I agree... to some extent.
Just finished my first playthrough and I think that "more levels, less increment in between" would help a bit with the "shopping" annoyance (one of the very few points of criticism I have).
With 22 realistic levels (I put a lot of effort into perfecting this run, didn't do the deathfog trick in Fort Joy, though, this time, because after doing it like 10 times I was a bit tired of it) between "poor me is a prisoner on his way to Dallis torture chamber" and "zomg I AM SE GOD!!!11" there is not really much leeway in terms of "graduality between levels".
At some point (in my first attempt this happened in Driftwood, later it started at around level 3 in the 'Joy) I found myself simply trying to "overlevel" as much as possible to get to the point in the game where I could really see something I haven't done in former attempts (logically), which, on the other hand, led to a lot of whacking enemies with a single round (in my first playthrough I wiped 11 times - I kid you not - against the claymen).
Maybe D:OS 3 should have many more character levels and much smaller multipliers, while at the same time keeping the difference between entry and expected end game level (I think for D:OS 2 it was 20, with 23 apparently attainable, but I have no idea how) about the same as in D:OS 2.
Shopping, however, is a different topic here. I found it fun in the Joy, acceptable in Driftwood and outright annoying in Arx (because there were too few viable items and many were really stupid, like an "requires 14 intelligence" chest with "+2 Strength", which makes no sense at all, I would really LOVE to see the build which would make use of such a thing, but maybe I'm not creative enough or so).
I would like to see:
* More character levels with smaller scaling in between, but about the same relation between level 1 and expected end game level as in D:OS 2
* Crafting instead of shopping, making it a virtue... so you get your own, handcrafted "super staff of the Firesong" if you really put effort into it (this could include optional quests as well)
* Shopping only for very basic items, skills, crafting materials and vanity items (how about transmogrification?)
OT, but this comes really from the heart:
* Not being forced to decide between "helping everyone on the Merryweather" and "getting my companions civil abilities a bit less unusable until we get our own ship" (which is a major thing for me... I play with "Fort Joy Respec Mirror" mod now, and I use it once after companions are gathered so I can have them in useful roles out of combat as well, instead of crawling on the skin of my teeth financially through the first act)
