Progression no longer works since update 0.3

The jump in difficulty should be smoother and the tools you can craft should match the potential challenges you face in the realms you step up to. When you can not even get past the Abeyance sites of power without making an Easy realm to get round it you know something is not right. Battles in Abeyance sites of power should be tough but not unwinnable. I suggest the following changes:

1) Realm power increases with each stage (as before - no big jump between Provisioner to Herbarium, a 10 point increase, 20 for hard and 30 for extreme).

2) Gear quality needs to jump with the difficulty but can not as the tools are locked in later realms you struggle to access. The tiers work better to a point but you should be able to purchase the Rare Upgrade station at Herbarium to make Gloom accessible. This also means you get 3 levels of realms at Rare quality before The Watch instead of 4 and Uncommon and only 2 at Rare.

3) The Bound Knight is just TOO fast. When you have more than 1 to deal with it becomes a mess. The extreme limits put on blocking ability mean you are defenceless very quickly. The other more powerful Bound have mechanics you can work around and use to your advantage to be tactical. The knight is too fast to do anything aside from block and get in a hit and then run away when there are 2 chasing. They come early so should be powered accordingly. The Bound in later realms are much easier to dispatch in contrast.

All these are results of the current progress arc. You have to weave in and out of difficulty settings to make it work as your gear is locked and without being able to keep it in pace with realm difficulty you are stuck. You should be able to progress, albeit slower, at a consistent difficulty level. Aside from additional Essence what is the point of different difficulty?