@LukasPrism: Cool Idea. I added auto-looting to one of my
mods in the past, but it was hard. When game developers assume all items are picked up by a player controlled character, adding the feature can lead to unexpected bugs. For example, I had to identify items that might cause nearby NPCs to go hostile or kick off quests or cutscenes and make sure companions avoided them. So it is not something I would add with a mod (again) because it is just too hard to implement, but if Larian wanted to add it, more power to them.
Implementation would be trivial if map was already laced with "auto-loot-friendly" ai-hint flags on containers.
@Ianthebea: From interviews, my understanding is that the main reason they want to remove all but 3 companions is that companion quest lines are often driven by story events where they need to be with you to unlock companion quest progress. Like picking up that journal when shadow heart is in the party. Or confronting that goblin at the windmill when Wyll is in your party. Or happening upon that blood drained boar or hunter when Astarion is in the party. Or confronting tht Gith patrol with Laz'el in your party. The fear is if all companions are not WITH you, then you will miss important moments that unlock dialogue trees needed for their progress. That is actually why I think a party size of 6 makes MORE sense and some of these suggestions like not limiting interjections and reactions to 1 companion would help avoid those concerns... even if they still have to eliminate all but 5 companions. Of coarse I hope they go with a BG1/BG2 approach where companions unlock quests but don't have to be with you the whole time... but we will see.
If by "go against larian's design", you mean it is not something DOS2 let you do, then you are correct. But the point of the thread is to help Larian understand ways they can improve their companion system based on features I have added to some of my more popular
mods. BG1/BG2 set several new bars regarding companions in cRPGs when they came out. I'm trying to help Larian do the same. None of my suggestions become obsolete if Larian decides to remove the companion pool. Just means you wouldn't need to account for companions "back at camp".
