when Ben became the focus of the show or the main conflict, instead of the island & the mysteries themselves.

when Jacob become more prominent yet was still never really explained (except for one episode), nor did we learn what the island actually was.

There was also the point at which we learned the Island was an eternal struggle of good vs evil, so the Dharma era of the island's history was just a blip in the historical length of its existence.

therefore we spent like 4 seasons being completely focused on the Dharma era yet in "reality" it only represented a very small period of the island's history.

then they largely abandoned the Dharma plot point anyway.

So were we supposed to be focusing on Ben/Dharma/Penny's Dad/all that shit or on Eternal Good v Evil/Jacob v his brother?

The answer is: neither, really.