Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What is this?!

Good question.

Tl;dr : I went into EA expecting insight into BG3’s creation. Larian stating their goals and needs with each iteration of the game would suffice.


Edit:
Oh they definitely will. I’m positive there will be some impressive cosplay and artwork in there, the sum total of which will require significant time and money. That’s what makes the practice ethically iffy.

It’s a private company asking for unpaid volunteers to help it profit. If this were happening in person rather than over the Internet, it would be illegal.

And now you have also made some fair points. This was what I was also trying to say. I feel like the ONLY thing they listened to was advantage high ground was bad. That's pretty much it. They implemented a ton of things we didn't want and ask for, and ignored most of what we suggested.

Take a look at the HUGE list of things Maximuus had compiled once upon a time. NONE of it was implemented, if I recall correctly. Not just some or a few... NONE. Larian did what they wanted and pretty much ignored fan feedback. Shoot. Just look at how many Megathread items were ignored. Megathread! How many Megathread items were implemented? Two. You know, the Megathreads? Things most talked about by fans? Two out of thirteen - Height Advantage and Minthara's appearance.

Do I feel like I REALLY helped them make this game? No. Not even remotely. And THAT is why I won't participate in another EA again.

My sentiments exactly. This was my first time with an EA release, Maybe the way Larian handled it is the norm nowadays. I don't know but I do know I haven't enjoyed the experience and will only buy fully released titles from now on.

As I already noted in a previous thread, there were some contentious points noted by the community that were fixed. Jump to disengage, first person narration and high ground adventage to cite the most popular ones. I have also seen some interesting heatmaps in a patch release post so telemetry has been taken into account.

Hmmm. How many items is that? It's a hugely small number of items we were collectively asking for. Now, I fully get that we ain't gonna get all we're asking for. That's in no way realistic. But seriously, how many suggestions did we REALLY see implemented.

Just to give you an idea of the full scope of this, to illustrate why some of us are frustrated, here's Max's 1 year after EA started compilation of suggestions we collectively made. How many of these were ACTUALLY implemented? .005% maybe? Again. This is a ridiculously long list, but how many of these suggestions were REALLY implemented? Did they REALLY want our feedback?


Hello,

Things have changed so much since the beginning of the Early Access.
It's time to update the list I made a few monthes ago.

I'm not going to focus good things obviously but on issues I have with the game and on things that could be improved (and how) in my opinion.
It was a hard job to write this and I have probably forgot many things... Reading this forum is very inspiring so I'll probably edit it later.

Feel free to ask for details, to correct me, to add your thoughts. We're all here for a better BG3.

First of all : here's a summary of the 76 suggestions without any comments.
Feel free to read below if you want details.


1- COMBATS
1.1 Shove has to become an action
1.2 Hide has to become an action
1.3 The ready action should be implemented
1.4 The dodge action should be implemented
1.5 A charge action should be implemented
1.6 Remove dipping
1.7 Add one free actions per character and per turn in combats
1.8 Jumping should be a free action that consumme speed correctly
1.9 The reactions should work as intended in DnD. See the megathread.
1.10 Weapons attack should be reworked.
1.11 Swap weapons should not be possible anymore after you made an action, a bonus action or a free action during your turn.
1.12 Weapons slots should be fully customisable ( >< 1 melee slot and 1 range slot)
1.13 Weapons range should not be the same for long/short bow/crossbow
1.14 Add the "thrown" properties for weapons.

2- EXPLORATION / LOOT
2.1 Remove the tedious chain system
2.2 Real time with pause outside combats
2.3 Highlight containers outlines, but with different colors.
2.4 Remove item names when we click tab.
2.5 Rationalise the loot inside containers. Improve looting.

3- SURFACE
3.1 Remove healing surfaces.
3.2 Surfaces should always trigger a saving throw at every turn to avoid damages (not to insta break concentration and insta deal damages).
3.3 Tone down surface consumables and features.
3.4 Surface items (arrows, potions), features (spider spitting poison) and spells should never create a surface if the character dodge the attack.
3.5 Less blood on the ground, please.
3.6 Spells should never create a surface and deal direct damage at the same time (chromatic orb like cantrips at the beginning of the EA).
3.7 Pay attention with higher level spells like fireball please.

4--MAGIC
4.1 Ritual spells should definitely be in the game.
4.2 Classes should have a proper spell list. It makes classes unique.
4.3 Everyone should not be able to use scrolls, only (sub)classes that are proficient with magic.
4.4 Divine spell scrolls should only be available for use by divine spellcasters. The same goes for profane magic (not sure it's the name)
4.5 We should not be able to change our prepared spells whenever we want. It should be a camp activity. It would increase the value of long resting and thinking about our next day.

5- DAY/NIGHT CYCLE
5.1 Add day/night cycle that follows the short and long rests.

6- RESTING
6.1 Short rest improvement.
6.2 Long rests and food supply improvement.
6.3 More camp cinematic during a long rest.
6.4 Tone down the urgency in the story
6.5 Temporal rift - camps should be somewhere

7- ITEMS
7.1 More rewarding items.
7.2 More DnD items please.

