I also dont like the fact that some fights start and my group is not where i want it to be. Though it does feels like normal (rpg wise) as you never know when a fight is gonna start. The problem is that positioning is half a victory or defeat so my suggestion would be the following.
When a fight start there should be a free round for all the characters and npcs to position in the battlefield. This round is affected by initiative and players can only move and not use any spells/skills. Also cannot move objects or benefit from attacks of opportunity or even move a character too close to an opponent and there should be a limitation on maximum distance moved from starting point.Just couple of meters should do the trick. If properly ballanced it could upgrade the fighting experience by a lot,otherwise it could also destroy it.
