I enjoyed the runs, it feels like the gear score grows faster then in hoh, which honestly is welcome. There wasn't much content in "run it till you get 99/99 and then you are allowed in the parties who go for 100". I was surprised the actually put effort into the fights, deep dungeons bosses so far were pretty much build around 1 or 2 mechanics and while the new ones still are nowhere near a trial, they at least "feel" a bit better.

A small let down was indeed that you cant do much with the tokens indeed, no one will ever buy Materia with it and the potions usually only benefit those that go for 100 or challenge runs. I was surprised to see SE mix in "extreme" mechanics that basically do not get telegraphed (cept for the last second) and then are able to do lethal or close to lethal damage, those were usually exclusive for high level runs.

I love the idea of Dread monsters, but i feel they will be 90% of the time cheaped out by a storm pomander which drops them to 1hp so it feels like ... counter intuitive? The idea of bonus bosses that could potentially give you a drop or a higher level sack would also feel a bit more "fun" then a buff you might not need. But its i guess a welcome addition.

They played it once again very save by copying 75% of pomanders and traps, the owl is cute though. Combing the Manticore and Succubus into 1 Pomander is also a decent QoL I suppose. If you have 3 friends who welcome a bit of a challenge I'm sure getting the 4 wins for the bonus mount can keep you busy for a bit.

One thing I'm not entirely sure about are the clones you summon, they basically extend your damage by them fighting alongside you ... but isn't that pretty much what a pomander of strength already does? Is it just flavor? Unei can cast at least limited support spells, i've seen stoneskin im not sure i've seen a heal. Doga can cast a 10 second break, but neither comes close to what they replace, the primal magicite. Does anyone know if there are "rare" clones?