8- USER INTERFACE
8.1 Rationalize the main UI element.
8.2 Remove useless icons to rationalize the hotbar
8.3 Create category buttons to rationalize the hotbar
8.4 The minimap and the area map should not spoil us.
8.5 Allow us to hide the minimap
8.6 Decouple the minimap with the most important buttons of the game (character sheet, map, inventory, spells,...)
8.7 Character sheet should show us our character's proficiencies.
8.8 Improve the map. Sorry to say, but the map is ugly.
8.9 Fast travel via the worldmap rather than via a list of convenient magical portals.
8.10 Add tabs in the inventory.
8.11 Create beautifull portrait rather than generic one.

9- CONDITIONS
9.1 Don't add too much conditions.

10- COMPANIONS
10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
10.2 Non-origin companions
10.3 Custom (origin) characters when they're companions

11- SNEAKING / HIDING
11.1 Hearing radius in addition to the vision cone
11.2 Better reaction when the ennemies are attacked by hidden characters.

12- MISC
12.1 Auto jump outside combats, if possible
12.2 No cimematics for dialogs that are not dialogs
12.3 Sneak attack should be automatic
12.4 Rogue should have their expertise feature
12.5 Aradin should not say "form a line"
12.6 Remove the yellow ! when a character want to talk to you.
12.7 Increase the party size to 5
12.8 Allow us to custom a main and a secondary color for all our characters.
12.9 Don't allow us to choose a quest reward, especially when we're in the middle of nowhere and when we're not helping rich people

13- STORY
13.1 Everyone should make dreams, even if you don't use the tadpole.
13.2 Every players should have dream powers. Different powers for tadpole user and for players that don't use it.
13.3 The main character should be the only one to have dreams and powers.
13.4 Reasons to side with Minthara when you meet her looks very uninterresting.
13.5 Hide the grove.
13.6 Goblins at the grove gate should see us and become "hostile" in the cinematic.
13.7 We should not be able to cast 2 level 1+ spells during the same turn.

14- WORLD
14.1 New creature should appear after a while.
14.2 Create "close" combat area (>< wide arena)
14.3 Important area should not be too complicated to reach.
14.4 Encounters/meeting at camp.


1- COMBATS

1.1 Shove has to become an action
The ennemy use it way too much because it is a bonus action. You can experience unexpected game over if you're unlucky. Playing melee characters can be boring because you'll often have to walk a lot to come back in melee. Shove can be used to disengage by the player and the AI. Shove can be use to replace help, in exemple to wake a sleeping character up. Shove is way too powerfull considering the verticality of the game to be a bonus action. A lot of players have said it better than I in other threads

1.2 Hide has to become an action
It's way too easy to have an advantage in melee. It reduce the uniqueness of the rogue class, the only one that should be able to hide as a bonus action. As a bonus action, hiding does not have any trade off. It's not an interresting tactical choice, it's an easy choice. Hiding should not be so easy in combats and on top of that, the AI can't really deal with it. As an action it would be less a thing in combat. It would be a real choice. Here again, a lot of threads are talking about it.

1.3 The ready action should be implemented
1.4 The dodge action should be implemented
1.5 A charge action should be implemented
Charge with any melee weapon : attack with a +2 bonus to attack roll but -1 AC until next round.
Not a charge with the animation, the visual effects and the "rush" mechanic. Just a charge : a character running toward his target then attacking him... As if you were clicking on a target not engaged to attack him in melee (character move and attack right after), but a bit faster.

1.6 Remove dipping.
I thought a lot about it but I can't see anything interresting to do with that. It does not work both visually and mechanically. It's OP, it's boring and it reduce the appeal of +1D4 "elemental damage" weapons.
Guess that's why there are only one in the EA. Cool items are better than dipping.

1.7 Add one free actions per character and per turn in combats
- Take something in someone else's inventory
- Drop an item on the ground
- Equip another item
- Interract with something (lever, door, ladder, ...)
- Jumping
This would be interresting in a tactical game and would create rules, in exemple to prevent using a shortsword in the second hand to attack as a bonus action then equip back a shield or to prevent players to use the best two handed sword with every characters at each turns.

1.8 Jumping should be a free action that consumme speed correctly
Jumping should only cost speed : the good amount of speed depending the distance you jump!
At the moment jumping + moving allow you to move further than if you only move.
This is wierd and boring when you know it because it's the optimal thing to do when you cannot reach a target.
There's a lot of verticality in the game wich is very good, but playing with this verticality should not prevent us to use "reguler" bonus actions.

1.9 The reactions should work as intended in DnD. See the megathread.

1.10 Weapons attack should be reworked.
It's absolutely awesome that we can have more options like we would have in a tabletop session to describe our action. But keep it simple, there are already enough spells and skills and items and rules and conditions (…) to think about or remember when we’re playing a DnD based game.

- Let us use those action as much as we want.
- Those actions should not be more powerfull than basic actions. Let's make them tools rather than "things to use until next time".
- Don't create unnecessary new conditions. It's not required to create great synergies. It's harder to remember and it's not always easy to understand what the effects are usefull for.
- Don't ever make them bonus action

It clearly does not work. Creating a very limited number of new bonus action only have 1 consequence : players (and the AI) have to use them if they want to make optimal moves.
Not using them is like keeping action points for the next turn but loosing them. And no one like this. As a result, we have to use them over and over again or loose our action points.
It would make sense if we had to choose between tons of new homebrew actions but this won't happen.
So please allow us to have a lot of balanced actions and let D&D do what D&D does for action bonuses.
This has too much influence on the uniqueness of the classes, on their balance and on the general balance of resources to use in combats.

- Don't make them specific to a single weapon but to a group of weapon.

