Haven't gotten a chance to test it yet, hopefully I will do okay with my Ash-Tail set and Faust + Wise Owlite. If not I'll go back to farming Royal Jelly to get money and enough tokens to get Antigua.

I strolled down t3 thinking the same things you did..boy was I in for a rude awakening. All the monsters are hyper-aggressive, leaving little or almost no room for counter attacks. Try fighting a fully fused, spiky leech at depth 26+.

I really need to get a 5-star shield but other than that I'm slowly getting the feel when solo-ing. I just got my Khorovod and that has really helped things with just doing more damage, usually I'll heard the monsters so they all get knocked away from me before they do an attack. Or I just strafe around with a Shadow Driver or Mega Magnus. I'm pretty good at playing Wolver-wack-a-mole now.

T3 IS tough. I made it to the core with one other guildmate and it wasn't TOO bad as long as I maintained a patient, conservative approach. Still, every hit I sustained really, really hurt. Half a bar of HP in some cases. And since that successful run - which as many have pointed out really wasn't worth it in terms of heat or crowns - subsequent visits have led me in to maps that are just not worth fighting in. Too much risk for too little reward. I run right through these levels and ignore all of the monsters that I can.

Definitely needs to be adjusted.

I got invited to play some tier 3 with 3* gear. Took me a while to do any serious damage, but we got to the core eventually. Thankfully status effects deal the same damage weather you have a 1* or 5* weapon.
It's not really too different from the last days of the preview, I think there were other times during rebalancing when T3 was harder than this.

My only problem was that the heat was horrible, and crowns could have been better.

I found Tier 3 really, really easy, as interesting as it might sound. My very first run down there, with half-leveled four-star equipment, was a breeze until the horrifying combo of firestream turrets and oil-coated slimes on a depth 28 arena. Second run right after the first one? Did not die once, got straight to the Core. Of course, I suppose I got fairly lucky with the enemies, but still - a fresh Tier 3 player should not be able to finish the whole place that quick.

The crowns and heat are meh, but it's not like you should even care much for crown drops when you can sell the materials you get for several times more money. The materials, however... I kinda like the amount they're dropped, you get enough to make some money, but not enough to make the four- and five-stars of low value.

I'd say the difficulty should increase more steeply. Tier 3 being quite long, I think it could be roughly divided into two (gradually changing) sections: The easier upper part, which would be somewhat difficult but bearable for anyone with Tier 3 equipment, and the painful lower part, which would basically block most entrance to the Core area - but it would reward you far more greatly. This would make Tier 3 playable for everyone who can access it, but still a challenge for those who need it.

EDIT: I'd like to add that - although my image of what this game should be might differ from what the Devs think - in my opinion the Core should be truly difficult to reach. After all, the Core not being much of an end-game achievement now, what's left are the very few bosses. What is more, the Core would be an excellent dream - everyone knows it, but only very few should reach it, making it more of an elusive, mythical piece rather than an everyday place to visit. Then again, I found Tier 3 quite easy, unlike many, so I'm sure I will be disagreed with.