Clearly it's just another case of a very loud minority thinking they represent the collective opinions of everyone. You clearly state a lot of people bought it, so it seems most people had no problem with it. It very much has a place in 𓃲the remastered version, if you don't like something, don't buy it, stay silent, and get over yourselves.

I think the Nere trigger only occurs if you do that psychic convo link with him if you click the rubble? I always do him last, meaning I get to Grymforge, do the boot quest, get ෴the slavers ready to revolt, and clear it all except for his area, long rest half a dozen times, and come back as final quest. He's still there. 🤷‍♀