OK, so I had a lvl 26 Warrior and got myself in over my head with the Sewer of Horrors; no healing potions, omeletes, or recoveries facing the Elemental Plane of Fire. Couldn't make it to the exit, no matter how many times I tried. So I had to reload from an earlier save, level 24 Warrior, still hadn't completed the Ark quest at that point, and of course there were all the newly-added quests to do now. The Warrior was the first character I made, and I had the toughest time with him on the Ark because I really didn't know how to prepare. But now, having played through all the quests with Warrior, Rogue, and Mage (Cleric, ugh, I got to level 18 and gave up, it's just not my thing) I decided I was going to just farm the Sunken Citadel for Elixirs of Galade for a while, then go after the Sewers first (since the sewers yield so many Tomes). So I got over 190 Elixirs, bought about 80 Healing potions, and went after the Sewers. Got through it pretty well, only died a few times (I'm playing on Casual) and now I think I'm ready for the Ark. Still have 91 Elixers and about 35 Healing Potions left. I'm about 3 quarters of the way to level 26; I might just grind at the Sunken Citadel to get more Elixirs until I hit level 26. But now my stats are such that I can get the peaceful ending, whereas the first time through I had to do the big fight. Maybe I can just bust through the Ark right now?