And these are all problems that have come up in previous games, been resolved, and then ignored in modern games.
I think the problem is mostly the players mind you, people do not want to group, do not want to PvE and learn the skills, they want to PvP and be Uber right away. Developers are catering to this because of course they want the number of players to increase and they think simplifying a game and making it soloable will do so, but I think thats a mistake in the long run.
The MMORPGs I have stuck with the longest have been those in which it was fun to group up to face a challenge, in which there were enjoyable PvE experiences and PvP (if any) was an add on as the end game. The best example of this, bar none, was Dark Age of Camelot. Best PvP game ever, despite its flaws, and a decent PvE experience at least early on. As it aged though, they made leveling up 100x easier, ignored the PvE side for the most part, and made changes to the game that were in many ways damaging to it, based on feedback from players who after all, are *not* game designers.