I've stayed out of wading into the Mistlands threads. I love Valheim, and between experimental & stable have over 1300 hours in the game, so that should speak for itself.

It sounds like OP is basing their entire expansion opinion on the promo video of the zone.

Progression, items, etc are fine with Mistlands, but the physical zone exploration itself is not enjoyable. At least for me. Not enjoyable, at all. And that's one of the primary things in the other biomes that make Valheim so great... exploring. Mistlands is just a slog.

At least now I have a zone that can replace the swamp as my least favorite biome in the game.