(Also I find it cheesy that I can transfer potions and scrolls between characters while in combat.)
They should probably add an option to limit to that, like having to be within a certain distance to "throw" items to party members.
1. This is Early Access, and the party is limited by that, for now. We have no idea how many other companions are coming in the later acts, if any at all.
People have been defending the current companions by saying that this is Early Access and more will be coming, but so far, I think that only two or three other companions might be added.
So, the choice of companions might not get much better in the full game.
I don't dislike the current companions, but it's not good that most of the companions that will be in the game are already disliked.
2. This already exists, in the Options Menu, and I think it's UI. There are some checkboxes you can hit that turn off automatically adding things to the hotbars.
If I'm correct, even if you turn off all of the options to automatically add things, spells and other things are still automatically added to the hotbar.
3. Sure, why not. One can also just choose to take long rests as they feel are appropriate. The irony of all the things people want to add as an "option that can be ignored if one doesn't want to use it", such as Fade to Black sex scenes, or party size being acceptable, but "if LR abuse is troublesome for you don't abuse it" is somehow unacceptable isn't lost on me.
I don't see it as being contradictory since the people complaining about Long Rests not being limited enough aren't necessarily the people defending options like the ones that you mentioned.
That said, I think that Long Rests should be more limited, and that there should be an option to remove those limits.
As for players limiting the mechanic rather than the developers, structure is very important to games.
Even though people can make their own limits in their minds, it's not really the same as having an actual limit.
It feels less rewarding, and it's easy to stray from limits that aren't actual limits.
With an actual limit, you're more likely to go through the game with the limit, and I'm not sure why, but it feels better that way.
For example, you could create your own achievements for a game and mark them as completed as you go, but it feels like more of an accomplishment to complete an already created list.
It's not really a good thing to not be able to imagine limits, stick to them and feel rewarded by that, but games aren't really meant to improve the way that people think.
They're just meant to be entertaining.
