I've certainly heard worse suggestions. I'm not looking to add grind, though. The game is already significantly bigger than I thought it'd end up being when I first started making it, and it's probably going to be over 40 hours just for the main story by the time it's done. I've even had people tell me they've already put in over 100 hours just hunting for secrets. That feels like plenty of game for a single project.
Thanks again for calling all this out! It's the primary way bugs get fixed, because even with as much time as I spend playing the game myself (both in and out of playtesting), I'm just one dude and can't catch everything. This sort of thing is really helpful.