There are more enemies that shoot back as the game goes on. In certain circumstances, the game can dish up a challenge with (for instance) lots of ranged guys shooting you at once. But you're correct that regular monsters are just fodder for the most part, and only the quest boss monsters are supposed to be at all memorable. If you don't limit what skills, equipment, or attributes you use, the game on normal mode is pretty darn easy. Apparently if you want any sort of a challenge at all, you either have to *heavily* restrict yourself or else go to elite mode ASAP. (And I bet you still have to restrict yourself to get a challenge in elite mode.) At least elite mode is not reserved for subscribers anymore (or at least won't be once they get the next patch out.) I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that going with 2-4 months of subscription per year at most is the best way to go; at this point, the game is IMHO not worth subscribing to, and won't be until their chat/grouping/guild support gets considerably better, and more of the bugs ironed out.
Normal mode, what your first character starts out in, is apparently meant exclusively for green-behind-the-ears casual gamers and those just getting used to the game.
Normal mode, what your first character starts out in, is apparently meant exclusively for green-behind-the-ears casual gamers and those just getting used to the game.