Basically the base game systems are DONE. Just minor patches.
Surfaces are there to stay
The most glaringly overpowered cantrip surfaces are gone. The other larger AoE surfaces have internal logic/are immersive. Not sure how balanced they are though, but any imbalances can be fixed. These are "Larianisms" that are POSITIVE changes as they add interesting tactical options and complexity.
Incentivizing tactical positioning is another POSITIVE "Larianism". That said, both height and flanking is clearly over-incentivized and this creates an avalanche of balancing issues. Flanking is a much worse issue from a mechanical standpoint however. The way enemies are unresponsive to flanking, makes it a guarantee. You just need perform the same boring "ritual" over and over again. It makes for bad gameplay that also exposes the turn-based combat (that I like) as a really shitty approximation of combat. Instead, an opponent could be made to pivot to face a single threat, requiring either surprise or two foes threatening in order to gain flank bonus.
Furthermore, flanking is imbalancing in an additional way height bonus is not; in that the enemy AI consistently fails to exploit flanking (while being really good at getting height advantage). Height advantage should be down-tuned significantly while flanking should be down-tuned and a less primitive mechanism implemented.
Unimmersive implementation that brings needless complexity to an already overcrowded aspect. There are enough healing options in the game in addition to near unlimited resting. Furthermore, it kind of makes the Goodberry spell superfluous. A slow passive regeneration perhaps as part of a Tadpole power would be more immersive, require no micromanagement and not conflict with other healing options.
Wizards can still learn Cleric spells
This is OVERPOWERED and UNBALANCING in the extreme. It's a GIANT screw you to not only Clerics, but to Bards as well. One of the strongest Bard abilities is Magical Secrets obtainable level 10, 14 and 18 (6 lore) which allows them to learn a couple of spells from another class. This is an unlimited variant of that given a class that is arguably the strongest already - with unlimited resting, besides being given lots of magical item love. This is Swen's love child, and it shows.
barely no new changes to the UI
Targeting enemies or friendlies through portraits. Dedicated torch button. Flee button. General UI improvements, character tooltips, main- & profile menu, surface & cloud tooltips, death saving throws, container UI, and notifications. Options interface changes. Multiplayer UI changes. Multiplayer changes enabling you to see equipment, spells, inventory, and character sheets of other players.
I would refer you to the latest patch notes which is considerably lengthy. Then again, you've clearly made up your mind long ago.
I'm done with DOS3 and more than happy with playing Baldurs gate 2 again. The king lives on.
BG3 is not going to be a D&D simulator, and that is a good thing in my mind. However, clearly Larian has been erring on the side of radical change so far, defaulting to their cheese over more immersive D&D alternatives. Larian has been somewhat responsive though, so I wouldn't rule out positive changes, even significant ones down the line.
Good luck replaying your perfect game over and over again.
