Point being, they have it in the game but it isn't used. Not that it is an ingenious mechanic that was special to this game. The feedback about the use of camping/long rest/short rest prompted ideas for gameplay mechanics to encourage usage. At the moment it is all arbitrary and might as well long rest every encounter.
Upon seeing this debuff it reveals the developers have/had ideas for long rest/short rest mechanics but we have not seen much. So by bringing up the existence of the debuff I wanted to provide those that have concerns something to discuss.
So being a normal D&D mechanic is fine and good for you to know about, but how is Larian making distinctions here.
Relationship/Story/Quest/Character Development(tadpole special abilities) being tied to long resting is frustrating, as mentioned by Firesnakearies, because there is no obvious feedback mechanism to prompt the players to long rest. My first play through I didn't rest until the end in the Underdark, because I was worried about running out of time, causing me to miss out on a lot of plot development.
Long rest being readily available cheapens short rest, which is a valid complaint. Also in turn devalues mechanics that return on short rest like warlock spell slots and the like, again a valid complaint on mechanics.
Suggestions on long rest being limited to checkpoint locations or in town have come up. or Debuff for resting recently to prevent long resting too rapidly (personally not a fan of). or Requiring short rests prior to long rests. or Time progression on long rest with day/night cycles and duration based events (take too long and the grove gets attacked, or tadpole pops out of your head, or something of the like).
So back to the original post....."oh that is interesting, they have a debuff for not resting, makes you wonder how Larian will manage the resting cycle or did they scrap that idea".
