Harrow

Sure, but maybe this is what making the system better looks like. A lot of this depends on what spells are like when they're not empowered. My assumption is that a PoE1 wizard spell (for example) is the equivalent of a PoE2 empowered wizard spell in power. And I expect that (if that's the case) spell design would change to accommodate. Maybe there won't be a Slicken spell this time, or maybe it has a different effect other than knockdown if it isn't empowered. Maybe Ninagauth's Shadowflame is just an icy version of Fireball unless you empower it. My opinion is that this could be a better system than what PoE1 had. We won't really know until we get to play with it some, of course, and I'm sure Obsidian will be using playtesting feedback to tweak and adjust things to make it work.

What if your best disable isn't your best disable without being empowered? Remember, every character still has empowerment as a per-rest resource, so you still can't cast a spell at its full potential on a per-encounter basis. Again, I think a lot of people are reading "per-encounter spells" and ignoring "that aren't at their full power without spending a per-rest resource." Plus, I agree with tinysalamander: If spamming the same spell for every fight is the best way to play, that's not going to change whether spells are all per-rest or all per-encounter. That's down to spell design and encounter design more than how your resource works.

You still have to. You can think of the per-encounter versions of the spells as "minor" versions, with the empowered versions being "major" versions. You'll need to manage your empowers because that's where the caster's real power comes from. Sure, you can cast minor spells all day, but I'd bet those spells aren't going to have the same impact as a single spell does in PoE1--to get that, you'll still have to use a per-rest resource. You're still managing per-rest spells, it's just that you can still do something other than wand and use your couple of per-encounter non-spell abilities when you're out.

I think a lot of people are hearing "spells are per-encounter now" and not hearing "but to get the full potential of a spell you have to spend a per-rest resource." We're still going to have long-term resource management because I guarantee going into a difficult fight with no Empowers left is going to suck just like going into a difficult fight with no high-level spells left does in PoE1. The difference now is that your wizards, priests, and (to a lesser extent) druids aren't dead weight once they burn through their per-rest resource--they can still contribute to a fight beyond just their weapon attacks. (I say druids are to a lesser extent because if your PoE1 druid focused on spiritshifting, they're still going to be somewhat useful even without their per-rest spells.) But you still have a per-rest resource to manage, just not one that's tied to individual spell levels.

I'd guess it's because there might be things you can import other than story choices. I think it's already been hinted at that you get some sort of bonus for importing a high-level character or for having certain items in your imported save, and you can't get that if you just start from scratch and pick story choices from a menu. I'd say, if nothing else, you should be able to change your class. You're getting de-powered to level 1 anyway--who's to say that, when you re-learn how to fight, you can't learn a new way? My main reason for wanting to be able to chance race and sex is that I hope PoE2 offers new options that weren't available in PoE1, like new types of godlikes, and if we say that the Watcher's race and sex can't be changed, then it makes sense not to have any new race/culture options, either--after all, the Watcher couldn't have them in PoE1, and they're the same Watcher. And I think it'd be easy enough to handwave away without needing some sort of weird "soul transfer" phenomenon. Just say, well, people get it all wrong when they talk about the Watcher. Turns out rumors mutate, people in the Dyrwood don't agree on what the Watcher looks like, and most of them say he/she's a <race> from <place>, but it turns out they're wrong and he/she is actually <other race> from <other place>.

Here's a narrative way to change the Watcher's race or sex: Open up with Eder telling someone the story of his travels with the Watcher. If you choose to change the Watcher's race or sex, he says something like, "Y'know, people get some parts of the story wrong. Sometimes I think nobody in the whole Dyrwood has any idea what the Watcher really looks like. What he/she's really like is..." Basically, like the race/sex you had in PoE1 was actually an incorrect rumor. People somehow thought the Watcher was a male dwarf but actually she's a female aumaua, and Eder's baffled how people could get the story that wrong. Rumors take on a life of their own, right? It's not a big deal either way. We'll be able to simulate PoE1 game states in PoE2, so if you can't change race/sex with an imported save but you want to change, just make a new Watcher and choose the things you want at the start. But being able to change wouldn't be too bad and could easily just be shrugged off with a joke.