Personally, I think it would only be feasible to start with entry level characters once again, rather than importing characters that are potentially in the upper 20's. Either that, or they'd have to scale any imported characters down to a single digit level (but maybe keep their attributes).

I do agree that there isn't much development time (if it's going to be out by 2002), so it'll be tough to add enough content to bring it beyond previous IE games. Adding dual wield, more spells, more monsters, and character kits would be great... but after BG2, is that enough?

However, if Black Isle pushes the limit, they could go for the 3rd edition ruleset and implement feats, skills, and many other interesting features that would have only been seen in Pool of Radiance by the time the game is released.

Time will tell, I guess.