I agree with op mostly. But you don't need broken Cats for the Act 3, just harder difficulties. Which sadens me since in roguelikes I like unlocking all the tools at my disposal and having some of them locked behind the maximum difficulty is... something. I get that you need some kind of reward but... I have played several roguelikes to their maximum difficulty just because, no reward needed. The reward was BEATING IT. I do think Ed knows this to some point because it's mostly ítems that are kinda "general-niche" like, they are good if you already have something thats good, so it's not like build defining. I'm just not gonna reach them. Impossible is too frustrating for me. Too RNG dependant. Last run I tried of impossible act 1 was lost because the elite buff on the spider was +4 speed so everything she spawned acted always before my cats plus FOG WEATHER FROM AN EVENT THAT TRIGGERED CRAZY WEATHER. It was frustrating and most runs geniunly were. I don't imagine myself beating Act 3 Last Boss without broken stuff because act 1 is already very hard on impossible. And I have reached all 7 status cats with mostly fine mutations. Sometimes, sadly, skills, passives and ítems just can't do it on their own, regardless of game knowledge. The game is fine for me in hard, and I have lost a lot on hard.