Not sure if this was stated or not, but r/agedlikemilk to the OP to be honest. I quit this expansion quicker than Warlords. That speaks enough on its own, for me. You can't package cool lore and fun story with tortuous gameplay and expect record levels of players to sign up for that. No thanks. The game is more chore driven for the lowest form of rewards possible, capitalizing on intentionally poor design with moderate 'fixes' to trick the 80% that they are 'listening' and 'responding' to player feedback.
The solutions aren't even solutions, they're just the same bullshit with more steps.