I said: Don't give Xp for random encounters, because those shouldn't be farmable. I honestly don't like the idea of linking XP to just killing, but that's a computer game thing (I link it to objectives in my campaign)
I also prefer milestone levelling to xp, but I don't think Larian will rebuild the game around it. Mostly because you can progress through the game in many ways at setting progress points at arbitrary story points wouldn't make sense to me.
That said, if an random encounter doesn't offer XP or tangible loot then I just spent 5-20 minutes doing nothing. I didn't progress the story, I didn't get XP. In fact I may have lost resources to deal with it. How is that rewarding?
And as I said, it's not "unrelated" it should be related to the story, but not a "story battle". If you travel from the Inn to the Grove you'll pass through Goblin territory, it makes sense the goblins would have patrols around. Or that more Gnolls appear.
If I was just done fighting goblins and I head back to camp and get to fight more goblins - then what is the point. It didn't add variety to my gameplay and if it doesn't offer me a story reward then why bother. Particularly if there is no XP reward like you suggest.
Also, a threat meter that a player sees is a bad idea. If I know there is a 50% chance I will face a random fight on the way to camp I'll heal and prepare my party. At that point if I prepared to fight I don't need long rest and instead I can do another encounter that will progress the story.
