How much does Long Rest impact the game?

[Nou]

I heard that you might miss out on some some quest or npc when you long rest so I try to not do it as much. I've only rested 9 times between Act I's quest from Emerald Grove - GrymForge and now currently in the Mountain Pass. How much will I miss out if I keep exploring in the game and not push into the story? Will some things in Act II be gone by the time I get there?

[Kafik]

I don't think it does. Even in one part where I was rescuing a dude I went to a long rest and he complained about being in a rush but then said he'll be there when I get back.

[Brady4444]

I think there are a handful of quests that are 'timed' and you might have a different outcome if you rest. But for the most part, resting only has an impact on our camp supplies.

[VoiD]

I think it depends on certain quest triggers.

If you're not supposed to hurry up for some quest you've just received, then it probably doesn't impact anything.

[IRMcG]

There's a few quests that can fail if you take too long after discovering them, but it warns you. They moved a bunch of the story stuff from camp to triggering while exploring so you won't miss anything important.

Worst case you miss out on some character scenes or they trigger further into the game than intended and might seem a little out of place IME.

[Doomvora]

Certain quests have timers that are affected by long resting.

[goodbye_bonito]

Nothing will be gone, rest until you watched all queued cut scenes and then rest from time to time, resting after each battle is pretty okay.

You will understand yourself where you're not allowed to rest, game will tell you directly or it will be obvious from the urgency of situation, there are only like 2-3 moments like this you encounter per playthrough

[FoxFox]

Long Rest generally does not hurt you in any way, as long as you don't do it in the middle of an interaction between other NPCs. Going on a rest then can mean whatever was happening is done once you come back.

Long Rests are the stage for a lot of significant companion story and other events, so taking too few can definitely make you miss out on stuff.

[Broan]

You can Rest. It is fine. You won't miss out on Things.
It's more likely the other way around, because companion dialogues often take place in Camp/during Rest.
The Situation in Grymforge is a major exception with being - if you arrive there and trigger the event , then long rest it solves itself. The Urgency with the Tadpole is not as urgent as the Game makes you think in the Beginning, but it does explain that through the story.

In general nothing happens without your presence. Nothing in Act 2 will progress only because you spent X Time in Act 1 same with Act 3. They will influence what will happen there, but it won't progress without you.

You absolutely don't have to be afraid of Long resting too much.

[Elvi]

There are very few situations when a long rest will completely ruin something, and the game is usually very clear about it. I.E. "You can't just walk away, I'm dying here" when you click on long rest.

[BeautifulFlowerField]

there are very few quests that will fail when you long rest and obviously you just reload if that happens, you actually will miss a lot of content if you don't long rest which is necessary to get through a queue of triggers and you need to progress that queue for scratch summon, owlbear, astarions bite, illithid powers, etc. I can think of only one quest that actually fails if you rest.

[Jinx]

I long rested halfway through assaulting a castle. Didn't seem to make any difference.

[Hawke]

Some quests are timed and Long Rest does end them in the most unfavourable manner. Which quests and what are the triggers for the timers, though, are a "surprise" (should have been a clear indicator in the journal or dialogues; an NPC saying "urgent" does not count).

On the other hand, if you do not Long Rest, you will miss follower interactions and companion relationship cut-scenes. Also healing and spell slots refresh.

There is no continuous timer throughout the whole game/between acts, so resting in one act does not change the state of the following one directly.

[MrSoul]

Most of main quests get frozen in time essentially if wander off from them. Some will continue on if you rest, if already started certain events(like attacking moonrise), most seem to have some kind of in game warning tho like nere in gyrmforge telling you not to leave.

[Ranpo]

It moves forward the story to a certain point, then you can take as many as you want until you run out of food. There are hard key points in the game where long rests affects the outcome, like how Act 1's Gale keeps eating gear to a certain point, its even more obvious in Act 3 with Orin's kidnapping.

[jonnin]

the triggers in the game are weird. A small # (very, very small from what I have seen) of triggers are by long rest. A larger number are by (??) other things (??) which I haven't nailed down (level up to 3 or 4? for example?) and obvious ones (finish goblin camp for example triggers the death of 3 or 4 NPCS if you had not rescued them before this, eg the harpy kid). Other things like the owlbear cave are weird, sometimes the mom is dead, others not, and what changes this is a mystery.

Bottom line is that long rests don't advance your plot condition or cause too much trouble. Long rests are tied to visits by plot entities (eg wylls encounter if you saved karlach), and also romance (after chatting up your favorite warm body, you can have some fun during long rests).
Long rest is about 10 to 20 times more forgiving than it really should be. Act 1 should be about a week of game days, 10 tops, but we are given food for like 50+ days so that beginners can use spells every fight.