It's important to remember that Swen has all the Metadata from millions of playthroughs that shows him what people like to do. BG3 will be affected more by that metadata than us crazy people who post on the forums.
It's important to remember that having data is worthless unless you know how to use it, and Larian has demonstrated that they do not.
Really? How so?
If you had metadata showing that people love to be shoving peeps around would you remove shove?
How have they demonstrated they don't know how to use data?
The metadata could only show you how much people are using the ability, not exactly why and how much they are enjoying it. That's his entire point, and it's a very legitimate one. If you give me an overpowered ability I'll use it to get the most benefits from it, especially if I'm in a tight spot, but it doesn't mean I like its existence or how predominant it can be over any other strategy.
Exactly.
Also, an example that has floated around several times (including recently) is that they erroneously concluded, based on the fact that people don't use Bless very much, that people don't like to use buffs. The actual issue causing people to use Bless infrequently is very likely a combination of the following: -It is difficult to use Bless in BG3. For no apparent reason, the interface makes it hard to select the targets you want to select. -BG3 doesn't teach players how to play BG3. If people don't understand the mechanics of the game, they won't understand the benefit of buffs. (Whereas damage is easy to understand.) Similarly, when you do use Bless, the effects aren't displayed well. -Concentration spells in BG3 are devalued because the game adds more ways to break concentration (e.g. unavoidable damage from surfaces as well as Prone being treated as Incapacitated). -Easy access to Advantage through high ground and backstab makes it much easier to land attacks, obviating the need for Bless.
They broke Bless with their own bad design and then blamed us for not finding it rewarding.
Telemetry can be useful for investigating some things, but it can never tell you why people behave the way they do - for that, you have to talk to people and actually listen.
