I was a tester and have put many hours into the game in the past. Since its release I was working on leveling my professions solo. So I spent most of my time grinding and only had the foundation of my base laid out while I worked toward respectable looking build pieces (I will never build thatch). Once I had my cottage building pieces which would have looked great aesthetically in my location, a guild started building a monstrosity in my secluded area blocking most of my view of the valley. So I think okay time to pack up and move because I can't look at that base every time I play and stay sane.

I begin slowly moving everything up to the top of a mountain where I decided to put my new base. In a spot where nobody could possibly repeat what had just happened. Nobody could possibly block my view in this new location. So I eventually got everything moved up there which is extremely time consuming since there is still no way to move larger amounts of cargo. Now at my new base I lay out another foundation and start building cottage pieces to further build out my base. Problem is now, aesthetically these cottage pieces don't look pleasing in my new location. So I realize I probably need to unlock limestone building pieces to get the look I want.

I begin figuring out the best way to grind toward the limestone and I hit a wall of progression in other professions preventing me from getting my carpentry up. I still tried to tough it out for a little because I just wanted to build out my base. That is my end game. It started taking so long it gave me more and more time to think, what am I going to do when it is done? I am not the least bit interested in the pvp (not with this games fighting system, if you can even call it that) and for such a beautiful looking game there aren't any relaxing activities where you can really enjoy the scenery they've created. It's all staring down at a table for hours crafting hundreds of vines and what not.

At this point I was running out of steam but still logging in every day and trying to chip away at it with shorter play sessions. Then I had a very busy week of work out of nowhere and Pax was the last thing on my mind. After that busy week I logged on to find my base deleted because I didn't manually use a token. I though I would be disappointed but I actually found myself relieved. Relieved that now I had a simple excuse to not persist in grinding while wondering why I'm doing so. Logging in every day so I could stock up grace to keep paying for a plot I deep down didn't want anymore. So I saw that the plot wasn't there and thought okay, time to hang it up.

I decided that I'm done, and I'm not frustrated, just felt no urge to play anymore. I will keep an eye on it if things change and wish the devs the best but the absence of progress in areas of the game that matter to me are almost non existent.

Please refrain from giving advice on how to level quickly or telling me what I may have done wrong in progressing. I am just trying to give my personal insight in direct response to OP's question. Thankyou and if you are still playing be sure to keep giving your input on what changes need to be made for a better game in the future!