This might require another thread but most people are focusing on the 2nd vs 5th ed portion of the letter but as important is the "open world" / non-linear model of BG.
Especially in BG1 I could just forget the plot altogether and decide to see what was happening on the coast for a time. Linearity has been weakness of nearly all the successors to BG such as SoD and PoE1. PoE2 comes closest. Plot? Whatever, I'm going sailing.
I'm waiting to see if act 2 is like chapter 2 of BG2. Can I just go anywhere? If so I think a "skip act 1" mod will be popular just like "Dungeon be gone" was a popular bg2 mod.
