TLDR; Whether they're left in on purpose or not, exploits are still flaws and mistakes, and it's not, in principle, unreasonable to want them gone.
I think the reason this issue bugs me is less the individual exploits and more the sum of their parts. Whatever your actual opinion on them is, this game does have quite a lot of exploits. Stealth, shove mechanics, wizards being able to use every scroll, the barter system, etc. Exploits are, almost by definition, places where the player finds ways to game the system and make it do things that aren't really intended. Every game has these to some extent, and in a broad sense, that's fine. No game is perfect and no devs will be able to predict or account for the myriad ways their massive player base will be able to mess with stuff. It's unreasonable to expect the devs to deal with every exploit and flaw in their games and sometimes there isn't even a way for them to address a thing without breaking something else.
But again, this game has a LOT of exploits compared to most other crpgs I've played. I'm willing to bet there are a lot of exploits compared to a lot of other genre's of game. Larian may keep them in because they think they're fun, but that doesn't change the fact they're flaws. Sure, flaws can provide fun times, but that doesn't make them any less flaws, it just means they're flaws that worked out for the better. They're happy accidents. But if you trip and push someone aside before they get hit by a falling object, that's not heroism, nor do I think leaving in flaws that might improve the game experience is good game design. It's dumb luck, mixed with enough wisdom to recognize that things worked out for you. But despite all that, I have a fundamental problem on principle with the idea that we as players should just ignore flaws if they're bothering us. Larian is, whether actively or passively, allowing mistakes and flaws into the game. And I think that just on principle, people are right to not want flaws in their games. They should be realisitic in understanding that flaws are inevitable, but with BG3, I don't think it's unrealistic at all to want fewer flaws than already exist.
In my opinion these exploits are, in principle, not much different from outright bugs. I'm sure there are people who find certain bugs to be amusing. And there are things like clipping bugs in other games that people even find fun in, such as speedrunners. But that does not make them any less mistakes, things that fundamentally don't belong in the game and in an ideal world would not exist in the games. It doesn't matter if I can avoid them, I shouldn't have to because they shouldn't exist, and given the number of exploits that exist in the game and the amount of money Larian has been provided, and comparing that all to similar games in the genre, I don't believe that Larian has put reasonable effort into trying to remove them.
I also believe that not every game is meant for every person. For some people, Baldur's Gate just on its merits isn't going to be a game they enjoy due to things like the story, the graphics and art diretion, etc. I think if you don't like BG3 for those reasons, you just shouldn't play the game. Those are fundamental parts of the experience that Larian is crafting, and changing them is either impractical or just goes entirely against what Larian is aiming for with the game. These exploits aren't that. They weren't designed in, they weren't choices built into the engine, they were flaws that Larian decided to leave. If those flaws were removed, they would not fundamentally impact the game, for the most part. As a result, when people find these exploits negatively impacting their experience, I believe it's on Larian for allowing the problem to stay, not them for being unable to ignore it. It's not an advertised, part and parcel aspect of the game, it's just a thing that popped up. It's like if you bought a car and it makes a weird sound when you drive at a certain speed. Sure you could ignore it, but if it upsets you, it's not your fault for not being able to ignore it.
Sorry this turned into such a rant. I really wasn't expecting it, but that's my opinion on the whole issue of cheese and exploits.
