I have come up with a solution for the world size and lack of content..
Remove all vehicles and quick travel points from the game.
No really, hear me out. This came to me while beta testing another game in which you don't get mounts till mid level... people complain that the world is so small, and that the story is to short... well one way to make that work with the current game is simply disable all the vehicles. Without Challengers and Hannibals, or quick travel the game is actually quite huge. I tried running around to each and every vendor location on foot today, starting at the very beginning and it felt like it took hours.
Imagine how much larger the story would feel if you had to run to each new mission instead of mount up and drive. So thats my solution. No more vehicles or quick travel. It could totally work.
no I am not being serious.