1) They already said is it going to be that way.
2) Those extra mission, if i am not mistaken, are part of the Year 1 Pass (they said there was some extra activities who explained more about the story included there)
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And it might be REALLY long. If that datamined part of the achievement to cross the bridge in under 1 hour is right.
We will see in a few weeks, so far the PTS is meh, the RNG on loot is still insane and you can't change more than before, just that one stat better. None of the changes on the PTS will make me grind gear more, so that is a fail for me.