It would make more sense, the weapon choice would still really matter but it would allow us to use a larger variety of weapon to do actions we like to play with.
It would be a bit less class dependent and it would be easier to remember them.
In exemple topple for all weapons with the "reach" property, flourish for all the weapons with the "finesse" property... Something like that.

Here are some ideas to rework what we have in the game.
- Topple - inflict prone (no damages)
- Pommel strike - inflict stunned 1 turn (no damages)
- Flourish - Feint an attack to distract the ennemy. The next ally attacking this target have an advantage. (no damages)
- Cleave - attack 3 targets at full damage but you gain 1 level of exhaustion. Normal damages (exhaustion still to implement)
- Weakening Strike: Target an enemy's hands with a non-lethal attack to give disadvantage on its Attack Rolls. Normal damages divided by 2.
- Harmstring shot - Possibly reduce the ennemy's speed by 2. Normal damages divided by 2.

These are choices that are balanced compared to a normal attack, it's may be a lot more possibilities for the players and it does not require any limitations.

1.11 Swap weapons should not be possible anymore after you made an action, a bonus action or a free action during your turn.
Tactical games should have rules, in exemple to prevent players to always take their shield back before they click the "end turn" button.

1.12 Weapons slots should be fully customisable ( >< 1 melee slot and 1 range slot)

1.13 Weapons range should not be the same for long/short bow/crossbow
1.14 Add the "thrown" properties for weapons.


2- EXPLORATION / LOOT

2.1 Remove the tedious chain system
See the mega thread. No one like this system and everyone agree that it does not work well. Characters always have unexpected movement, it's tedious to explore, to ambush, to create group... Nothing is easy nor intuitive with this system.
Changing this would improve BG3 and Larian's next games. Other games have proven that the chain system is not better neither on PC, neither on console.

2.2 Real time with pause outside combats
I said "the words"... Allow us to pause the game outside combat. It would help us to plan, to synchronize, to ambush, to handle a private urgency,... Disable it in multiplayer if you will or make the pause ON only if every player clicked the pause button. Should be possible.

2.3 Highlight containers outlines, but with different colors.
We should be able to highlight all containers with loots inside. At the moment it's really wierd and sometimes boring because despite highlighting : you have to move your mouse on every items that looks like containers to see if it's one or not.
Many players complaints that there are too many containers in the game but the issue raised is more that it takes too much time to open everything.
Highlighting the outline of all containers with different colors would be a great QoL improvement.
- Nothing : nothing inside
- Yellow : items inside
- Red : you'll have trouble but there's something inside

2.4 Remove item names when we click tab.
It's perfectly fine for specific containers names and creatures names in my opinion.
But it's really wierd when you're right next to a table and when a wall of text covering the entire screen appear. And it's even wierder if you move your camera.
I suggest not to write the name of items used as "decorations". Just highlight them with the good color (yellow or red in my previous exemple) and add a popup with the item description if the player point his mouse on the item.

2.5 Rationalise the loot inside containers. Improve looting.
There are too much containers with nothing interresting inside. It's fine to have sometimes a container with a bone or with 3 gold inside it... But it happen way too much in BG3.

Regroup loot in less containers and/or add more interresting things to loot.

My biggest dissapointment is always when I open the goblins treasure...There are 7 chests.
In my last playtrough I got : [4 gold], [9 gold + 1 junk necklace], [112 gold + Selune's amulet], [27 gold + a magical helmet], [empty], [12 gold], [102 gold].
3 of them are perfectly fine... But 4 of them are absolutely not necessary. Remove 3 chests or mark them as empty when highlighted and make one of them with [3 cheap gems + 1 junk necklace + 25 gold].

Right now, I have often have the feeling to loose my time and I don't feel often rewarded when I'm opening containers.
Jewels, gems, luxurious tableware are interresting junk loots because they shout "money".
Anything else is usually a dissapointment. I don't think many of us enjoy to move our mouse on every items inside containers to read the popup and see their value before choosing to take them or not (or being full of junk items).
Looting could definitely be better.


3- SURFACE

3.1 Remove healing surfaces.
It does not make any sense and it makes everyone a better healer than healer (AOE + more items to heal than spellslots). It does not add anything to the game.
3.2 Surfaces should always trigger a saving throw at every turn to avoid damages (not to insta break concentration and insta deal damages).

3.3 Tone down surface consumables and features.
In combats ennemies that can create surfaces do it too often. it happens with poison a lot. And sometimes spiders are just spitting poison for turns without moving (or kiting you) because they think poison is cool. It's not,especially when it's the last spider.
Same with consumables. Every ennemies don't have to have a ranged attack. Keep them for specific ennemies (body guards, bosses,...).

3.4 Surface items (arrows, potions), features (spider spitting poison) and spells should never create a surface if the character dodge the attack.

3.5 Less blood on the ground, please.

3.6 Spells should never create a surface and deal direct damage at the same time (chromatic orb like cantrips at the beginning of the EA).
Chromatic orb is interresting because it deals 3D8 damages. In exemple against ennemies resistant to anything but fire or vulnerable to fire, chromatic Orb won't ever deal 3D8 direct damage in its current implementation.
For such spells, let us choose to target the ground to create a surface (AOE size + duration depending the spell level) or to target the ennemy.
This could work for all DnD spells without area of effect.
For others, see 3.7

3.7 Pay attention with higher level spells like fireball please.
Surfaces in DoS and BG3 never consider what is flamable and what is not. That's fine but a fireball in DnD is not supposed to ignite what is not flamable in his area of effect.
Many players like surfaces but many players don't/won't enjoy playing BG3 with surfaces everywhere. Please consider this, as you did with cantrips.
The best solution would probably be to allow us to use the spells as intended in DnD AND an alternative version that allows us to play with surfaces. In exemple it could be a toggle like metamagic or a choice between two new buttons (ground/targets) when you first clicked the "fireball" button.

