Printer

I'm confused. Which stretch goals are they talking about, exactly? More classes, more dungeons, more companions?

A dozen exclusive quests based on the PCs class, seems to me like the kind of thing you'd want when the devs swimming in time and money, after the core game is completed. Higher on the priority list should be multiple way to finish quests with different actions to side with and reactive stuff like that. Also just having plenty quests in any single playthrough is very important. If the game is big, fun and filled with choices I'll want to do multiple playthroughs in any case, but I might not want to play as a monk or a barbarian (for example).

One possible solution could be to allow buffs to last indefinitely until removed (by another spell) and to limit the amount of buffs one single PC can hold. No more pre-buffing before every fight, every new entrance, dungeon, etc, as the game already did it for you, based on your standing orders. Baddies may still strip your buffs with spells and such, for the duration of a combat encounter. All the benefits and tactical choices, without all the hassle.

There's a difference between front-line capable, useful in a fight and just poor in any fight. Mages(wizards, sorcs, etc.), not fighters, are the most powerful combat classes in the infinity engine games and NWN2, with the sole exception of very low level play, so a mage was the prime choice for a solo playthrough of BG2. Fighters and pallies and such were always decent meatshields and even relatively good damage dealers at low levels. Clerics ruled in 3E and healing spells and buffs were always useful enough to bring even non-combat clerics along. Poor in a fight have always been the non-dualclassed, pure thieves/rogues. I've always thought of this as poor game design, but not a deal-breaker. When rogues nolonger suck in combat, the old excuse for rogues getting all the skillpoints and utility outside of combat nolonger holds up. The consequence of all combat proficient classes will have to be a redistribution of the available character skills.

For my first run, I've always prefered characters that can melee, but also have some useful skills outside of combat. Disarm traps in 3E is one I always like to have if possible, so I don't have to rely on a thief companion who may not be all that great. There's no fighter/rogue in PoE and the rangers appear to be strictly ranged, judging from the update, so maybe I'll just pick a rogue or fighter. Race is probably dwarf, because I've always liked playing the underdog.

SRR was okay(not great, just average) in my book and the second half of the game should be on the way along with more features. I'm slightly optimistic that Berlin will be more interesting than Seattle. Obsidian received a much bigger KS funding than HBS, so that should help to create a better CRPG.