...ironically quite unbalanced. Tier 3 is next to impossible now. Heck, even Tier 2, which I used to breeze through, requires a little more concentration. There's almost no reason to use certain weapons or armor that grant you specific bonuses because the bonuses they grant you are nigh useless. There's no reason to pick up that Vitapod +25 when you'll die in three hits anyways.
Seriously, guys, it was fine before the most recent patches (ie like mid February)- what the heck happened? Even with fully upgraded 5 star equipment, the game becomes next to impossible in deeper depths.
We expect it to get harder as we go deeper; we don't expect it to get exponentially harder. Further, this is just a really unbalanced kind of hard where any pretense of using skill is removed- it becomes a game of timing. Block, attack, run away from that pup turret which has a flamethrower of infinite range, repeat. You don't necessarily have to be a bad player to die at those depths; anyone short of a total god with hacked equipment will be dropping like a fly.
Tier 3 is not that hard if you take correct equipment and play with someone else. I heard Nick once said T3 should be party content, so I think he's getting there.
Except for Vanaduke who is quite impossible with or without a party.