Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[Loggos]

It doesn't help that there isn't any sense of tension with this essentially just being a summer vacation and it honestly feeling like we're just competing against trash-talking kindergarteners that we could end at any moment

At the Moblin village, when Alisaie asked

what Bakool might have planned to cause trouble for us, with that sense of him being an actual threat, it felt so off. Why would she consider this oversized bully an actual danger to us. If he pulled any stunts and we changed gears into "serious mode" he'd be quiet real quick.
I don't know if he'll tap into some mysterious force to power himself up later but until that happens there is no reason for us to consider him a serious opponent.
I know working with our WoL's powerlevel after EW is very difficult and will have to break logic in some regards. Otherwise it would be impossible to have any story with stakes for our characters at this point.
But I don't think they are pulling it off well so far. It feels like we are forced to worry about him for the plot's sake, not because it makes sense.

[Dogempire]

Snip.

Honestly, I'm kind of expecting a forced loss at some point for "tension", though I'm only just past the 1st dungeon.

But maybe that's just me being salty because even though we beat freaking Zenos-Controlled Shinryuu and also Omega, we somehow struggle to beat an old man (Ranjit) in Shadowbringers, even though the only noteworthy thing about him is that he's grinded out killing a bunch of trash mobs (Sin Eaters) and I guess he knows some irrelevant martial art. As powerful as our character is lorewise, we unfortunately still have weakness to plot contrivances.

[GartredZW]

I know working with our WoL's powerlevel after EW is very difficult and will have to break logic in some regards. Otherwise it would be impossible to have any story with stakes for our characters at this point.[/HB]

Well, thanks to Dynamis, we can win or lose any and every fight just because the writers decide that we don't want it enough, or we don't have the right motivation to get amped up.
It's a fine enough plot point, but only to keep the stakes actually manageable. Maybe it would be a bit weird that some two headed Mamool-Ja could give us trouble where the pure manifestation of sorrow and destruction couldn't. Maybe it's the same reason Zenos nearly did us in while Endsinger was more of a victory lap. Once it starts going into the realm of forced losses to obviously weaker opponents, that's when I'll lose interest in that whole idea.