Having also been used to 2/3e games before BG3, concentration caught me out to begin with too! But now I’ve got my head round it, it’s one of my favourite innovations of 5e, as I find prebuffing with everything available tedious, repetitive and flow-breaking. Only being able to have one concentration spell active per caster avoids all that, and leads to some interesting and varied choices about how we need to support our party at specific points in particular battles and how we balance offence and defence (given offensive spells that have multi-round durations tend to require concentration, too).
It’s not perfect, particularly as some spells are pretty much pointless as they are never going to be the best use of a single concentration spell, and there are probably some spells that require concentration that shouldn’t and perhaps vice versa. Plus sometimes the logic of what requires concentration isn’t clear, and it’s bloody annoying when you forget you have a concentration spell up or don’t realise your new spell requires it and accidentally break your old spell. The spell descriptions will tell you whether or not they need concentration, but this takes a while to memorise or even get in the habit of checking.
The system could certainly do with refinement, though that’s probably mainly a job for WotC in the next edition of D&D than Larian, and there are issues with its implementation in BG3 that lead to concentration being too frequently checked and too easily broken by, eg being knocked down, that have been discussed here before. But I heartily approve of the overall direction and motivation. Hopefully you’ll come to appreciate it too, Doomlord
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