Agree TOTALLY with the OP, the “obligatory” hours of grind are NOT FUN. Yes i like to grind, but they need to add alternatives, there are very few quests, and there are no “events” o something like that to level, because it needs variety, its just hours and hours of killing TONS of mosters, because thats another problem, the numer of monsters that spawns are ridiculous, almost at the point that you dont need to move and just spam 1 key to attack. The other complain i have is that theres no incentive on grind, just level, there is no “chance of rare drop” while grinding o something like that, is just kill to get exp and thats it. Finnally i feel like im always on a jail, the maps are too small, zero exploring, you cant walk to explore or find tresures because you can explore 100% of the map on 3 minutes, and if you try to change to the maps next to you, they are 10 levels above so you need to go back and grind a bit.
To sum up:
1.- Add alternatives to level (more quest, event, etc) but do not make any of the alternatives “faster” than the other.
2.- Lower the cuantity of mobs PLEASE, you can raise the exp if you need to balance that.
3.- No incentive on grinding, just exp, need some rare drops or something.
4.- Zero exploring, maps are TOO SMALL and you cant explore a thing because the next map is 10 or 15 levels above you, so you need to stay on the same small map for hours, at least after level 30+.
The game was PERFECT, until i got to level 25 and found no other thing to do than grind.