my resistances up as to deal with them. But even then I think they're too powerful.

Balancing issues were part of why I was planning on holding off playing for a bit, but I have poor self control. On the plus side, I can have a tinker class on the original campaign...so that should make things interesting.

I've died a load of times now (I play on Roguelike) but just got the furthest I have so far; Lvl 24 Yeti Sawbutcher (Sawbutcher's are completely overpowered when you figure out how to play them, wouldn't be surprised to see them nerfed in the future) but died heading to the observatory (or more accurately in a side dungeon off that path)

My main problem is curiosity... I keep dying in the secret vaults or opening locked doors and finding I really shouldn't have... the main story dungeons don't seem too tough (the ambushes are crap too, same as the Ziguranth ones in the first campaign, though there seems to be more in this one)

It would be nice if there was an Arena type quest that gave you some extra generic points as there are quite a few great generics for the tinker classes (I'd love to put some points into the actual tinkering but there's always something more important to do)

Yes, I assume that the sawbutcher will be nerfed quite a bit. The sustained abilities make the sawbutcher very powerful.

Spoiler: This side dungeon on the way to the observatory contains something very useful.

I know that feeling. Some of the hidden vaults are really dangerous.

That could be the problem. You should at least invest in steamtech/chemistry. Get the healing salves to a higher tier. They are really strong. The elemental salves remove several physical effects at once. I think