I liked health/endurance in theory. My very first posts on codex were in defense of it. That being said, in practice it didn't feel quite as good.
Theoretically such mechanics are supposed to add strategic tension and extra resource for you to manage. In reality there was no real strategic dimension to PoE, nor can there be much in such style of game (unless you're ready to upset a huge chunk of your player base), so the only cases when health/endurance mechanic was actually relevant were:
A. One of your guys is near death and everybody else is full health and still have lots of spells left, so you have to blow your camping supplies early. Mild annoyance at best, because you can always backtrack, and it's not like you're particularly pressured by supplies anyway.
B. One of your chars is under constant pounding, and even though you can out-heal all the damage to endurance, you still risking running out of health withing a given fight. This one is more important and can potentially be a factor in some harder fights, however the significance of both of these cases can be completely negated by simply taking field triage/wound binding talents and equipping potions that boost health.
And this is why overall I don't think this mechanic made much of good in PoE. In general I'd rather have systems that actually work and play significant role, than those that only there for theoretical benefit, or worse yet, require make-believe to function. Being honest with yourself about what style of game you actually want to make is always a plus in my book, which is why I'm ok with changes they're making in PoE 2.
Thanks for explaining in detail what was also my experience.
I think that there is a factor to the gameplay which both players and game designers don't notice, and which affects players' decision making and emotional state during playing. Why are players ever feeling like something important is on the line, if they can easily load the game from before the combat, or if they can backtrack?
From self-observation, I think that in the past, the slow loading times (ok, PoE had that, for many people), the total amount of time spent in combat up to a decisive moment where "you have to make it", and the amount of time it would take you to backtrack, were the things that added tension to combat. There is also a big number of small details that make a game "well polished" which add to immersion, and their side effect is that the player cares more about his playing style fitting the logic of the world in which he carries out his actions, and PoE missed those details often. This is probably down to area and encounter design, but I can't really put my finger on it.
For example, I would backtrack without feelings of remorse from some Engwithan tomb I don't care about, if I need one more set of camping supplies. But when I am deep in Galvino's lab, where encounters and traps are structured in such a way that
my going through the dungeon becomes its own narrative (maybe this is what is affecting me), constructed through the challenges the party has to overcome, then suddenly if someone is low on health and I need to backtrack, I feel like this backtracking would break the flow of the story I'm writing by going through this dungeon. Such moments and such examples were rare for me in PoE. TWM aside, the dungeons and encounters in PoE felt slapped together.
My point is, I guess, that the health/endurance mechanic requires, more than other mechanics, that the player feels involved with his party's progression and inner logic of its actions in the context of the world. The mechanic feeling substantial is hanging on the player caring about actually roleplaying his party, more than other mechanics hang on this.
Whether you would feel health/endurance + camping supplies is an annoyance or adds to the tension depends on whether other aspects of the game are done well.
I think the system can be made more meaningful with the following change: you can carry only one camping supplies item, which functions as it does normally. Then, you can rest without using camping supplies, but this heals a smaller amount of health and doesn't remove injuries.
This could potentially increase the "tension", "I won't backtrack because it feels odd to do it" factor, but it's still down to how the player in question feels about it, it could still feel like an annoyance if the player isn't feeling immersed in the act of exploring the area, but is in a mood of just breezing through to clear the loot holding the tab key all the time.
Disclaimer, for those with weak reading comprehension who will open mouths bigger than themselves: all of this is my subjective opinion and experience.
