My first node, first attempt was level 170-ish. I do not have 2.5-3 hours a night to play this game, slogging through that kind of nightmare. Level 180+ Ares on the 1st attempt in the 4* required node? This is the “easier” version of their rebalancing changes? Sorry, no thank you.
I have virtually all my 3*'s championed, 2 championed 4*, and many 4* at 172. If my first few runthroughs are not trivially easy, it is simply not fun, and certainly not worth my time.
20-30 levels easier is easier. Whether or not that’s a noticable difference depends on your roster.
Eots, for all its faults, does contain a lot of goons, however most PvE’s contain a wide variety of characters (well 4 actually - Daken, Moonstone, Bullseye & Jugs)
Therein lies the problem: AI doesn’t play this lot badly & they are a pain once over the Lv 200 mark (Bullseye is especially annoying as all match damage goes to 1).
I would much rather face 3 x Lv 300 goons than Lv 200 Daken, Bullseye & Jugs.