I love the ground effects. I've been trying to figure out why people hate them so much. If they were removed I think I'd stop playing this game because it'd be so boring.
It's because the game is trying to use Hit points, Armor Class, and Spell Slots from D&D 5e, which is based around the idea of attrition of health and other resources over encounters, and it's also using massive AoE attacks in every battle, unresistable status effects, surface damage, and high ground advantage from D:OS 2, which is based around the idea of being fully healed and fully charged for each encounter.
The two systems clash when used together. If Larian really wants to use AoE's, unresistable status effects, surfaces, and high ground advantage, it also has to change the parts which are designed based on a system which doesn't have those.
EDIT: There's more. Some spells target AC, other spells require the target to make saving throws. The spells which target AC are easier to hit because of lowered monster AC. Saving throws have not been altered. This means spells which require saving throws have not been rebalanced and are now underwhelming to use and are not effective. See Sacred Flame, Color Spray, Sleep - all of those feel very bad to use because they're much more ineffective than they should be.
Other spells are powerful because they require Concentration to be effective. Concentration is a saving throw. Saving throws are much easier to fail when there is unresistable, no-saving-throw-to-avoid damage and AoE attacks and explosions all over the place. This makes concentration spells less effective, AND LESS FUN TO USE.
