Yeah do not change a working formula. As much as I personally hate random loot and typical RPG progression numbers, it's a working formula.
I agree the Open World vs Narrative point, BUT I'd say a compromize might be found just by adjusting a little bit progression scale. I'm not saying it should be done however, as the Narrative will be more likely to be broken. For instance, hit chance% is very level dependant (level of the opponent relatively to you).
The "Tell me what to do", I'd say that I dislike when the UI helps me too much (putting stuff on the minimap, synthetising objectives in a checklist way) because I then tends to play with brain off and get annoyed whenever I have to reactivate it. However, I dislike "random" plot resolution. There has to be hints somewhere, and maybe a hint giver if we teleport back to a base somewhere.
I think the crafting system can be improved AND used to alleviate the random nature of the loot system. Crafting should have its UI slightly improved (maybe like Minecraft), and should be able to change the stats of our items so using resources can remove/alleviate bad luck. And in orderto balance a little more legendaries (that could then be adjusted), maybe diminish the difference between common items and legendaries (nerf a little bit legendaries, or buff common, whatever).
My 2 cents.
