Bit confused about the new Apocalyptic difficulty?

[February]

Specifically I mean the "Recommended" power level portion of it. With this patch, it went from 1500 across the board to 1900 across the board. I am still missing a few lvl 3 Boss Creature Cores, but I wasn't expecting to ever reach a 1600 overall power level (I'm in the 1490s range), but how in the world are we supposed to generate "400" overall power out of thin air?

I've already equipped pretty much all (most) of the best damage-oriented Creature Cores that are available; once I get them all, I'll cross the 1500 mark, but to reach 1900? What has changed in the game, and wasn't mentioned in the patch notes, that allows for such a sudden power gap come out of thin air?

What are your guys' overall power levels after beating the game once?

[RCMidas]

You ain't. The power level is generated based on the abilities of the enemies within each mission. Therefore you could hit over 1500 to "reach" the recommended power level for the Endless Arena, but now with the boosts it got - and with Mayhem difficulty taking over its former post - Apocalyptic difficulty is meant to showcase that you ARE ACTUALLY underpowered.

That now you require actual skill and expertise and knowledge to win through against foes far more dangerous than before, and which you cannot match just by shoving in a bunch of cores to boost your power level.

[February]

Okay, so that's the other scenario I thought of - it clearly shows the vast difference between your power level and what the game "estimates" you ought to have in order to take on that difficulty.

Thing is, Apocalyptic isn't difficult at all. It's the same old and tired lame-ass formula of multiplying enemy damage and health. The most uninspired and lazy thing they could've possibly done. Yeah, you can die in 5 hits, but it's all easily circumventable with mobility and abusing the i-frames via finishes.

And if it weren't for enemies being able to chain knockback status effects on you, you wouldn't even ever have a situation where you get hit 5 times within a single second, just because you cannot move/dodge right away after getting knocked back.

Apocalyptic is very lame and you only really "feel" it on two occasions - killing Bosses is simply BORING, because due to the massive Health Boost Apocalyptic gives them, it DRAGS the fights on unnecessarily long, and the other thing are chained knockback effects from lesser enemies.