Lamppost in Winter

Well, my guess at this point is smaller encounter sizes. Others have suggested spell effects and pathfinding. We don't know much at this point, and I think it's jumping the gun to assume that a 5 member party=dumbed down action RPG. They'll release more news soon, so see then.

I'm not too concerned with the drop to 5 (I'm no IE veteran, though I did get used to the 6 member party), but I do find it really weird they would make this decision, especially since PoE was built a lot on tradition and nostalgia. To hazard a guess, they might have smaller encounter sizes this time around since some complained about the massive numbers of enemies on higher difficulties in the original.

Josh Sawyer confirmed it in a Tumblr ask (in German) http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/156419783766/hallo-josh-es-wird-gemunkelt-das-für-deadfire. Google Translate: "Hello Josh, it is rumored that for Deadfire the maximum number of possible companions was reduced to 4 (5 in PoE) and thus the maximum size of the group - including the guard* - was reduced to 5 (6 in PoE). Is there any truth to it, or is it only due to a write error or an unfortunate phrase on the part of the press? Thanks in advance. We have not said anything about the number of the companions, but the maximum size of the group is 5 (including the guard*)." *watcher

For what it's worth, Josh wasn't involved with Tyranny at all and hasn't stated any interest in borrowing from it. He's also definitely heard the criticisms about enemy density and "trash mobs" and will probably try to improve on that. They're also doing NPC schedules, weather and time-sensitive quests, so hopefully that makes the non-combat parts of the game much more interesting.

Josh Sawyer mentioned this in the latest livestream. This is actually in the game (and has happened to me several times), it apparently just didn't always work.