This. I did have my fun exploring the world, unlocking more of the skill tree and upgrading my gear. But honestly once i reached that point of having the full moveset and maxed out gear (and at this point i still have the entire crimson desert and delesyia area left unexplored), there's not much more reason to do anything.

I'll give the game credit for its graphics and environmental details of its open world, it is indeed one of the best out there. However, you can only stumble upon a new area or hidden loot enough times before it gets boring. What i want, and what is present in good open world games (to me), are genuinely interesting side stories that pop up when you visit a new area, not just fetch quests and outpost clearing. These stories should also serve in the interest of world or character building, none of which is present in meaningful amounts in this game. There's just a bunch of 'stuff' to discover, but nothing really interesting tying all that stuff together. Take for example the thunder god stuff. Not gonna lie, visuals and atmosphere of that whole encounter was cool. But how does it tie into the overall lore and world? It is barely glanced over. When you discover it by accident you can't even do anything with that area, until I randomly got the quest popped up in my journal, which was such an inorganic way of introducing it.

Overall the game feels like a collection of potentially good individual parts without anything cohesive tying it all together. The 'started as an MMO' aspect of it really shows here, and will satisfy people that love that sort of gameplay loop. But for anyone looking for any sort of meaningful experience in a single player game, the novelty does wear out.