Hmmm. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I could have sworn I had Long Rested during many of my playthroughs in her lair in the past. I wasn't able to beat her in any other way. Maybe a glitch then on my pc. Who knows?
Ah well. Whatever. It does look like Larian did some fixes on the hag lair. It was MUCH more reasonable this time through. I've another post discussing the actual changes that were made. It was much more fun this time through. Love some of the additions they made, and the biggest issue I had in the past defeating her was that she got surprise round in her lair and would multiply, blast the crap out of me with all versions of herself, disable all my buffs, somehow, that I had up previously, and all before I got a chance to go. I couldn't sneak into her lair at all in the past, and I could never hit her either no matter how high I got or whether I was behind her or not. Seemed like the fight was practically impossible before.
Now. It was challenging and fun, and I absolutely loved the addition of using Speak to Dead on her. Astarion speaking to her dead corpse was appropriate and creepy and made so much more so because of the new animations.
THAT's the kind of thing I was posting about to begin with. Very rewarding. I only had to use a few short rests, and even that I probably could have gotten away with not doing if I'd played better. I only used them because of past experiences. I thought there was no way I could beat her if I didn't. I even knocked out the adventurers as opposed to killing them, which is a lot harder.
So the hag's lair is no longer an example either of what I was saying about needing more rewards for good roleplaying. In fact, again, like the owlbear, looks like Larian is already doing just what I was asking for.
So see? I'm not out here complaining. Just offering suggestions when I run into things that seem off to me. When I find something working right, I say it, and when I'm wrong about something, I'll admit it...once I see the error of my ways anyway. Ha!
Come to think of it. Does anyone REALLY know whether Larian HASN'T put anything in place if you use too many Long Rests? Is this something people are just assuming? I don't think I've really ever tested it. Can you just Long Rest your brains out and nothing happens? Perhaps I've just assumed that's the case myself. I wonder how many Long Rests I've truly ever used in the game prior to reaching the Underdark. Hmmm...Maybe something new to test.
