Excited for Druids, but the way they hyped up this patch made me think there was going to be more than just a new class. I was really hoping for the Druid companion, or even Act "1-B" to be part of it. However, if this patch is as big as they're saying it'll be, presumably most of the content related to a meatier update with stuff like other classes, new areas, and new quests will be included in Patch 4. Which means I'm curious to see what Dataminers find when they work their magic.
Going by the press for the Patch 4 announcement, this is essentially all we're getting this time around. Honestly, with the pace of content being released I'd rather they not even bother updating EA beyond bug fixes until release and instead actually tell/show people what they're working on. I don't see the point of an EA where nothing significant really changes when they could've released a (free) demo and been done with it.
On another note, it definitely seems they're leaning into the "everything must be AWESOME" design philosophy, which (for me) doesn't bode well. You can get around designing a game system based on "what looks/feels cool" in a FPS and such because they're typically a) much shorter, b) faster paced, and c) less numbers-oriented, but for a party-based RPG this doesn't fit at all. Focusing on over-the-top cheese mechanics because they seem cooler than standard rules is a good way to end up with a very broken combat system that funnels players into a certain style of play. I think the new Pathfinder stands in contrast to this because combat is both engaging and thoughtful in a way BGIII isn't.
