It's a pseudo-renaissance setting. In the real world much of the map was being uncovered by then (apart from Australia and New Zealand).
Right. However, in this world there be actual dragons and giant sea monsters. Possibly the world hasn't even been circumnavigated yet because it's just too dangerous.
In Scotland, there is a little village called Dull.
Oregon, USA has its own Boring city.
Some comedian decided to twin them. Dull & Boring, FTW.
Seemingly.
Meanwhile, Bland, Australia decided it too wanted to twin up with Boring.
It's on, folks.
Hopefully there will be a reputation change for PCs that repeatedly skip ship-to-ship combat. Guards should mutter under their breath as you approach, then snicker after you've passed.
Given the nature of the area I'm not really expecting a lot of dungeons, other than pirate-infested sea caves galore. Perhaps there will be a dungeon or two with submerged areas that require special resources to bypass? Maybe there will be a few wrecked and haunted ships to explore.
Perhaps we'll encounter a sea trader or two who is selling a few unique items collected from Dyrwood. But, other than via an act of the gods, I'm expecting the gear here to be unique to this area.
Retraining is the exact opposite of immersive. At least give it a meaningful in-game mechanic, like a divine device that reprograms your brain or Cipher surgery.
Historically, Paladins weren't religious zealots; they were esteemed knights of the Court of Charlemagne. Their particular qualities were heroism and chivalry, rather than just slaying evil creatures. Obsidian has just moved away from the particularly LG D&D-bent of the class and made them more general. I'm not really seeing a problem with that.
With the more limited spell selection now, I'm hoping they'll introduce something like metamagic manipulation. I.e. sacrifice one aspect of a spell for another -- more power for smaller area; more range for easier resistance, etc. That will give us more choice in how to apply those limited spells.