Very good questions with good reasoning and a polite tone. I hope Larian will start to communicate more.
I'd like to know about the resting system.
You have chosen to not put any kind of risk factor or resource tax on the resting system. Have you considered the implications to class balance when spellcasters who operate on a "per day" basis can rest at will and peak in every encounter?
A big part of excitement in D&D adventuring is camping in dangerous and exotic locations. Some players find the current resting system unimmersive, when you can instantly access the safety of your camp from remote and dangerous, even impossible locations. Short rests don't serve a purpose if you can always opt for a long rest instead. Is the current resting system still a work in progress and can we expect it to change to become more D&D -like, as in the original BG games and more recently Pathfinder?
Agreed, although I think short rests are still useful as they are a bit less disruptive than the teleport to camp. I did find it disheartening how Swen was spamming short rest in his druid demo though, it’s as convenient as drinking a potion. In D&D you still need to rest for an hour, so you can easily be interrupted… you’re not going to do it in a dangerous area while you’re sneaking etc.
Correct me if I am wrong, as I only skimmed the 5e rules, but it is my understanding that the only consequence of long resting in current 5e DnD is time ( once every 24 hours ). As neither time pressure nor any need to eat exist in the game, the "rest anywhere" mechanic is actully in accordance with 5e.
It may not be what you consider the spirit of 5e, but it does seem to accurately reflect the rules.
Time pressure, need to eat, etc. exist to the extent that the DM and other players in your particular game acknowledge them. The rules don't strictly dictate what needs to happen because they don't need to; people fill this in on their own based on what makes sense to them.
I've only played in a few games where anyone cared about food - those were usually survival-focused, where resources were scarce. I have only rarely had a game where time pressure didn't exist in some form, and they were usually not very good as a result. I've never had a game where the players could go without sleep for days on end without consequences nor a game where you could get a full night's sleep, wake up and have a 30-second battle, and then go right back to sleep for another eight hours. It seems unreasonable to try to do these things because it is totally inconsistent with how things exist in the real world; there is no verisimilitude. Why would we accept something in this game that seems so ridiculous?
The target we should be aiming for isn't necessarily "a strict, literal interpretation of D&D 5e rules," it should be "this is a good game with engaging challenges and a world/characters/story that draw you in." That might be a result of using 5e rules - it might not (though I personally think that
starting with a strong effort at strict interpretation would be a good strategy).
