When my Reynauld broke, he went Irrational.
I think the Quirk gains at the end of a run are definitely tied to events in the Dungeon. I think they'd be well served by pointing that out to the player, otherwise the connection between what they've been through and how they've evolved feels a little more arbitrary and less thematic. Something like "Caused by Maggot Crits" as a tool tip.
FINALLY beat the first Apprentice Mission. Several factors contributed. 1. I got an absolute buttload of crits which kept my stress way down and kept my health totals up. I left with everyone at less than half stress and health. 2. I had a Vestal and a Healing Crusader. That allowed me to milk some fights for probably a total of 8 or so HP for everyone over the course of the run, and on top of all the crits, helped me keep my life totals up. 3. I kept my light absolutely maxed out the whole time. It took about 4 torches to get through the whole thing in one piece, or 300 gold. 4. I had at least 3 empty rooms rather than treasure rooms. Those treasure room fights can be nasty. 5. I got a handful of super easy fights. Spiders and Maggots by themselves are weak and easy to deal with before they start causing you lots of problems. So the early game isn't unwinnable, but it's all highly random. And the net gain from the rolls coming up in your favor is far, far less than the net losses you get from bad runs. That said, you DO get a very nice chunk of total gold after completing, which makes it all a little more bearable.
So what do you think about classes so far Cthulhu? Jester seems.....YOLO? All his strongest attacks are from the front two rows which is a terrible place for him to be. His main attack puts him in front rank. And one of his key note abilities debuff him for seemingly not a lot of effect. I haven't seen all his skills, but he's a weird quirky fighter who doesn't seem that great next to the actual warriors. Crusader is just rock solid. Stun is the basis of dealing with a lot of nasty big guys. Even works as a battlehealer in a pinch, and the ability to remove stress is very nice if you can find the time to use it between heals or fighting. Bounty Hunter is just a fucking beast, deals good base damage and Mark/Collect will fucking wreck anything it hits. Plague Doctor doesn't seem to bring a lot to the table. Her support abilities can fail, and her offensive abilities are all DoTs or something of that nature. She has zero stopping power. I think I'd rather have a Vestal, if I'm going to take a character that doesn't do a lot of damage. The Vestal is...ok, I guess. It's nice being able to shave off 3 or 4 damage a fight with her heals, since this game is all about attrition. She's got a backrow stun and a couple other tricks. She's not a dramatic contributor to success but I think she helps. The Highwayman is just a great all around damage dealer from almost anywhere in the ranks. Nothing fancy, just single and aoe damage and a base attack that causes bleed, which is a nice perk. Haven't had a lot of time with the Helion or the Leper yet, and I've only dabbled in the Occultist. Honestly, compared to a lot of fantasy games, casters seem very underpowered in this. They don't deal a shit load of damage in a game where you need stuff to die ASAP, and all their abilities are either severely limited (like their heals) or subject to failure (Plague Doctor/Occultist.) Maybe they show their strengths as they level up. Grave Robber....I'm torn on. Scout is amazing, it's really helpful especially if you want to know whether it's worth continuing, or bailing out now. On the other hand, her abilities kinda suck IMO. She's got a self buff for dodging, a back row blight attack, and a fairly mediocre 2 or 3 row enemy midrow ability (basically the Highwayman's Grapeshot with more restrictions and less damage.) And that dodge back move. I dunno. You could get a far harder hitting character that can chew through the front ranks from position 3 like the Bounty Hunter, rather than her who nances about throwing knives to underwhelming effect. Again, haven't seen all her abilities but...she's also the one that went selfish on me and turned into a raging bitch, so I might be holding that against her.
I think a good place to invest your heirlooms immediately is the cap on how many heroes you can recruit each week. A constant stream of warm bodies that can fills gaps left by convalescing veterans is useful in just getting through a week. And maybe you'll get lucky and roll up a basically solid party that can win its first time in like I did. Second I think would be decreasing the cost of your recovery options. Some of them have some pretty big drawbacks. You get like Spd -5 in the next adventure for using the Brothel. If you have two or three characters use that, that is a huge disadvantage in the Dungeon. The AI is mean enough to target the weakest members of your party (most of the time), so letting all three or four of them go first can lead to a lot of snowballing catastrophes in one turn.
I think I need a little break. This is the kind of game where the stress actively makes you want to step back from it for a while.