Having reached the level cap of 4 after 10+ hours, I am starting to wonder if and when the developers will begin to unlock more functions (higher levels, dual- and multi-class, etc). I have stopped playing because I have been playing Half-Elf fighter/mage/thief in all AD&D games since the 1990's. I don't feel compelled to invest 60 hours in a character I will be dumping once more class options open up.

Also, does anyone know of a solid or even approximate date the game plans to go gold? I know the dev's said at least one year of early access, but who knows how that will actually play out.

the game we have now is about 10% (riddled with bugs) demo

there is at least another 2 years... assuming they keep investing the same effort

Fair enough. Good thing Cyberpunk 2077 comes out in a month because BG3 kinda looks like a lost cause at the moment.

Do expect it, it is coming.

From reddit AMA:
How will multiclassing work? Like 5e or modified?

NickP: Multiclassing rules will follow closely the 5e DnD. On level up characters will be able to continue with their current class or choose a new class, provided they meet the requirements. Multiclassing is not going to be available in Early Access at launch, we're planning to add it later.

Let's hope it's not two years...I may have to ask for my money back. Sven has said 1 year--which is too long to wait, imo. Shouldn't have started EA until they were 6-8 months out from release!

It's probably for the best. I'd like it to release sooner too, but they are putting a lot of detail into this title, and that's going to take time. There's the quote by Miyamoto:

A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.

A slight overstatement. For instance KOTOR2 was rushed and, by my standards anyway, unplayable at release. But over the years patches and the community made it a brilliant game. I will say that rushing a game is a very shitty way to treat your customers. And that companies that do this should be punished by the market.

I simply dont get it. why they did EA. If they had any hype its pretty much gone now. EA is more suitable for devs with no fans, no hype, no marketting, no fame etc. Turn-based Fantasy RPG game should have been more than enough to buikd massive hype. Fingers crossed this works for them, but ihmo it was big mistake what I hope they dont repeat in the future.

The answer is: feedback.

Software development and pharmaceutical research have something in common. When you are testing a drug, a sample size of 500-2000 will get you certain results, but you won't fully understand it until millions of people try your medication. Each person has the same basic basic stuff (heart, lungs, etc.), but each person's body will react differently to the chemical.

Larian might be able to test their software on 100 or so computers, but they won't get a proper understanding of things like performance and bugs until they get a larger sample size. Each PC has the same basic hardware (mobo, PSU, etc.), but because each computer is unique, they will react differently to the program. Releasing EA, especially at this point of development, would give them a good idea of the kind of hardware people have, the problems they are having, and would give them some time to fix them before release.

Warcraft 3:Reforged, Pathfinder:Kingmaker, Arkham Knight, and Mass Effect: Andromeda had severe technical issues at launch. These games didn't have an EA or public beta phase. Some people forgave the titles after most of the issues were fixed. Other people refunded the games and won't give them another chance. Those are sales they are never getting back.

They traded sales for feedback, they lost tens of millions when they did EA. Think about Cyberpunk, CDPR just keep hyping it and players are losing it, talking about it to friends and such.

Interesting call by Larian. Fun to see how these EA-devs do in game industry, all we know it might end up good, but ARK is probably best EA-indie success story and it didnt end up well. Eventually you gotta start building your hype etc.

Your declaration that Larian lost money by doing EA is unconvincing. They've done it before and find it valuable. If it brought ruin to their company I'd wager they would not do it again. I think they know more about it than you do.

... [Citation Needed] ...

Related anecdote from my own experience:

Champions Online

When it was still in Open Beta, I played it on a machine that was WAY BELOW minimum specifications for GPU (I was waiting on a new PC I'd ordered, and very impatient, so ...).

It looked ugly, missing a LOT of postprocessing, most textures, and so on. But it ran. Quite smoothly, even. The game was 100% playable, albeit unattractive aesthetically.

Well, at one point, being prolific on the forums and a dedicated tester, I wound up having a conversation, within the game client, with one of the developers for an hour - one of the artists, IIRC. And he was absolutely flabberghasted that the game would even start up, and not immediately CTD.

My best guess was, my machine was SO obsolete that some of the fancier things the game engine tried to do, it didn't even recognize as anything but gibberish ... so the GPU simply ignored those commands, and did all the other stuff instead.

...

All of which is to say: you're absolutely right. Each machine is unique unto itself, and thus, each machine's interaction with the program can go in completely unique and unexpected directions. Only a truly huge sample size can possibly find even a small fraction of every possible glitch, crash, or other bug in that software.

Which, by the by, is the attraction of consoles for game devs. Every PS4 is pretty much identical, both in hardware and software, with every OTHER PS4. What few variations there are, can be easily accounted for with just a few dozen consoles in the developer's office.

I'm glad that Larian is putting so much into it as I think this game has incredible portential, if they do it right it could be the game of the decade!--I just think releasing the EA 6-8 months later than they did might have been a bit better for Larian and for us. The EA game would hopefully not have been in an alpha state but maybe in a beta state by then, and it would be so much nearer the game's final release. I'd have waited.

But...it also could be that Larian could not progress the game without getting a lot of bug feedback from the EA audience. This is a new engine for Larian, and I'm really enjoying that they've managed to take a lot of the cartoon aspect out of the graphics. While I enjoyed the DOS games, it was that "bright cartoony" aspect to them that upset my suspension of disbelief, somewhat. Also, multiplayer doesn't interest me at all. Including it will no doubt slow down the meat and potatoes--the single-player game. For BG3 there can be nothing else, imo.

I probably will just sit on the game for now, and won't take a refund since I know I would have bought the game, anyway. Haven't seen any patching for days and hopefully they are putting together some humdingers...;) I will not pick it up for awhile until the game is built better. One thing that is very lacking so far is character creation--it's very limited and I know they plan to greatly enhance and expand it--just wish they'd get there soon.