Second, nothing I've seen makes me think Larian has included anything they didn't want to. It all lines up with their design philosophy of letting players pull off all kinds of silly cheese, leaving exploits in, etc. I think claiming Larian was pressured at all is just ignoring that this is the logical conclusion of Larian's prior style.
This second part I don't know and I'm not so sure. I don't doubt they're doing the best they can no matter the circumstances but I'm not convinced WotC isn't looking over their shoulders.
Okay, I might be wrong but seriously, what about any of this feels out of character for a larian decision, because to me this all seems like exactly the kind of decisions they would make. Barrelmancy, changing control spells, shove, surface effects and armor in DOS2, they all line up with these choices they've allegedly made now; caring more about "fun" and "cool moments" and leaving in gaping holes and poorly balanced mechanics to facilitate those things. I think they got to see wizards plans early and liked them, so threw them in on top of their own silly changes because they thought it would be cool, with at best a mild nudge from wizards, if that.
Tell me honestly, what about these choices seems unlike what Larian would do? Other than the fact they don't seem good.
