No big curve at all, at least in my opinion. The mini spawns mostly are all stuff we have had in game. There are a few new additions in the mini's but not that bad. About the only tuff one you could run into in the Abyss is Slasher of the Veils, ya he's tuff & has a few spec moves (should say paralyzing moves to a player) & so do some of the small critters in the Mini Spawn area's. Best advice I could give is check out Stratics Main page on the left under Expansions & Boosters the [FONT=MS Sans Serif, Arial, Helvetica] Stygian Abyss tab & quick glance through it. The only thing that could be time consuming is learning to Imbue. That could take a little time. The rest is a piece of cake & should come easy for you. GL & enjoy, there is a large area in the Abyss to explore[/FONT]