Yeah, I think the best thing would be let the player choose only one faction and storyline (so or army or council) with double exp and gold reward! This would make the story much more enjoyable for me!
I think that would be cool the introduction of an affinity sistem with some item (for example some weapon or armor).
I'll explain: these items have the ability to earn exp during their use and when they reach the 100% they can evolve taking better rarity and stats and certainly better visual graphics! May exist a varius evolutive stages (Common-->Fine-->Rare-->....), so more the item evolves, better will be its characteristics.
I totally agree with you!!! I like this game mainly for its difficulty! I think that exploring and discovering things on your own is much more fun and much more satisfying! make the game easier will remove all these satisfactions!