Pretty much this, just because there are various games out there that are open world sandbox, WoW has never been a sandbox game it’s an MMORPG with a main narrative that eventually needs to be followed to progress,most video games are this way. You get a story narrative, you follow that narrative and do so making decisions you want rather than conforming what some overrated mouthpiece on youtube says. There are ways to play the way you want if you’re willing to put in the effort in cracking the code but rather do so, you try to shift the blame on Blizzard because of a player issue [min/maxing] In terms of feeding your addiction nonstop,it’s WHY most games have implemented limitations as there are advocates who’d see the industry shut down. Gaming addiction has been a pretty recent debate especially after a few incidents of people dying from bloodclots and heartattacks from poor diet,playing too long and moving around too little which can lead to pretty bad PR.
It’s why on some MMOs from South Korea you’ll see something pop up saying “Hey,you’ve been playing for a little over an hour or so we encourage you to take a little break.” That and given WoW is their game,the design can go any way they wish,I’d recommend sticking with Skyrim or Minecraft as it sounds like you want more Sandbox than MMO. Also,I like outlaw it gives me swashbuckler rogue vibes from D&D [the roll the bones is also an easy fix just opt for slice and dice instead… EZPZ]
TLDR- Sounds like WoW isn’t your kinda game anymore best stick with Skyrim or Minecraft if you want something more sandboxxy.