The new starting companions look a lot more special now, and I particularly like that atleast one of the backgrounds mentions the others in it.
I do think the armour piercing effect may’ve been a little overboard though, given how much damage seems to just go through. And I’m a little terrified of going up against any orcs now, given that you needed high level brothers in medium-heavy armour to deal with them and get out alive, since those weapons they have were absolutely nasty prior to the change and that change likely means they can just outright kill a brother in armour.
Also, the payout for clearing out lairs seems too low nowadays, especially given how tough those goblins are. I mean, 600 gold to clear out ten goblins? I didn’t think they were ever that stingy prior to the update since all the other jobs, but now it’s not worth doing so since the cost of replacement brothers outweighs what you’d get for completing the job most of the time.
Also, I think something might be a little wrong with the worn-out armours, given that they have a higher armour value compared to the regular armours. Dunno if that was intended or not given the dev diary said they’d be weaker than them.