Some random Brand Feedback
1- Overall I think they make the game a little easier.
2- SP reduction, whether flat amounts or percentage, might be undervalued in their generation. The skill SP reductions are really great, basically like an extra ability slot for Tormentor or similar, and they often didn't come with any significant drawbacks.
3- I got some use out of brands requiring MaxHP on healers and buffers- One that stands out in my mind was a +71 SP brand that required maxHP and maybe hurt agility a little too.
4- The brands that require MaxSP didn't get used, but I can see them being useful with Galvanize and Refresh setups.
5- The current rate of brand generation might be a too high (which might be fine for testing purposes mind you). Apart from trying and failing to set up a dreamstalker shoggoth with this
I never really felt like I had to make choices based on the negative effects of brands, because since there were so many, it was easy to just think 'meh I'll find something similar but better soon enough.' They also felt a bit like clutter that I had to manually delete too after a while. Also, their reusability sometimes led to 'aha, this sp management brand is great, time to stick it on literally every support demon.' To be fair I was really rich this run too, so on less powerful runs the brand cost might be more important.
All in all I do like brands, they provide some extra customization and the more complex ones are fun to try to build strategies around. Could be interesting to see other 'triggers' on brands in some distant future, like Mob Cover or Twilight -style conditionals.