NGL one of the main things BG series lacked compared to D&D tabletop is simply Ironman mode.
When you think of it the entire sleep / short rest system was invented with the idea a GM would " balance " it for the players.
I stated on page #1 how I see short rest/ long rest becoming a tad more interesting mechanics and under what circumstances after me. That said what I said boils down to what robert is saying now: Leave it alone lol.
And I don't see how we can expect more to be done in BG3 seing how you simply HAVE to overcome certain challenges. What good is there in limitting ressource replenishment if you still expect the player to complete certain encounters at all cost if they want to progress the story?
But putting aside the current reality of BG3 I think the long rest / short rest could become way more meaningfull in "Ironman mode" campaigns more similar to how XCOM series worked. D&D " vanillia" tabletop is 100% ironman mode as far as I understand(Correct me if I'm wrong I only played the PC games) so theoratically we're missing a quite vital component. It would change entirely the definition of quests and story line as right now you simply HAVE to overcome certain challenges to progress the story. What if ...you didn't?
XCOM uses a simply idea -> Your ressources recharge "per mission", some conditions impact soldiers between missions, ressources are limited to a certain number per map. In our case it would be spellslots, for xcom those were soldiers skills/grenades. Ammo was infinite and limited to ammo per clip requiring recharding the weapon at some point. The infamous XCOM reputation for being hard AF comes from early stages soldiers squishiness so really the gameplay loop itself isn't related to difficulty that much.
To some extent i can imagine the long rest and short rest system being back " at home" under those conditions. Imagine the hag quest done this way: You leave the druid grove and head to the swamps. Here you talk with aunthie, the swamp reveals it's true nature. You can't long rest for the entirety of the swamp map. Only short rest. Long rest only if you leave the map. You would have to leave eventually if the hag encounter goes south and you can't defeat her anymore.
Let's say you leave the area: That's when you can long rest, the hag? Maybe you can meet her another day. Maybe you can't anymore. She was just a way to achieve the goal not the goal itself. At this point you long rest and keep playing the game(You visit the grove, maybe you keep chasing the hag but naturally she wouldn't be there anymore for instance. So less loot).
The more I write about it the more it boils down to my post on #1 page. I can't convince myself giving any significance to short rest is possible if long rest exists. And it does. Is it a bad thing? Well not that much, it's just the ressource management comes out a bit weird.
