Like a few others, I'd say stealing is a boon, but not a necessity. It gives you extra gold, and like anything else, some extra sights to see, but so far none of the rewards have been gamechangers. (I'm sure there are some gamechangers for characters more focused on stealing, but that's not my path in my current run.)
To put this in perspective, one painting (worth about 650 gold) is a bit more than you'd need to buy one medium healing potion. Equipment roughly level 5 can cost anywhere between 500-3000 depending on its rarity and function, and if you truly need it you'll have plenty of gold from battles (since armour and weapons dropped by enemies can be sold for 200-300 gold for the most part, or much more if its a magical item.)
Similarly, the randomly-generated loot has been absolutely fine so far, because it allows for weighted drops to ensure that
all of this game's playstyles are viable. No more "I chose crossbows as a weapon and the best one drops in the last five minutes of the game" malarky. Equal opportunity for all. Like anything in a video game, those that choose to abuse this mechanic will naturally receive the best results - but it is
not necessary to succeed in the game.
After Zeliard's report of killing the level 6 orcs at level 3... I'm convinced that anything is possible. ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING.
You know one of things I love about this game.
The Pathfinding
Generally it's something that is largely ignored and is considered mundane.
Bear with me however. This sort of thing you can be a problem when it fails, especially being an issue in the old Infinite Engine games.
I've never seen a party member never get caught on terrain while moving across the map, and automatically walking around "dangerous" terrain...very pleasant.
The really impressive thing however, is seeing the enemy AI similarly react to the ever-changing battlefield. Finding the best routes to flank my party, or going the long way around to avoid a poison cloud--or fire elementals ignoring fiery terrain using their own immunity to take advantage of.
Great stuff.
I never thought about this, but it's completely true.
The AI's pathfinding is always aware of hazards - even when moving around in non-combat characters will avoid hazards if at all possible to reach their destination. NPCs will completely avoid hazards unless they've no choice or are already hit by it.
It might seem a little wonky sometimes, especially with fire, but that's because they can't see through the smoke and are forced to find a smoke-free place to attack from.