MacBeth i agree with you, but i think that there can be 2 options.
One is (as you suggest) you are a fairly decent fighter say level 15 or so.. and enter a war where behind you you have healers which heal the troops( and you).
If you kill enough of the enemy(say 40 orcs) the battle is won. Indeed that could be a quest which you must complete.
After you complete that...at level say 35 another war breaks out where this time you will have a small amount of troops at your disposal but will have to wander from place to place becuase this war is more of a skirmish war(like when you meet mitox for the first time and hs troops are attacked).
For my item interaction is important...so remeber those rotten food which you can make posion?
Well assume now that some bloke called Rafstor wrote a book about how if you combine rotten food with a morat and pestle you get a paste. This paste needs to be contained in a jar.
If you add coloured flowers(say a red flower) you will get a red dye which you can use to make 1 piece of your equipment red.
So you can choose the coulor of the dye and it would be a shame to waste all those rotten fruit!
Of course if you combine a rope and pieces of wood you can get a ladder. Good for spying purposes or a way to walk those tiresome mountains.
Meat needs to be cooked before you can eat it!! Didnt your mother tell you that?
So you need a sauspan or a pot to cook it. You also need a fire.
To make a fire you just need a tinderbox and some wood which can be found in most places.
You can also purchase a tent but if you camp outside there is a possibility of a npc/monster disurbing your sleep and hence you may not be fully healed when you are sleeping.
