by Dom's Roundtable
Sites of Grace still exist, and you still rest at a Site of Grace to level up. However, you don't need to rest at a sight of grace to regain your health, you just need to be within the vicinity of it. This is all in an effort to save time and help you be as quick as possible to make sure you are maximizing your time. And, also, if you do decide to rest so you can level up, you don't need to faff about with figuring out, which stats you'd rather increase. You just level from level one, to level two, to level three etc. And depending on the Nightfarer you have chosen, their stats will level accordingly. As an example: The Guardian will get more Endurance and HP, whereas the Recluse will get more Int and Mind.
As you hit certain level thresholds, you will be able to use more and more powerful weapons. So at level nine, you can now use epic weapons. Sometimes you will find a weapon that you're very familiar with like the bloodhound fang, but it won't be the regular plus zero bloodhound fang. It will be a purple weapon, this is an epic weapon, not usable until level nine, but far more powerful. So levelling up is perhaps even more important in Nightreign than it was in Elden Ring. And for this reason, you want make sure you are working together as a group, killing as many enemies and bosses as possible, and you are gathering many, many runes so you can level up and make sure all of your weapons are usable before taking on the Night Boss.
Another returning feature is Healing Flasks. You will see ruined Churches of Marika around the map. Each of these contain one additional charge for your healing flask, and this can be collected by all three players. If one of you picks it up, it won't automatically grant the additional charge to everyone. You will all need to go and collect the item individually.
And finally for returning features that were in Elden Ring that have been slightly tweaked for Nightreign, merchants and the smithing anvil are back. They are spectral merchants. I'm assuming, based on the state of Roundtable Hold, that they all probably died long ago, maybe because of the Night Lords. And if you do happen to find a merchant, you can purchase all manner of consumables, cracked tears, and even smithing stones. (If you're lucky, you can find smithing stones for free.)
Just like levelling up your character, it is extremely important to find or purchase smithing stones to level up your weapons, as you are going to need the increased damage output to take down late game bosses.
