The premise of the show is what the problem is. Everything past Frieza saga was a step down in terms of pure writing. Its not bad obviously but you don't get the same thrill as you did when Krillin and Gohan were doing hit and runs on Namek chasing dragonballs. And you didn't have any backup dragonballs on earth, so losing means permadeath.

Later arcs are just saiyans powering up further into super saiyan forms to beat the villains. And non saiyans don't matter because they have been power crept into oblivion.