I run into this situation very frequently and I believe part of the issue is that it’s trying to average the level for everyone, imo there should be level caps on difficulty depending on the player with the lowest level/MMR, for example if there is a lvl1 on the group mission difficulty should not be able to go above maybe 25, like you said its way more important for low levels to be able to effectively do damage and not die constantly than it is to challenge the higher lvl players in a scenario like this.

On a related note Harec should require a higher lvl to unlock, a lvl1 player on a Konstantin, Alicia or Lycus can be of use while they learn the game, a lvl 1 Harec though is always dead weight.

I already asked for this on steam, but since I’m not sure how much the devs scan those forums I’ll add my voice here, please add an option to queue PVE, I am sick and tired of not being able to enjoy the game due to the antagonist system, sometimes u get lucky and have 4-5 matches in a row without an antagonist and the game shines, I’m not saying remove it but let ppl that don’t want a to be a part of it relax and enjoy the game.