Quite so. It's a huge downgrade from New Leaf, but a huge updrade over Wild World for me.
So what are the problems....
*Requests refresh every 2.5 hours, but let's be honest, if they didn't make you wait, it would actually get more boring even faster.
*Fishing is too easy, which takes away from the sport.
*Bug catching is too easy, which takes away from the sport.
*Not enough varieties of fish & bugs.
*So many characters in the game, yet they all have one of 4 personalities & all say the exact same things based on that personality.
*The limit of how many animals you can host at your camp, & the fact that you can't swap them out, makes unlocking new friends pointless.
*By level 20, I'd already maxed out RV & tent expansions.
*Isabelle is a complete waste of space in the market place, because you can access her features anytime from the hub. (To be honest, I think she's a placeholder for something else to be incorporated in the future).
*Not enough things on sale at the market every day. Nook has really been pushing this white/red vase.
*You can't plant trees.
*You can't dig up fossils.
*No threat of bees to add suspense to tree shaking. Also no bell, furniture, or clothing drops.
*No museum to fill.
*No item balloons to pop.
*Horrible lag. Not sure if shoddy wifi connection is to blame.
*Dependent on wifi, no 4G.
*Can't be played offline.
*Market goods are the same things over & over.
*Shovelstrike Quarry is pointless. You can't get things you actually need like paper or cotton, only useless essences that are easily obtained from questing & you already have tons stockpiled despite furniture building.
*You can't design tents for the animals you're hosting.
*You can't erect art monuments anywhere.
*You can't make your own clothes or lay down tiles on the world.
*No deep sea diving for critters.
*Can't buy from friends boxes unless you're actually standing near them.
*Despite having the room outdoors for two huge rugs, it will only let you have one.
*Even after expanding your RV, between it & the two areas in front of the tent, you still have less room than you did in your New Leaf house.
*The same unskipable post-quest cutscenes over & over again.
*No fun of unlocking & upgrading shops. Plus only 2 are ever open at a time & only have 3 items, & you can't trick your animals into buying them off you.
The closest thing you really get to a challenge that doesn't max out early in the game is that villagers always want large quantities of the things that are lowest in availability in increasingly higher quantities, like tiger butterflies, peaches, crucian carp, & horse mackerel.