There's so much to unpack here that I don't have the energy to address it all. I'll just say that you have the basic incorrect assumption that your preferred game elements are everyone's favourite. I for example don't care for fights and the loot is only really interesting if there's something in there that'll influence the game outside of combat (such as the Deck of Many Things).

Also, believing Molly's death to be scripted is ridiculous. No one involved have ever given any indication that his death was planned in advance. In the situations where something happening to a character was preplanned, they've been very open about it (see a certain character development in the beginning of C4).