First post on the forum, but I had to make it. Larian said they wanted feedback on the evil path? So here I am, I actually like playing evil in RPG/CRPG's and overall I have to say Larian's evil route is pretty lacking. For my feedback, there will be spoilers.
Right, first issue.
There is no incentive to side with the goblins. Unless you like kicking puppies for the sake of it or you just want to have sex with Minthara. That's what I see, the information you have on hand, without metagaming is that the tadpoles are dangerous, you're going to turn in to mindflayers, the game leads you to experts who all tell you that you want that thing out of your head as soon as possible. All of your party members save the vampire are in on that route, this is where the incentive comes in. If you're the good little evil player you would've most likely have used the power of the tadpole, got a dream and found new power. This is where Larian makes the mistake, the entity tempting you in your dream I think is not the tadpole. It's actually a proxy for the absolute. The narration goes into detail that the tadpole hates this person and upon the third dream if you lash out at them, they call you a monster instead of helping you.
If this entity is a proxy of the absolute by the second or third dream they should lead you towards Minthara, or just make an npc who wants to gather "true souls" if I'm outright wrong.
From there Minithara can tell you all about the glory of the cult and the fact you can control the tadpole thanks to the absolute. Que drama, this is the perfect time to do it. Now you have an explanation. Some of the party members can shift and go "wait" we can control it why do we need to get rid of power? Some of the members begin siding with the vampire. While others can still focus on the druid, since they do not trust the drow. What leads me to believe that the absolute's power is keeping the tadpole from changing you is this line, when the Illithiad option changes to true soul.
Now, you have further incentive, more power, more prestige and a lead to the cause of the abnormality if you don't care for the cult at all. Minthara could even begin handing you out quests, the goblin area could become the "evil" hub for the start of act 1. Through quests, slowly she begins to trust you and then she lets you into the plan of attacking the grove to prove yourself and earn an audience with the absolute.
The issue is not the goblin raid itself, but you need a proper lead up to it instead of just turning around and deciding to murder people just because. It doesn't help either when you out yourself to two followers they want you dead on sight.
Last bit, after helping Minthara unless you do a proper dialogue check Minthara wants you dead, because orders from on high. Now we are delving into theory territory, at that point I think your PC is seen as a rival for the title of absolute. I don't know because it's so out there that the boss wants you dead after you did everything to help and now the goblin camp is also hostile. Rendering what you just did a moot point, great job killing those people for nothing.
The evil route needs more build up, more rewards. For example doing the route right could make Minthara a companion or you can keep the goblin camp as a hub or perhaps even both. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say.
