I think the expeditions part of the game is a lot of fun. I got to level 50 a month ago. I've done a VLT a week since then, and because of the encouragement from a couple of people in BHG guild have had a go at the colonies. It moves so much faster than the regular adventures. I'm only on barren level, but I only needed a few hundred troops to capture it.
Imagine. Your troops arrive in 2 minutes to the colony. You are attacking a couple of minutes later. The marshals move very quickly to attack the camps, unlike on regular adventures where they crawl!
Unfortunately it got taken off me the next day! But I'm still game to go back and do more when the troops have rebuilt. It's refreshing to have a part of the game that you don't need a guide to do blocks! I like the challenge. Obviously plenty of other players do too, judging by how fast I lost my first colony. I don't think they should get rid of it, just iron out the existing bugs.
I wish I'd had the resources to start doing it before Easter!