that is a other topic

Please, stay on topic, if you want to discuss ow PvP then make a separate topic.

You have to get better gear to unlock higher-end grind spots.
You have to reach certain points in lifeskilling to do some things, for example, the trader buff or artisan training auto-sprint.

While I agree with your OP, that questlines shouldn't be holding back some of these important systems. I also don't like the idea of removing the incentive for doing the questline (just once) to unlock stuff. But again, the stuff in question might be important enough that if a new player joined the game, didn't have access to this stuff, would quit due to the game feeling too complex and lacking a lot of basic QoL other games have by default.

So that's up to PA to figure out. Whether or not they think holding this stuff back from being base features is a good idea. With how many QoL updates they have been implementing and the new players they have been getting, they might look into it. Who knows. But hopefully, they still make doing the questlines worthwhile.

You are using "unlock" in a completely different sense. By unlocking I mean that I have access to the gindspots at all. The fact that I have bad  gear for high-end spots doesn't change the fact that I can go to those gind spots and get oneshotted.

I only have to say: Shai music quests for instruments !

No one wants story.

No one wants lore.

No one wants mobs with AI.

No one wants tactical combat.

Everone wants rewards.

Everyone wants to skip with R.

Everyone wants static enemies.

Everyone wants one superarmor cc aoe dps burst combo button.

No wonder game took different turn.

...10 years after...

Welcome to BDOFlix make sure to grab your Login Netflix Movie Reward.

Notice: Alt tab Contest. Stay alt tabbed and get rewards.

Event notice: Type !claim and earn your [HEX] Fiery Pinkstar Awakened Main Panty.

There are players who like story
There are players who do not like story

That's why it's nonsense to push a player to do story to unlock a new system or content.

That's why it's nonsense to push a player to grind (for example) to unlock a new main questline.

(unless there is a good reason, which is not that the player should just have something to do. For example, because it would be necessary of the story or because only the grind of mobs triggers an event and thus quests).

If you had to unlock these things on every character, you might have a point. But it's one unlock per family and you never have to do it again.

The devs are adding world context to the systems they are adding. That's not a bad thing.

As you mentioned, there are plenty of things you can do without any pre-requisites, like Arena of Solare or RBF or node wars.

Meanwhile, even life skills have things locked behind quests, like the now defunct Desert Buff and the heating knowledge required to make pure metal cyrstals, just off the top of my head. And all the stuff that's locked behind dailies, like the Forest Path wagon and the repairable boats.

Even the boss rush, you can unlock one of them and do five different levels every week and be done.

You do not need to do 1 quest to access the Atoraxxian dungeons, you can go in there without even starting the quest line.  You just can't get the 1 time character rewards without doing so.  

Boss Rush, you need to do it once to unlock it.  THE HORROR.

The magnus quest line to get Unified storage, you need to do it once to unlock it THE HORROR.