GMing for role playing games has always taken a lot of dedication of time and resources. It can be like a 2nd full time job at times. I doubt GMing in DOS2 will be a whole lot different.
Could it be improved, oh yeah. Is it as bad as you seem to feel, no, not to me at least. It's got a ton of potential, especially as you point out, to those willing to put in some work with the editor. But, even for those not willing to, there will be a ton of great community created content such as towns and other large areas in very short order; already are a few out there.
Some of your complaints are pretty valid, such as no RTS style control of NPCs and monsters, but others are pretty trivial, such as dialogue. It's a role playing game, role play. I'd recommended grabbing a cheap headset and communicating via skype or discord and you'll never have issue with dialogue again.
GM mode was created to essentially bridge the gap between pnp rpgs and computer games. Treat it more like a pnp game and all that usually entails and less like a dungeon management sim and you'll be happier.
You are very correct that you'll have to spend some time creating an adventure/world for your players to inhabit for them to be happy, as is the case with any pnp rpg out there. Very few GMs have the skill to just improvise everything and still provide a great gaming experience for all. It does feel a bit clunky at the moment, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in short order.
I'm personally not going to try to use GM mode any differently than I would normally gm a pnp rpg. I'm not going to create maps for every tavern or hovel like you'd see in most pc games, but rather, I'm going to just narrate and use vignettes and RP with players to a great degree. I'll build/find appropriate maps for the important areas and for those with combat encounters and RP the rest. Basically, DOS 2 is going to be the coolest battle map ever.
We definitely need a gm+5 or 6 player mod though. I've got more than 4 friends.
Last edited by Ghatt; 26/09/17 09:40 PM.