From what I saw so far, Avowed looked like Skyrim... a game from 2011... I don't think I want to play another Skyrim in a less interesting setting.
Hey, Pillars Of Eternity was a game that looked like a game from 1999! And it was all the better for it! 2011-ish was a pretty crap era for RPGs. No wonder that the indie and crowd funding revolution was about to burst.
Skyrim was certainly the main inspiration at one point. https://www.pcgamer.com/obsidian-ceo-id-love-to-turn-eternity-into-more-like-a-skyrim-product/ However, apparently, they've rebooted it since (probably because it didn't work out, that is the big open world). It seems to become more like an Outer Worlds in Eora. Ideally, what it still has of Skyrim will turn out to be a better version of it. As New Vegas was to the overall pretty mediocre Fallout 3.
New Vegas to me was a glimmer of hope in a pretty shallow era of RPGs in general (EVERYBODY going action-adventureish with simplified character systems, combat and a push for spectacle over depth). It was basically the actual successor to Fallout 2, just with a different engine and tech. However, it's been almost 15 years now since that was made too... Additionally, if Avowed actually becomes a huge success, the focus is more likely going to be on a sequel to that, rather than on PoE.
You can bet that the initial "spark" that (which came from Obsidian's management) was all about the money. With Pillars Of Eternity, Chris Parker, Faergus Urquhart needed to be convinced that this was the way to go. With Avowed, not so much. A more Skyrim-like product= hopefully more cash. But for as long as that means they can still keep making stuff like Pentiment, more money to them!
And it was all the better for it! 2011-ish was a pretty crap era for RPGs. No wonder that the indie and crowd funding revolution was about to burst. 
