Mistlands is a uniquely-tailored biome. Imo, they did a very good job and almost created a masterpiece. But it seems like it was rushed / half-finished...
I can see why all the frustration, even so i enjoy the slow pace and more strategic approach, because there is not much reward there. It was expected to be a less monotonic experience in comparison to the previous linear progression with a more unique approach, which it tries to achieve to some point, but at the end it all ends up the same, like go in kill all (even the goodies :| ), farm this etc. then go out and never come back... basically it tries to be more of a God of War game.
On top of that a lot of building pieces are bugged and others missing as well.
All in all, it seems like Ashlands will be the other half...