Branagh

For all those experiencing fps issues (on weaker machines): Disabling lights in the graphics options helps a lot on many maps. Morevoer, this is especially helpful for encounters in which spells like firewall are cast. While the maps obviously lose some of their atmospheric impact, I sometimes even appreciate the lack of lighting in favour of a slightly better visibility of the combat action.

Maybe Eothas's challenge could be that you only have a limited number of days to "catch up" with him at the various stages of the game. I sometimes felt it was a bit immersion breaking to be able to explore for weeks and months without repercussions. Could such a timer maybe also help improve the attrition / rest spam problem at least a little bit? You would have to earn enough XP before being strong enough to advance to the later stages of the game. This would probably favour "XP dense" areas of the game over remote islands and disincentivise exploration, however.