The recruiting makes sense with that mechanic in mind. If the upgrades drafts were separate from the party management, if you started with a full hand-picked team and could freely replace them after a fight, it would work better.
But that would also let adventures last longer; at some point I started leaving the dungeon early after spending my rerolls, I didn't need anything from the higher floors.
Here's another idea: regional upgrades:
- Each character has a unique upgrade/outfit/scene for each region.
- This upgrade always appears as a Draft node on a predefined floor. This draft guarantees this upgrade as one of its choices, bypassing anti-duplicates and rerolls. This upgrade is only obtainable trough this draft, on this floor, in this region.
- The floor the upgrade is on varies based on its power. No two regional upgrades are on the same floor.
- This means every time the player recruits someone they get a guaranteed Draft node in each region, making it easier.
- It also pushes them to explore the regions again and to discover and reach the floor with the new upgrade, not just farm the early floors.