Played for 10ish hours yesterday, got decently into act 1, and really like the amount of non-combat / peaceful ways to do things however there's a few things that make it feel super unrewarding to do so.
1) XP for non-combat solutions - Killing things and progressing quests generate xp, but in a game where there is a limited amount of XP to gain and a schedule progression wise to gain it, it feels punishing to not just murder hobo your way through everything. There's multiple points after the ship (act 0 i guess), where you can avoid a combat permanently by persuading the enemies to just leave, however that means losing out on a potentially sizable amount of xp. I think ending encounters peacefully should give the same amount of xp to compensate; it's not about working harder or easier, but about expression on how you solve problems, right? D:OS2 had a wierd behavior where you finished quests and then killed the questgiver for more xp, I think that's unhealthy for roleplaying, and there shouldn't be an inherent reward for playing so wierdly. I enjoy playing good characters as much as bad, and in a game where there seem to be distinct options to do so, then there shouldn't be such incentives to do both.
2) Allow stealth for casting, esp "charm" spells. - Sure components mean that people can still "catch" you casting, but they still have to notice em. Casting charm person in a noisy bar should be possible for a seasoned trickster or thief, so that even a successful will save doesn't mean the target is directly suspicious of the caster. The fact that a successful save against charm person makes you lose tons of affinity and the npc runs off like you set their hair on fire, kinda ruins it for that playstyle and the spell, esp since there's little mechanical different between casting guidance on an ally before a conversation vs charm on an npc.
3) Charms should be able to render hostiles non-aggressive, maybe with a persuasion check. - There've been multiple times when I've encountered npcs that are outright hostile, that I'd like to initiate w/ talking to and getting closer first. Charm seems to be the spell for that, oppurtunities to interrogate would be foes, chances to sway them to retreat (see 1), or delay them from killing an innocent. I know that'll be a lot of scripting and writing, but a basic charm so that you can get better positioned isn't too bad, and doesn't need a cutscene every time. Otherwise, an entire playstyle and school of casting becomes worse guidance that uses a spell slot at low levels, and situational single target CC at high.