Combining both at the same time may be unpleasant for many players, especially when higher levels will be available.


4--MAGIC

4.1 Ritual spells should definitely be in the game.
Not everyone of them, identify and detect magic wouldn't be usefull in BG3. But some spells should not consume any spellslot outside combats like speak with animals.
Playing the druid just make me realize how much content I missed because using spellslots to speak with animals was boring.
It should be possible even for some spells that are not ritual in DnD, like speak with the dead. Prayer of healing would be cool too, but probably OP without any limitation.

4.2 Classes should have a proper spell list. It makes classes unique.

4.3 Everyone should not be able to use scrolls, only (sub)classes that are proficient with magic.

4.4 Divine spell scrolls should only be available for use by divine spellcasters. The same goes for profane magic (not sure it's the name)

4.5 We should not be able to change our prepared spells whenever we want. It should be a camp activity. It would increase the value of long resting and thinking about our next day.


5- DAY/NIGHT CYCLE

Day and Night cycle is a MUST HAVE in such a game and it does not have to be over complicated to add a lot of flavor to the experience.
The resting system already implemented in the game could work very well with a D/N cycle (2 short rest + 1 long rest).

5.1 Add day/night cycle that follows the short and long rests.

A- At the beginning of the journey it's the morning.
B- After you click on the short rest button for the first time it's noon.
C- After you click on the short rest button for the second time it's the evening.
D- After you click the long rest button you're at camp during the night to sleep. Then you start again at 1)

Three differents atmospheres and between them : a short cinematic like a time lapse or a "time lapse" in the game's engine.
Ofc you can take your long rest even if you haven't click on the short rest button. The cinematic is just a bit longer (from morning to midnight).

* This would add something that is really missing in BG3 : a notion of time. It would increase the feeling that the world is living a lot.
* But this feeling of a living world could also be improved with other (optionnal) features :
- Every NPCs does not have to be somewhere else if the cycle has changed, but some could do different things.
- Some ennemies could appear only during a specific cycle. In exemple the first time you cross the wood during the evening, there could be a combat against a few wolves. Some bandits could appear in the blighted village in the morning if you killed the goblins,... It opens the game to many possibilities.
- Meteo effects could also be a thing with an easy transition (1 “random” effect / cycle)
* It would also improve the short rest mechanic, giving it a real meaning without breaking the flow of the game.
* It could also add variation in the gameplay mechanics (light / hide - easier to hide during the evening, to steal a sleeping character,...) and a lot more gameplay variation for players.

There are enough potential to make the D/N cycle something really awesome.

That said, even the most basic D/N cycle (without any changes to NPCs, without any changes to light,..) would greatly improve the game just by adding a concept of time.
I'm not playing multiplayer but if players have to long/short rest at the same time, there's no issue with this system.


6- RESTING

6.1 Short rest improvement.

Short rests are 100% wierd and should be more than a button to regain a few HP.
As I said just above, a D/N cycle triggered by resting would improve the sequence but it should mechanics to play with.
That's how it works in DnD and that's definitely how it should work in BG3.

First of all, let's see what the DnD rebalancing mod have done...
Quote
- Short Rest puts the characters in a standby mode and provides them with 2 new spells
Regain Hit Points: spend 1 Hit Die to recover its value plus the character's Constitution Modifier
End Short Rest: Ends the Short Rest standby mode
- Long Rest recharges half the character's level worth of Hit Dice (rounded up)

It's a mod so probably not "the best" but you get the idea.
Think about Solasta to have another idea. It works very well, it's tactically interresting and it's a part of the gameplay.

A- When you click the short rest button, the characters enter in a standby mode, sitting on the ground in circle or whatever you want.
B- When you select a character, a new short rest window appear with clickable hit dices and with clickable classes features usables during short rests (in exemple arcane recovery)
C- You select what you want to use for every characters.
D- You click the "stop resting button"
E- (The D/N cycle cinematic or time lapse trigger)

You recover all your hit dices during long rest. It's not necessary to implement RAW about hit dice recovery in my opinion. Keep it simple.


6.2 Long rests and food supply improvement.

Long/short rest are a core mechanic of DnD. It's based on time and the restriction is : 1 long rest / day.
Without any restriction, the spellslot system is broken and features you recover while resting don’t have any sense. The differences between classes or their uniqueness are toned down a lot.

Just like in DnD, the game should have rules to determine when we can rest and when we cannot.
Managing our features and spellslots wisely should matter in a tactical game like BG3.

Patch 5 introduced the supply system.
The rule is : "you need enough food to long rest", but in the game it works like this : "you can rest when you want because you'll find tons of supply".

The best solution I can think of would be an option to change the supply value of food to 0.
I did not try not to use any food yet, but I think it would be pretty well balanced if we were only able to use supply bags (not too hard, not too easy).
Of course supply bags should be well distributed in the world and they should be easy to find (i.e don't put them in a hidden container).

