The point is that something needs to be done to make this better. When I first played through the game, I didn't think I could long rest much. Other players will and do think the same way. So they push themselves to get through the hag's lair and other areas because they think that there will be negative consequences if they don't. This is logical because according to the story it wouldn't make sense to End Day when trying to chase a hag who has just kidnapped someone. Likewise, it doesn't make sense to Long Rest after you kill Priestess Gut and then return to the goblin camp seeing that it has had no impact on anyone in the camp. They don't care that Gut is dead. You can still roam about as if no one cares that she's been missing practically 24 hours.
So there needs to be some sort of way to help players other than to allow them to long rest.
So yes, I make it sound easier than it probably is, but it is a big hang up for some players. If it wasn't people wouldn't comment so much about it.
I care, but maybe not as much as you think. I'm not one of those people who will stop playing the game if they don't implement this. However, I will say that if they want this game to be truly epic and great, they need to implement some of these things. That is why I suggest things. It isn't that I hate the game or I can't live with something. I'm just wanting to help improve it.
My suggestion now is to offer alternatives of some kind. Short rests are believable. The hag is preparing her trap for you. The goblins are busy and haven't discovered Gut's body yet. That's not the issue. A Long Rest, however, makes no sense from a story perspective and should therefore be restricted. If you restrict it, though, you need to allow for more ways for players to continue without struggling so hard or making it impossible to complete.
That's why I said they could do things like having it so that the player could recruit the masked adventurers to help. Shoot! Larian wouldn't even need to make it so that the masked adventurers couldn't die. If you kill them, you just shot yourself in the foot. If you knocked them out instead, then you could revive them and get their help against the hag. Things like this shouldn't be that hard to implement in the game but it would give players more options to help them fight tough battles besides long resting all the time.
Same with goblin camp. You kill Gut but need help? Maybe you could free Volo and he helps you. Maybe the guy on the torture rack could be given a health potion to help you fight your way out with his help. There are SO many ways they could help adventurers so that tough boss battles don't require Long Rests.
So I agree that my original solution of Full Recovery Zones/Items is dumb. I'd much more prefer Larian do something else like what I've just described to make these battles a little less reliant on Long Rests.
