From singleplayer perspective I would prefer for the world to stop moving forward (like Fallout1&2).
Larian doesn’t want that for coop reasons - and I don’t think it is a game breaker, but current implementation is lacking. I think engagement bubble should be bigger and should include everyone - animals, neutral character, stealth characters etc (at this moment I can’t precisely remember what applies to BG3 and what to D:OS2).
I wonder if Larian is lacking a crucial system to make it work as we would envision - like NPC awerness. So far it seems that someone entering engagement bubble equals them being aware of everything that is happening and joining the fight. I had some NPCs join Harpy fight - I imagine that if bubble was bigger half of the camp might be drawn over.
At the same time, they do have unaware neutral NPC behaviour that they use when player enters turn based mode out of their own free will - with NPCs following their routines but not entering combat. I suspect however, that player initiated turn based and combat are two different systems.
And some decisions (like stealthed characters not being included in combat) perplexes me since D:OS2.