With such an option, players could tune their experience for a more challenging one or "unlimited" long rest.
With a few supply bags and food available at merchants, whetever our options we would never be stucked and planning our adventure and our days would matter with the option to turn food off enabled.

6.3 More camp cinematic during a long rest.
Dreams, Raphael, Companions cinematics... The system itself require the player to rest not to miss content. It does not work well with a system builded to be restrictive.
We should be able to experience all unlocked cinematics uduring a single long rest. This would prevent "spamming long rest not to miss content". I think patch 6 has changed things a bit. Not 100% sure.

6.4 Tone down the urgency in the story
The story is telling way too much like "resting = turning into a Mindlflayer". It create some kind of duality opposing the story and the mechanics.
It's absolutely fine to create a feeling of urgency, but not if the fake doesn't look real. I think it would be better to learn faster that the tadpole does not have the expected effects on the party member.
Hearing more people saying "we should have changed, why haven't we ?" or "This guy had a tadpole but never changed" would create a better synergy between the story and the mechanic than hearing constantly "hurry, we're going to turn into mindflayer if we rest".
If resting too much doesn't have any consequences, it should be obvious in the story.

6.5 Temporal rift - camps should be somewhere
When we click the long rest button we’re teleported somewhere… nowhere to be correct.
The camp should definitely be somewhere on the map. It’s really weird at the moment.
It should be "easy" for the main camp and the underdark camp but it's something else for other mini camps. I guess it would be better if all camps were somewhere but I think it would already be better if we had a camp on the surface and a camp in the underdark.


7- ITEMS

7.1 More rewarding items.
JandK summarize well my thought about many items in another thread. It's gonna be easier to quote him than explaining myself.
Itemization is not really good in my opinion whatever we're talking about armors (gloves,...) and weapons. I'm always glad to find a magical items but most of them are just items I'll never use or have any pleasure to use.


7.2 More DnD items please. There is a huge list of items in the DMG that really looks interresting.
More than the homebrew items, to be honnest.

8- USER INTERFACE

8.1 Rationalize the main UI element.
The user interface takes too much place on the screen and/or is not well organized.
This is a picture of the UI in BG3. The area on the screen without any UI is too small and/or too divided.

Just check other games like Pathfinder, Wasteland 2, Solasta... Some informations only appear when your put your mouse on an ennemy and/or click tab in exemple.
It works really well and the big "shadowheart/health bar/level/(de)buff things easily" window would not be necessary anymore.
If the log was really on the bottom of the screen (with reactions somewhere else) it would also improve what we see.

Rationalize please and offer us a better overview of the battlefield.

8.2 Remove useless icons to rationalize the hotbar
See GM4's thread : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=796188&page=1

8.3 Create category buttons to rationalize the hotbar
The hotbar is a mess and it's gonna be worse at higher levels. Create buttons that opens a "category" of "items".
Consumables, Ammo, Scrolls, Features, Spell level 1, Spell level 2, Actions, Bonus actions,...
Click the "consummables button" would open a small window "like when you use hex or chromatic orb" with all items you have in your inventory.
This is just exemples but I guess you'll have the idea.

This suggestion consider that you'll keep a hotbar. I personnaly don't think a hotbar is the best in such a game but anyway.

8.4 The minimap and the area map should not spoil us.
See Flooter's thread : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=798761#Post798761

8.5 Allow us to hide the minimap
8.6 Decouple the minimap with the most important buttons of the game (character sheet, map, inventory, spells,...)

8.7 Character sheet should show us our character's proficiencies.
8.8 Improve the map. Sorry to say, but the map is ugly.
8.9 Fast travel via the worldmap rather than via a list of convenient magical portals.
See the thread I made monthes ago to understand what I'm talking about : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthread...ords=worldmap&Search=true#Post727461
A worldmap for the surface and for the underdark would solve the issue I was talking about.

8.10 Add tabs in the inventory.
Sort things is good, but only see what you want to see is also interresting, especially in a game that has a lot of junk items.

8.11 Create beautifull portrait rather than generic one.
It's easy for origin characters and monsters. A bit harder for custom characters. It would add a lot of flavor to the game.

9- CONDITIONS

9.1 Don't add too much conditions.
I won't go into details but there are too much conditions in my opinion. It's just impossible to remember what conditions is usefull for.
Best exemple is the new weapons actions conditions. Keep it te most simple as possible please.

10- COMPANIONS

10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
It's wierd and boring.

10.2 Non-origin companions
Such a game deserve variety in companions choices.

Every companion does not have to be an origin companions with a tadpole met during act 1 and everyone of them does not have to have a side quest all along the game.

Halsin or Nettie would make great companions. Aradin's company is dead. Why shouldn't he join us to find Nightsong and walk with us to Baldur's Gate ?
This is just exemples but there are plenty of NPC that could have a valid reason to side with us in the world without being origin companions.
It would be awesome to have a lot more choices an to meet people all along the game.

10.3 Custom (origin) characters when they're companions
Being able to custom origin characters when they are companions would be awesome.
Everything cannot be custom of course... Races, classes, models... But some subclasses could, skill proficiencies, abilities, cantrips or spells learned definitely could.
It would be cool to give us as much control as possible to custom our party.

11- SNEAKING / HIDING

11.1 Hearing radius in addition to the vision cone

Hiding and sneaking are really not interresting mechanics in BG3 because there's almost 0 challenge.
Bonus action + turn based mode outside combats + check only if you're in front of an ennemy makes it way too easy and unbalanced.
The stealth skill is useless and a heavy armored fighter can easily sneak whatever it's goal.

