When I 1st played B&S back in Beta testing the one thing that I really loved about the game was the Side Quest were tied into the story and added greatly to the enjoyment of leveling your char. Iv played so many MMOs where the side quest had little to nothing to do with the main story, all they were was something to give Exp, gold, and put in so you didn't hit max lvl in just a few hours of play.
It was so refreshing when I found B&S where the side quest was for just exp or gold but added to the story and the enjoyment of lvling. IMO is was totally STUPID to remove the blue quests from the game and has ruined the overall story quality and it's enjoyment. For the few who wanted to rush to max lvl it was easy to see that they could be skipped but for those who wanted to be sucked into the story and enjoy lvling the blue quests added something to the game. Also as stated by a few other players if I was a new player to the game I would wonder why there are so many areas with NPCs and no quests and wonder what is up with that and wonder what is missing from the game.