Oh, this thing again... Alright... For the time seventh billion and one.
For you specifically certain elements of the game might feel as padding, because you don't enjoy them.
To others, said elements are just more enjoyable content. This is personal taste, it's not an objective truth.
In the same manner that some players consider dialogues padding (yes, I actually get this "critique" too), because they don't like to read, they want the next piece of content to drop with barely no text or stop like they are playing a Banjo-Kazooie pussy collect-a-thon.
This is further proven by the fact that many players want me to expand on the dungeon game specifically, in fact many of the new additions (spells, shops, new artefacts, etc) were added precisely because they were suggested several times. By players.
So unless you are going to tell me that "those people tastes are wrong and mine are right" you do not own the "Cocacola Secret Formula" of what elements make or break a good game, you are just another guy treating their personal tastes/opinions as objective truths.