"Let them cook" has been my response to anyone rushing this DLC. The game itself took a while and it was worth the wait, this will be too.
Also, From Software goes hard on DLC. The Old Hunters for Bloodborne is the champ for me, but The Ringed City and Artorias of the Abyss were both amazing and essential experiences for their base games. Let. Them. Cook.
Ok but not the Crown of the Ivory King's optional area. Loyce Outskirts with those reindeer was a sick joke. If Miyazaki worked on it he would have had that area be a frozen poison swamp but even he wouldn't have had those reindeer there.
Yeah horse fuck valley sucked. So did the optional area in the iron king. That gauntlet up to the blue smelter demon sucked. But other than that they are awesome.