Side quests are great. On that note though, I really like the way "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" did them. The quest givers had different icons and their where tiers to the side quests, please forgive my garbage memory but it was something to the effect of - trash level side quests had a white diamond over the quest giver. - ones that expired had a hourglass, - more worthwhile ones had gold diamonds or hourglasses. But yeah all where optional. The gold ones where usually really well thought out and involved.