Dazzling Display is required for Shatter Defenses, a great combat feat if you have the ability to make enemies shaken (Dirge Bard).Outflank is great on any melee companions.When Storyteller disappears in Act 3, he can be found by following the Dragon quest.Crafting in the game is useful, especially with making high CL scrolls of break enchantment, remove curse, etc.You can't complete Heart of Mystery or Nenio's personal quest until Act 5.5(Angel, Demon, Trickster, Aeon, Azata) are available in act 1, Lich is available in Act 2, and the last 4 are late game decisions requiring a bit more effort in Act 2 and on. Mythic paths need to be unlocked to be available.Each chapter will telegraph its end and ask if you are ready, and you'll get one more chance to decline.Companion quests aren't timed but a good idea to do when you get them for the rewards.The exception is Act 1, where some things will play out differently if you take a few days to get to them The game rushes you along but is very generous with any consequence timers.
You get several free respecs from Hilor at base.Prestige classes sound amazing but aren't generally better then base classes.Pets are incredibly powerful, and you can also get them from creative use of mythic abilities or class dips.Any single class build should be sufficient for normal or below.Some Mythic paths favor certain builds, but all have feats and abilities to work with any class.There's some reactivity for your race and deity worshiped.Use all the tools and tricks at your disposal when hitting a wall. Metamagic and consumables can make challenging fights easy.Something immune to death spells will ignore Finger of Death for example. When facing tough enemies read their stat sheet to see if they have immunities to spell types.