Long rest is a concept that just doesn't belong in an RPG. And don't tell me Baldur's Gate because in Baldur's Gate it's only a little more annoying, nothing actually better.
I would simply just have per encounter spells and skills. Makes the game on the whole easier to balance. It is now more of a hassle than in BG2, because it takes you to a new screen, then you need to possibly advance the story, then have to click on a bed and it takes you back to original screen. In BG2 it was just one click to rest, one click to abort the cutscene and you are as good as gold. If you were ambushed by 6 orcs or whatever this fight might also be over faster than BG3 resting.
But yeah, the ruleset gave you that obsolete mechanic.
So basically Baldur's Gate didn't use the mechanic at all and what DnD had to offer when the party rests was simply brushed under the rug.
At least BG3 is trying. However, "return to camp" and "take a long rest" don't have to be the same thing and could be used seperately. Make long rest a button like the short rest button.
I see the reasoning to implement the camp as a social hub. Many games have done that before. Mass Effect had the Normandy, Dragon Age had the camp. I also see it in a D&D setting, when in PnP. A place where players come together, talk about what happens next, what has happened and to play out certain situations. I suppose it is also some form of saving in PnP and it does serve as a pacing tool. However in BG3, you do have to rest a lot, simply for narrative reasons, so you do not miss interactions with companions that might have relevant info, or you might even need to rest to advance the story. When you are in the middle of the dungeon and suddenly move out into the same camp area you've always been in, this is not helping immersion or atmosphere.
At the same time it is a gameplay necessity, because fights are challenging and you need to make use of resources. The more resources you have, the easier it is. This means that player experience is very inconsistent, as is difficulty. Also some companions, like Shadowheart, are very dependent on the availability of their skills and are somewhere on the range of being invaluable or worthless.
Hence BG2 did it better, resting was just a simple click so you can immediately replenish stuff, and story elements were played out only rarely with resting and the rest happened in the game world. So you were not taken out of the immersion, you simply camped, it was only slightly impeding gameplay, too, since resting was generally fast and available. At the same time, the mechanic was there, so it adhered to rules.
Maybe just add an option or a button that reads "End the day, go to camp and sleep". Basically the short rest button with a camp animation like in BG2. Auto-skip all dialog to the beginning of the day rather than the night before.
Do we have any information about the tadpole plot starting and finishing on the map we have in EA? The last 2-3 interactions could probably not have happened for a few players, myself included. My first playthrough was "done" and I felt that I had played some amazing dnd, not using ground effects and barrels much, resting only little (I just bought in the urgency for fun) and mostly going with dice rolls.
I really hope they move some story progression away from camp, like feeling sick with Laezel trying to murder you. Or Shadowheart having her magic-moments when it is less opportune, that already happens once in the blighted village.
As you mention, mostly all story happened in the gameworld in BG2 and Larian hopefully just takes what works.
The dreams have to be at night, that much I agree. The rest though, much more atmospheric somewhere else but the camp. My flavor.
Gameplay, yeah, it's dnd. We gotta rest. It is a central mechanic in dnd and in BG3 kinda.
Picking fights and clearing another group with only cantrips and items before resting exists already but it is hidden gameplay wise. There is some amazing dnd to be had alredy. Ff people can be made to stealth & explore, position & prepare more before fights, they too could stretch out their day and feel good about having acomplished 2 days worth in one
In my runs Shadowheart gets to do stuff aside from casting the prepared spells and maybe if people just used more what they gather, resting might not feel like such a necessity/chore as it naturally occurs less.
Most players aren't incentivized to use items much. The skillbar-default settings are global and mean chaos or barely order. "Real" spells do lots of damage, why not just rest? Item usage is either not impactful enough or it blows up the damn map
Lots to do in EA
