What one finds satisfying or gratifying in this game is subject to personal preferences, and subject to what they want out of the game. For example, I want a challenge, so I raid and prog/farm high-end content. But said content is all gated by the MSQ, as it’s part of the end-game.

I think the question I have is what do you personally want out of the game?

I personally don’t get the impression you’re enjoying it, and you highly dislike having to slog through MSQ/that everything is blocked by it. That’s the formula of this game (has been for 5 years), and it’s not going to really change in the future with more expansions and patches—everything will always be gated by/reliant on you completing the applicable MSQ. So I don’t think this game will really give you what you want at the end of the day.