A 360 hearing radius, eventually with a lower DC than when you're in the vision cone would really help to make this mechanic better.
On top of that, it would really increase the value of characters builded to sneak (dexterity, stealth proficiency, armors,...) compared to other for players that like sneaking and hiding.

11.2 Better reaction when the ennemies are attacked by hidden characters.
Ennemies attacked bu hidden characters should always come closer and look all arround.
It make sense... When an arrow comes in your back, the archer is behind... When it comes on your right, the archer is obviously on your right.

As a result, depending your position you'll have one or two hidden turn then you'll enter the vision cone or the hearing area. Stealth check would then determine if you're still hidden or not.
On top of that, players could in exemple use 2 archers, one on the left and one on the right to disrupt ennemies and really play with a coherent stealth mechanic.

This would make more sense and would be funnier that "if they don't see you, they recover their health".

12- MISC

12.1 Auto jump outside combats, if possible
12.2 No cimematics for dialogs that are not dialogs
If we cannot answer anything, we don't have to see a cinematic. A text popup upon their head would be better and would not break the flow of the game without any reason.

12.3 Sneak attack should be automatic
12.4 Rogue should have their expertise feature
12.5 Aradin should not say "form a line"
12.6 Remove the yellow ! when a character want to talk to you.
Characters should say something if they want to talk, or they should come to talk... This yellow ! is really awefull.

12.7 Increase the party size to 5
Many players in the megathread, in survey, reddit, discord or other forums talked about this. A lot of players are saying that 4 is not enough but 6 is too much. Why not 5 ?

12.8 Allow us to custom a main and a secondary color for all our characters.

12.9 Don't allow us to choose a quest reward, especially when we're in the middle of nowhere and when we're not helping rich people.
It smells mmorpg too much and it doesn't make sense. With a better itemization, it would not be necessary.


13- STORY

13.1 Everyone should make dreams, even if you don't use the tadpole.
You miss too much story content if you don't use the tadpole and dreams are a great way to make the story engaging.

13.2 Every players should have dream powers. Different powers for tadpole user and for players that don't use it.
Great reference to the old games and the game does not reward you more if you play a certain way than another.

13.3 The main character should be the only one to have dreams and powers.
The main character is going to be special at some point. The main character has to have it's own story and it should not happen after 30+ hours.
Once again, origin characters are way more interresting than Tav because Tav is just an origin character without anything special. Tav should be special.
Of course if your main character is an origin character (not available yet), he should have the same special story with dreams and powers.
Players have to feel that their character is not just the same as everyone else.

13.4 Reasons to side with Minthara when you meet her looks very uninterresting.
At this point you don't know much about the Absolute and the "evil side" and Minthara only offer you to become her minion and to kill the druids for an artefact you have in your pocket...

13.5 Hide the grove.
We already talked about this a lot but it looks ridiculous that the goblins don't find the grove, especially because there is a massive door and a "lever" to open it. Nothing is hidden.
The hidden door look coherent. The big castle gate doesn't.

13.6 Goblins at the grove gate should see us and become "hostile" in the cinematic.
It doesn't make sense that we can only side with the druids/tieffelin in this battle especially considering that becoming friend with the goblins is a big part of act 1.
Ofc it shouldn't be possible to side with them at this point, so it would be more coherent if they were shown as hostile right in the cinematic.

13.7 We should not be able to cast 2 level 1+ spells during the same turn.
Casters / sorcerer will be way too OP with higher spell levels.


14- WORLD

14.1 New creature should appear after a while.
In exemple, in the forest after 2 or 3 long rests. Or in the blighted village a few long rest after you kill the goblins.
The world feel way too frozen at the moment.

14.2 Create "close" combat area (>< wide arena)
Arena are particularly interresting for ranged classes but martial classes are much more interresting to play in closed area.
The game should contain both kind of environment in my opinion, both inside or outside.

14.3 Important area should not be too complicated to reach.
Obviously thinking about the forge in grymforge. It was a pain to go there and without the good strenght to jump or the good spells/items to mysti step, not sure there's a path.
I had to Mysti step then cheat the TP runes with other characters, which is terrible.
It's fine for small secret area (a chest or something), but not for so importnt area. Everyone should be able to reach such area.

14.4 Encounters/meeting at camp
We’re not sleeping in a temporal rift accessible only by players or in a fortress : Resting in the wild should not always be totally free of meetings.
Encounters at camp could be combats but they could also be dialogs leading to a combat, a peacefull or an unexpected outcome/
Let's say something enter the camp to rob us, someone see him... dialogs with a few checks - you gave money / peacefull solution / combat.

Encounters at camp would add a tension to the game, would make the world more alive / dangerous and would increase the need to manage our ressources.
In act 1 an average player is resting what... 10 to 15 times ? A few "encounters/dialogs" would add flavor to the game and to long rest.

That's it for now.

That's a pretty loooooong list. Yeah I wouldn't be happy too expecting to see all of that implemented ^^

Even though there are some good suggestions in there, there are many terrible ones as well along with some heavily opinionated "just because I don't like it" suggestions. So not gonna dig into explaining why I disagree with most of the things on the list as they wouldn't get implemented either way.

