Whoa, what happened to side quests?

[Alda Chithu]

It's been four or five years since I logged in (the game got too hard to solo at one point while content was being rolled out). A few days ago, I got nostalgic and convinced my friends to play with me-- and it's a totally different game. Skill trees? Gone. Side quests? Adios. Guild crafting? Confusing and boring without the gathering guilds. A lot of the items I pick up from dailies are for level 60+! It's really hardly fun anymore-- definitely not what I told my friends to expect.

 

Sorry if this question comes up a lot, but I'm disappointed and would like to know what the heck happened to the game.

[LynMasterRace]

A lot of side quests were removed at one point for whatever reason.