The blacksmithing system just gave me a quite overpowered 2-hander right off the bat, now I can easily solo 2-3 gladiators (using my two slaves as meat walls)
Now this is starting to annoy me: any auto-attacking gladiator can hit dead gladiators, which makes some of my fights last forever, especially when I'm losing.
DanielMartin, nothing stops you from progressing, since there is no weapon or piece of equipment that cannot be obtained as a random drop or bought with fame.