But since we're talking about it, what is the shove action for, if not to shove someone/something? What are the spells in one's spell book for, if not to use them? "but barrelmancy"... Yeah, I've never used it. I have blown up some barrels that were already in place by a mob or two, but I've never placed any, or carried a ton, literally, of them around. This isn't something that Larian invented. I never used food to heal either, not even in Skyrim. I was all the way through my first run before I learned about dipping, from the forums, and I've missed a lot of content because it never occurred to me to abuse the resting system. What is the point of destruct-able environments, if one isn't going to destruct them? Note that if we're going to complain about that here, we have to complain about it everywhere they're available, it's not like Larian invented them either.
Larian did invent barrelmancy - teleporting and exploding barrels was very much D:OS1&2 gameplay.
It's about balance. Shoving can be fun. Shoving someone off the cliff can be fun. Getting shoved of the cliff can be fun. Blowing someone with a barrel can be fun. Destrucatble enviroment is great, bringing map design into consideration. But it needs to reigned in. See highground. Before last patch a singular most important aspect of the combat was being on high ground. You lost a fight? You were probably on low ground - can hit your enemies, they are almost guaranteed to hit you. It got nerfed and is still very powerful, but this time you have options. I don't think barelmancy is a problem anymore - one can still abuse it, but it's not convenient. Shove is - whenever there is drop in the vacinity it is singular, most important factor to consider. Every single lost battle in my current playthrough was because an enemy shoved my party down a pit to which I wasn't even remotly near. I don't think that's good - that's boring.
Here is the problem - while some people keep claiming that unbalanced mechanics don't matter because you can just ignore them it is not how players
works. If they find a simple exploit that works every time, they will just keep using it. Is it their fault? No, I don't think so. If game encourages unfun behaviour, then it has fundamental problems. It doesn't mean it's all awful, but it requires fixing.
Because: What is the objective of the Gith fight, from storytelling perspective? Is it supposed to be a even engagement? Then Larian encourages strategies, that will trivilize most content in the game making their design repetitive and boring. Is it intended to be a difficult fight, one you are not supposed to win, to build up Gith as dangerous warriors for later satisfaction when we can face them on a more even ground? Well it fails as well, as it takes basic understranding of the mechanics to trivilize the encounter.
I don't want to see any of those go (maybe surfaces, unless Larian finds a way for them to not to make concetration spells almost impossible to maintain), I just want them to become a positive additions.
