I don't have the time to dedicate to the game like I used to when I was younger and the result is that I play maybe one big character every couple of years (when I find a couple of weeks free to reach hero). This char will last a year or so, with me mainly playing weekends.

The key challenge is the initial grind, there is so much to do. Write a solid role, rank up, practice skills, empowerment, gather exp/obs experience (a personal hate of mine), potentially meet cabal hurdles (e.g. kill a mage). I don't really enjoy the game until I hit hero, so I try to get there (with all of the above grind) as quickly as possible.

I love big bonus days/weekends. I will literally cancel plans, avoid sleep, etc. to make the most of one and hopefully get a char up and running. Without these I probably wouldn't be playing now.

I understand that there are many players who have much more time available and will abuse this to multichar, create throwaways, etc. but I think the current standard grind is far too much for many players.

I'm not sure what the answer is, there needs to be some balance but I personally would greatly appreciate something to reduce the grind. Especially the exp/obs edge point grind, which tbh I don't even know if it is worth spending time on.