On (3), I guess it was like this in BG2 as well. It just feels like they make encounter design a nightmare for themselves if they don't take some stance on this. You need to decide whether you expect the party to rest a certain number of times per map. Is the food issue at least fixed for free out of combat healing?
Food now doesn’t heal, it’s simply a requirement for full recovery at rest. In early access food is so abundant that it didn’t function as a limit to resting, but it remains to be seen whether that is the case for full release. I agree that Larian should have a particular resting frequency in mind and shape encounter design and the story around it. In fact, I suspect they did as generally you (or I!) can just about complete something like, eg, the attack on the goblin camp without resting but it’s a challenge. But while I’d like them to give us some indication of when they were planning us to rest, I’m totally fine with not putting on hard limits so people can rest more frequently if they wish. As you say, that was the case in BG1 and 2 as well. Oh, and one thing that definitely needs sorting is the way certain conversations are tied to rest in a way that incentivises rest spamming! That was mentioned lots in EA but we don’t know what’s been done yet.
Regarding level cap, I’m happy. It seemed a natural stopping point, just before all the new level 13 spells and abilities. I didn’t want an epic 20-level story in one game for BG3 so I’m glad we’re taking our time, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for DLC, expansions or a sequel that will let us eventually see our character up to level 20. But I’m sure levels 1-12 will keep me busy for a fair time yet!
