I feel like maybe there's a lesson in here, somewhere.

I'm a bit of a role player so I can't really see my toon doing ng+ more than once. Losing everyone close to you (and everything you've built) seems a steep price for more power when you are already pretty powerful. The Pilgrim explicitly makes you admit it before telling you where to look for the Unity.

I felt the same way almost immediately after my first go through the Unity. Played in the new universe for a couple hours before deciding to reload a save from before the transition, and made the opposite choice. Some of the conversations you have at the Lodge after choosing to stay are pretty poignant, so I'm glad I got to see that.

I'll probably go full into NG+ at some point, but wanted to more fully experience my original universe first. Plus, it's way easier to get those final research projects and max out a few choice skills when I have millions of credits and a boatload of materials gathered off of an entire campaign. I highly doubt I'll have those levels of resources available again.

I’m doing the same thing. I couldn’t stand the fact that in my first play through, I wouldn’t be as powerful as I could be.

So I made the decision to leave everything behind, grind all my skills to 10 and then FINALLY start playing the game in NG9. Lmao.

Takes me about 4.5 hours to comfortably get through a new game, and I’m halfway through 5 right now.

It is a grind. Be warned y’all.

There’s no turning back for me now.