Its a really long list ...
So long that one must ask wich part of it have anything to do with Larian wanting us share our so far experience via video. O_o

The point of the list isn't whether or not the suggestions should be taken, it's that these criticisms of the game have been going around the forums more or less since the beginning of the EA, with everyone here shouting up the cloud shrouded peak.
It is fair to say some of these things have changed during the EA, most pretty early on (that is, more than a year ago), possibly before feedback was taken into consideration, I'm not sure what our feedback has amounted to, if they'd been upfront with what they were actually willing to change when the EA started, on what level of feedback they were interested, we wouldn't have megathreads about things like a Day/Night cycles fed on the delusion that Larian was looking to 'hear from us'. If they want to hear some of our stories there are multiple threads here doing that, serious RP ones and goofy picture ones alike; and some interesting ones about how the story could be made better.

HonestlyIfeellike there's a weird gray area to this. If they offered fans anything of meaningful value for this sort of thing, that could also come off ethically iffy, with people feeling as though it edges on bribing folks for good press. They could just not ask for this at all, but one can't deny that there's meaningful value both monetarily and emotionally in an activity such as this. I mean Bioware regularly retweets artwork and cosplays from fans. It's not part of a formalised ad campaign, but It's definitely still free advertising. In a lot of cases, it's just asking to be directly sent stuff that people would be and have been doing already. I don't think there's a version of this that isn't some kind of ethically awkward. I personally think this is better than paying people to say nice things about the game, but I get why you or anyone would be uncomfortable with it to some degree.

As to the issues people are feeling about Larian asking for more when they've given so little in terms of communication, I totally get that too. Even just measuring against my experience with other games, Larian has been very tight-lipped, and I don't for a minute believe they had to be. I don't know how much communication would have been ideal, but again, other devs have maintained a greater degree of communication and don't seem worse off for it. I've never been someone who personally expected a lot, but seeing people who are intelligent and enthusiastic about the game getting more and more frustrated and disheartened has been a sad experience, and I feel for them. And I totally get why this would feel like adding insult to injury.

Again... Wasn't saying I expected or even wanted Larian to implement ALL or even close to all of that ridiculous list. My point is that I look at that list and I see that if we're lucky less than 1% of it was implemented in any way shape or form. We have spent 2 years giving feedback hoping it would make a difference, because Larian said we would help shape the game, and how much have we REALLY impacted the game?

Well, if you are a "Rah rah rah Larian" fan who loves everything they've done, you've impacted the game. They've chosen to listen to every single person who doesn't want them to change many of the most frustrating features of the game people on multiple forums have been asking them to change. So yes. They've listened to fan feedback. Only those who love everything they do which means no one has really shaped the game at all.

I mean I enjoy Larian games a lot, but I'm not oblivious to some lackluster designs and aspects that could be vastly improved, as the whole reason why I even felt compelled to join these forums in the first place was precisely because they changed something for the worse, so I offered my feedback on it and on other things.

Thing is though I'm not frustrated by the game's shortcomings or their lack of communication. Feedback is submitted, up to them what they want to do with it.

One change that I really liked in the last patch was them changing Speak with Animals to only need to be cast once a day and not require concentration! 🐿️

Oh, no doubt. There are many things they have done like this that I DO like. However, I have noticed that most of the things they've changed are not things I've seen players ask for. They have implemented a TON of changes since initial EA release, and most of them have been very good.

My point is not that I hate the game or that I think the changes they have made are stupid. My point goes along with the OP. They want Video Feedback about people's experiences with EA, and what they're going to get are a lot of Rah rah rah Larian fanboys and girls who are cheerleaders who love everything Larian has done and who don't want Larian to change anything. Meanwhile, those of us who have been out here for 2+ years now trying to legit give honest feedback about how to REALLY improve the game are going to be once again totally ignored.

I love BG3. It's lightyears better than DOS 2 and most cRPG/D&D games. But part of what I THOUGHT was going to happen was that I'd provide feedback, and if I saw other forum members agreeing that Larian would maybe take that feedback into consideration and actually implement SOME of the ideas.

But instead, here's what we got: "Shove is OP. You shouldn't be able to shove a character 30+ feet off a cliff." Larian's response? "Let's leave it and add Throw, so now characters can pick up their enemies and throw them off cliffs 30+ feet as well." LOTS AND LOTS of players on multiple forums have said Shove is OP and they would like to see it tamed down, but instead of doing this, Larian has implemented MORE OP shove/throw mechanics.

Are WE influencing the development of the game? No. I don't feel like we are. THAT is my EA experience, but because I'm not willing to go on camera and reveal my face - and because I'm not a Rah rah rah Larian fan who loves everything they do and I don't want them to change anything - I won't be heard.

And THAT is the point of this entire thread. Some of us are just a bit disappointed and upset that it is clear we're winding down to full release, and we're not going to see ANYTHING we've suggested implemented. What do we have to show for EA? A whole lot of wasted time and frustration and energy. They won't even implement some of the easier, simpler things lots of people have requested, and they won't even address them as to why they won't implement them. Just dead silence.

So yeah... it's a bit disappointing and frustrating. And again, that's MY EA experience with BG3.

I could add couple more things Larian added, and some attempts to address community concernes - like nerfs to push and throw which while might not be enough is some peoples eyes (including this poster) they are still changes addressing community complaints. The big one for me is revamp of UI, which while it isn't quite what I would want, it adds a lot of functionality that I felt was necessary for the game to be playable. They did addressed a lot of worries and complaints. It might not be ideal solution for some of us, but it is a response to feedback.

