A lot of the 'filler' is important world building. If you speak to nearby NPC's in between quest steps there's usually fresh dialogue that adds a lot of important context. Sure, some people will skip through it or ignore it entirely...but it does wonders at making the in-game world feel 'deep'.

I'd be in favour of a new point of entry for players to enter the game, maybe after 6.0 is done with. The Echo could be used as a method of allowing players who take the new route to experience the original route if they so pleased.