O1Hill

On armor I would say that I am generally not a fan of the teir systems similar to what is found in the Elder Scrolls series. I find it takes too much realism away, and creates to linear of a progression. E.g. at the begining you only ever see iron light armor and at the end you only see glass, and you always wear the highest teir available. So instead of doublet -> Gambeson -> Armored Jacket over the course of the game where you wear the highest tier you can find I would prefer something more akin to having categories like leather, studded, scale mail, or ring mail, and each category have its own unique properties. Then the categories would have sub qualities that werent just a linear progression of benefits. Forinstance with leather it could be that elven leather has a bonus to sneak, dwarven leather has more damage reduction, and barbarian leather a crit bonus. I think the point is that when deciding what armor to wear it should be a choice whats the highest tier available now, and instead should be more about matching the right armor characteristics with the right character. As a side note I am also a fan of quality levels, and would enjoy some durability mechaninc with armor so that the player has to keep it in repair. Something along the line that maybe if you are crit hit there is a chance your amour get a "crack" property that increases chances of future cirts against.

I hate to pick nits, but that statement is only true if your assumption of a shallow curve is correct. More importantly you're arguing over an out of context quote that does not capture the context of my post. Whether a shallow or steep curve is used, lower level characters are less "powerful" compared to higher level characters. I believe there should be some penalty for not using a companion, but no XP is not the right one. There are much better alternatives available that I mentioned.

The first thing that I would say is that I think the stronghold should be approached like it is a character unto itself. What I mean is that I want to "level" and customize my stronghold similar to what I do with my own character. I enjoyed the Cross-Roads Keep in NVWN2, but thought the mechanic was under developed. Here is what I think would be the optimal utilization. Starting location: Instead of one stronghold location I think there should be 4 possible options when the stronghold is introduced in the game. You choose the one you like and the other 3 locations do their own thing throughout the rest of the game influenced by the players actions. That way the other 3 locations aren't wasted assets, and can serve as quest locations. Each location could be altered to be more commercial, industrial, military, etc. Here are some examples of various starting locations: Country Side - This could be a more peaceful option that is more suitable for growing crafting resources and watching over peasant farmers. Maybe the player would treat their stronghold like a land baron presiding over a vast expanse of subsistence farmers. Trade Route -This stronghold would be on a vital trading artery requiring protection and creating obligations on the player to deal with the merchants passing through. A rogue could customize it to be a thieves' den, a mage could customize it for trading alchemical ingredients/mystical know how, a fighter could make it a training ground to train better patrol guards, a crafter could focus it on making it better for crafting then trading items with the passing merchants. Sea Side Port - Depending on how much seafaring Obsidian wants to introduce this could be a fun option. The stronghold could be customized to be more like a pirate den, protecting the high seas, or focus just on trade. Area of Conflict - This would be a stronghold that requires the most management by the player because it is in a strategic military area. The player would have to focus on martialing troops and improving defenses. One fun element could be that the stronghold could be captured for failing to improve it enough so that the player has to recapture it. The takeaway is that it don't think the selection should be here is commercial, here is industrial, and here is a military location. The locations should have unique feature then the players could customize it towards what they want. The final suggestion I have is that the stronghold should grow in a more organic way. Instead of paying X resources for an add on and then it magically appears after purchasing it. I would like to see a mechanic were all improvements need to be funded then built overtime. The length of time would be based on availability of resources, number of workers, and their skill level. So if a player wants to build a massive stronghold now, they have to find people to build it and resources to accomplish that goal.

I think that companions not in party not receiving XP is a bad game play mechanic. The biggest reason is for the one previously stated that it locks you into the companions you have been playing with, because other companions are now too far behind. That being said I don't think equal distribution is the perfect solution to this problem. I think there are other options that mitigate this problem more effectively. For example companions not in party get a fraction of XP earned. This way they don't fall too far behind, but at the same time you have to use a companion in order for them to be at their best. Another possible solution is bonus XP for taking on higher level content. In other words the greater the level difference between companion and content the more XP they gain. So there will be some aspect of having to grind to get the under utilized companion back up to speed, but at the same time it won't be so tedious. I don't believe these solutions break the continuity of the gameplay/story universe since you can comprehend that simply being one the players companions that NPC is gaining some XP just through association. Also taking on greater challenges and being surrounded by higher level characters would facilitate a faster learning curve. In the end I would conclude by saying the no XP mechanic is a vestigial mechanic that need not ever be reintroduced.