While Larian's direction might differ from what some of us would hope for, they are clearly listening to the community. And by listening I mean paying attention to what community is saying and considering if and how they are willing to address those issues. Our feeback is here to help make the game Larian is making better, not to change what BG3 is. The fact that a chunk of complaints isn't adressed or not in the way complainers would wish they would is not a proof that Larian doesn't pay attention to what the community is saying. And as I said in a different thread before - we are dealing with a company with hundered employees. A direct communication will be difficult as any reveal would need to be consulted with multiple people across multiple studios, across mutliple continents and time zones. I really can't hold it against them that they spend time working on the game, and communicating only every few months when they have actual content they want to share. It's been frustrating in the past, not knowing what suggestions they take aboard and which one they don't, but they are clearly willing to trade temporary backlash for sharing content when they feel they are ready. Unsatisfying early access experience for the player base - perhaps, but seeing that they do take feedback onboard I don't see a reason why not to say what is there to be said, and then sit back and wait for potential results.

Wise words from a wise poster. In that case, early access turned out to be a missed opportunity for Larian.

They waited until Patch 8 to showcase how little headway they had made towards a reaction system, when they could have been trying things out for months. Each patch where that system stayed unchanged meant millions of gamer-hours wasted. Even systems that were fine could have benefitted from some experimentation.

Larian listened to the community and adjusted BG3, I’m not disputing that. They obviously also iterate internally, and the UI and graphics are constantly updated. But I find it hard to believe that they could have nailed every game system on their second public try.

I guess that’s my worry for BG3: That it might feel like the second draft of a masterpiece. (I don’t think they’ll use that in their promo…)

Edit: wait… What I’m proposing is ludicrous. I’ve never known any early access to work like that, right? They’re just about collecting funds to build out the game while gathering feedback for polish. You wouldn’t launch into a multimillion dollar enterprise without a plan.

So letting ea testers try what are essentially prototypes makes no sense. Am I wrong in thinking that’s what the Early Access Disclaimer implied?

Some of this stuff is self-inflicted wounds. I believe Larian already answered some of those topics, e.g. re: Day-Night cycle not happening for various reasons.

I agree that it feels kind of bad timing to completely ignore your 2-year anniversary of Early Access only to come a week or so later and ask for community contribution. That post along with some basic acknowledge could have happened on October 6th.

The only thing they did was thinly affirm that the game WILL come out in 2023. Big whoop.

Also, we're not going to know what they decide on as a whole from a massive list. The biggest topics I do believe they're aware of, but I think they have already drawn a line in the sand about and major changed left to do to the game. Even though they have issued statements regarding Reactions, I'm not 100% sure it will be actually successfully re-worked.

At this point, they may say - "We tried to find a suitable adaptation that was both true to 5e and would also create a smooth player experience, but we were unable to do so. We will continue to look into this and address it in any updated editions to the game post-release."

While they DID change more than just backstab advantage (high ground, cantrip surfaces, barrelmancy nerfs, some non-combat spells, Shadowheart's ability points, etc.) they also added more problematic stuff (Wet 2x damage, busted ass items - Lightning Charges, and problematic implementation of some new classes).

Actually I am of the opinion, perhaps unwarranted, that Larian underestimated the scale of taking this project on and the popularity of the franchise, so in a sense they didn't have a proper plan. I don't believe they were expecting the large amount of EA sales, which I imagine led to the hiring drive and setting up new studios to enable them to tackle the scale of the project. The whole debacle with the narrative around 'the Box' is also suggestive of a lack of a clear plan. Just my personal interpretation of course.

Number of EA sales don't need to affect the scale of the project though. Like, imagine that EA got one-tenth of the sales and Larian went on to finish BG3 from there. The only guaranteed difference** between that hypothetical and what actually happened is that now they have 10x more EA testers, which turns into...bugs being found more quickly and maybe (optimistically) 30% more novel feedback suggestions. Sure, they'd also have 10x more money from EA sales, but that doesn't all have to be re-invested into the project.

I could understand a line of reasoning that went: "Look at how many EA players are excited about our project! Let's hire more studios, developers, artists, etc so that we can create an even grander experience for these players. We have more funding so we can afford to increase the scope!" But doing this without a plan is worse than not doing it. Like...just save that money for the next game. Or DLC content. Make BG3 slightly grander, add a single additional companion and questline, but don't change the scope of the project partway through.

**Assuming that 1/10 the amount of EA sales is still sufficient for Larian to not actually scale down BG3.

That much is already true. They didn't know how much it would take and they had to quickly ramp up hiring and offices to stabilize.

And one would argue they still have not...

Well.. Unfortunately, it is not working that way.. 10X testers usually means find a really rare bug report in 10 times bigger bunch of common bug reports.

Another thing is that a product could be improved almost indefinetely and at some point you have to stop or the game won't release at all, because there're always hordes of "gamedev experts" in reddits/forums/etc who always know better thing to implement (sometimes there really are, but i personally laughed at about 80-85% of the Megalist up there, there's sooo much non-critical or subjective stuff). So, I think (and Larian's words about "gathering things up" during the last PFH) the moment has come a couple of months ago. We will see some last improvements in the next patch, but that would be all until the release and only then the "missed" feedback will start working. I hope the patch will bring a lot of fixed and new stuff but faster release is MUCH more preferable as for me.