Craig234

Raising essence mastery from 6 to 7 gave me 10 more essence (after I zoned), hm.

What is the balance between points to INT and Essence Mastery?

Shaper, level 8, leadership 8, mechanics 3, stealth 0, essence mastery 6, fire shaping 6, where would be good for skill points the next level or 2?

I noticed the shaper skills say they apply increases to creatures you already have, but increasing the skill didn't change the creature level or hp. But when I made new creatures, it did increase them.

In case questions come up... is it generally a good idea to buy living tools? Haven't seen much else to buy.

Dry wastes wasn't that bad, some 'Guardian' boss, got level 8. Now where to put skill points...

Ya, I'm hitting a bit of a wall, where the only places to go are the bridges where I can't talk to Sholai, Ascended labs, and Dry Wastes. All kind of too hard (I haven't tried killing the Sholai). I'm close to level 8, at least, not sure where to put points next (stealth is 0).

Is level 7 supposed to be enough to do Ascended labs?

For example, the hard part of Ascended Labs, just can't do the battle. One very strong enemy and 4 strong skorpions. Daze has worked on at most 2.

I need to go back because there's a hard part to do needed for a quest. The Obeyers won't invite yet even though I have leadership 8.

I noticed mines reset when I leave the zone. This makes it harder, that if I take damage from them, I have to activate the mines again when I go back. I'm getting to a point in the game I'm starting to get a bit stuck. The bridges, and a couple areas too hard to do.

OK, googled a little, spores were suggested, or finding a switch to turn them off. That might be how I had them off once. Edit: looks like that was it. Using some sort of 'spore machine' looks like it turned them off. Wasn't clear.

There are some mines you can disarm with mechanical skill. But it appears others that you can't. Not sure how to deal with them. Once, they just didn't go off. That was odd. They had on a previous play, and they did when I restored a save, but one time they didn't. The only approach I'm seeing currently is set off a mine, take a lot of damage, go back to town and heal, repeat. That seems sketchy. Without spoilers much, any ideas?

Thanks. It sounds like the answer is ;yes', good idea to join each. At level 4 I had 5 leadership and met the Obeyers. I just got level 5, I could pump leadership I guess to 8 later and come back to join? Or is that too much in leadership early.

Is it recommended to join each faction to get the bonuses and leave it (until the last one); or is there a reason it's better not to join one or more?