Per topic, my follower progression has completely stalled, because there are no reliable ways to get the gems and the other special items needed to evolve followers. Are the only ways to get these special evolve items either to grind continuously for their perspective dungeon chests, or to buy them with real life $$?
I have maybe seen 1 special follower item in daily challenge in the past 3 weeks… Never seen any from chest drops, and I grind dungeon chest everyday, and the quest system only gives 1 per a few chapters worth of quests…
Not sure where you are in your “progression” but you can refer to the chart in this link to see which sidequests give which Crystals during Class playthroughs:
If you have only worked on one class then you have 4 additional classes that can potentially generate Crystals via playthroughs. Although additional playthroughs might be repetitive it’s also a good way to get additional resources and opportunities to develop the additional classes for varied playability.