4 Player party vs 6 player party this is another detriment to BG3 the 4 character party really limits what you can do with the group especially when you factor in mercenarys that were mentions down the road. Which is also in WOTR. Having that option for a custom party and having a 6 character party lets you get those story elements in with other characters and still lets you build the party the way you want. It also helps with having a necessary diversity to deal with different situations and encounters. Thinking of your typical party what comes to mind is wanting that diversity in your setup wanting 1 character to heal, wanting your skill based character in a rogue or a bard, your ranged caster, your melee fighter and your melee tank. + the additional off setting character who might be a ranged dps, a divine caster ect. There is more diversity options for you to customize your party the way you want to build it having a larger group.
I generally don't have a stake in this particular argument as it boils down to encounter balance at the end of the day. But you are correct in that party diversity is going to be an issue when you compare a 4 person party to a 6 person party. I remember when PoE went from 6 party members to 5 in PoE2. It had a huge effect on the community's perception of class balance in the end. Classes with more generalized roles like Druid were suddenly seen as straight up inferior to classes with more specialized roles such as Wizards and Clerics in PoE2, and Rangers also caught some heat for KOed animal companions resulting in the ranger suffering significant stat penalties on top of that.
Personally, I run the following main party in WotR.
- Seelah (main tank/highly mobile melee bruiser when mounted) - Camellia (front line sub-tank/melee damage/divine or nature-based caster) - Ember (buffer/crowd control/debuffer) - Eldritch Archer MC (hybrid arcane caster/ranged DPS) - Arueshalae (pure ranged DPS/divine or nature-based support caster) - Lann (pure ranged DPS/back line tank, specialized into shortbows instead of longbows) (There is also the dragon Aivu as a permanent 7th party member, who acts as an AoE blaster and sub-tank with a spammable cone breath attack)
If I had to drop 2 party members from that setup for a 4 person party, I would most likely end up dropping Lann and either Ember or Camellia. Note that I have 3 archers in this setup, but all three cover distinctly different roles.
Meanwhile, I run the following in BG3.
- Bard MC (archer/support caster tank) - Shadowheart (divine caster tank) - Wyll (arcane caster) - Gale (arcane caster)
Granted, I can replace Wyll or Gale with Lae'zel or Astarion for some much needed melee damage, though I'm not fond of them on a personal preference level. I would drop Wyll in a heartbeat if we got a Paladin or Druid party member. Assuming BG3 has a companion of all 10 base classes, my final party setup if we were to have a 6 person party instead would look like the below.
- Bard MC - Shadowheart - Gale - Druid companion - Paladin companion - Monk companion
If I run a 4 person party, I'd most likely end up dropping the Monk and Druid. My original plan was to drop Shadowheart in favor of the Paladin to make room for the Druid, but it's now become blatantly obvious that she's meant to be BG3's version of Morrigan, and her presence in the party now comes off as absolutely essential for the story. (It's worth noting that I consider Arueshalae to have a similar role in WotR in terms of being 'essential', but not as much as Shadowheart.)
Admittedly, BG3's party diversity might only feel like it's in a bad spot right now because there are so few companions to begin with along with available classes at the moment. It's why I really hope that the next patch introduces a new party member (hopefully the Druid) along with a new class.
