As a long time DM, this game makes me furious. Not because I don't like a good challenge, but because it feels like the game is actively being inconsistent with 5e rules, punishing players and all-in-all making an environment hostile to players, especially those who want to play a heroic character.
- every. damn. NPC. hates you. Why? Why does this have to be so damn oppressive? Where is the levity, the gratitude, the derring-do? Why is everyone such a dick? It doesn't make me want to solve quests because the people who give them to me are such c- well, you know.
- goblins have triple their MM health, loads of alchemists fire. It feels like the DM is cheating for no good reason.
- surfaces. surfaces everywhere. go away.
- the game wastes my time with big 'set piece' battles like the one at the gates of the druid grove. Lots of NPCs fighting lots of NPCs. I can't ambush or anything because a cutscene forces me into combat so far away from the action I spend most moves running. Just use a cutscene, please.
- most fights are so difficult that you need party optimisation, which means you'll need to be a cleric or have shadowheart and that's that.
- picking on low-armor backline targets or knocked out ones. Seriously, I get that in real life monsters will probably do this, but in gameplay the reality is people are going to just give up trying to have low armored casters in their party at all.
- and after all this, theres... nothing. no loot. no helpful items. everything seems empty.
This game has great potential but right now it feels like it is a great adventure in the hands of a shitty neckbeard DM who hates you.
- So much criticism was leveled against Larian for the lighthearted goofiness of their earlier games. Now everyone is a ‘meany’. They can’t win.
- Goblin health? Yeah, not by the official rules. Fights would be too easy if they had 4 hp though. That being said, it’s part of the whole approach. If rests were limited, lower health goblins and such would be fine. The attrition approach of D&D isn’t present.
- I haven’t seen it overly much, but I don’t abuse barrels. Surfaces were too readily present in dos2. Hopefully not as much here.
- Big battles are fine. Seriously seems like a lot of ADD around here.
- Fights aren’t that bad. As it is now, you just need to rest more than you normally would in d&d
- On the one hand, picking on squishy is good A.I. On the other hand, stupid creatures like goblins shouldn’t have much ‘I’ to begin with
- Loot is already too much. Stop with the welfare state DMing
