Seems like lvl 25 special dungeon quests are quite misleading in terms of difficulties spikes, specially Honda Tadakatsu for the starting dungeon, as is harder than all chapter 2 missions from Uprising of Mikawa that is for recommended for players lv 30+ , in my opinion this may be discouraging newer players thinking that if they dont spend money or play a lot they will not be able to progress , There also quite a few noob traps like the Crane formation and wasting time farming gear in quest that have only 1 good reward out of the 6 possibles For example farming equipment in earlier chapters its fairly unproductive. The jump on difficulty may make new players try to get strong in sub-optimal ways instead advancing in the campaign and focusing on the forge/lab upgrades ( Port for example is also a noob trap earlier in the game). Same goes as the mechanic about hidden battle quests making them appear only after reaching a certain number of starts on the battles, unlocking Rokkaku Yoshitaka on the battle of kumeda (first battle of chapter 2) for example is really important for newer players as this is the quest drops two higher troop upgrades for cavalry, the crimson rider and the knight. This upgrades really helped me fighting against the lv 29 quest battle against Shimozuma Rairen in the Uprising of mikawa (second part of chapter 2) This level 29 battle is actually easier than the level 25 battles from the special dungeons and drops a blue weapon named the Mumei sword and a troop upgrade for samurai troops that made me jump in power to the point where i was finally able to progress further on the special dungeons even thought i didnt had the Tiger of Kai.

Obviously a fair amount of noob traps and sub-optimal decision in the early game can be skipped by having ealry-game power house like the tiger of kai or spending a few amount of nutaku gold but hopefully the community will be able to put a guide for people who dont , a discord community that is interested in helping new players could aso help. In my opinion the game is fairly fair to F2P players and how troops and general interact with each other putting and emphasis on synergy makes your way of play unique. Even thought noone can deny that this game has his fair share of grind, grinding quest that have two good rewards out of the 6 certainly makes it more fun and less annoying.