So we're a week in (Eureka). What's your progress?

[Penthea]

I think I've killed maybe 10 things solo and every other time was with a party. The grind is still ridiculous.

Not so much when you farm fates. The xp gain can be very fast if you do a lot. I had a super productive hour earlier this week in which I gained two levels. Think it was from 7 to 9. Something like that.

Also it's only 20 levels. So of course going from one to the next won't be as fast as the rest of the game. Otherwise we'd all be hitting 20 in mere hours.