I would guess this move would be to give the player a chance to try out a different faction. But having the player taken out of the auto tutorial, then having them have to go through the multiplayer option, and telling them that now they have to fight the "Faction Leader" in a duel is a bit of a break in the flow in my opinion.
Pretty minor, but if I had to fight the faction leader before doing multiplayer, I'd rather have the game take me there directly from the auto tutorial and then have "free range" of the multiplayer options. Again, minor, but just a slight irk when I thought I was cleared to go fighting other players.