I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. There is no doubt there have been pacing issues here and there in the adaptation, but story-wise I enjoy the multiple perspectives and details that are shown throughout this arc. I am not of the opinion that everything that happens needs to progress the story forward in a large series like HxH. I enjoy things like the Phantom Troupe and Morel vs Cheetu for seeing the world built (how is Nen used by people other than our primary protagonists and antagonists?).
I would see this, as Turin said, as epic and grandoise. Each plot thread is carried through from beginning to completion, and I enjoy every moment of it. I don't find myself, like some others do, simply waiting for them to shift to Gon/Killua/Netero/Mureum's storylines. It's just a difference of opinion, not some golden rule of storytelling.
The problem here is that Togashi doesn't seem to be that interested in telling a satisfying three act story* with acceptable pacing because it doesn't feel like he knew where to stop. More and more plotlines and characters are just layered on top of each other without really adding anything of significance to the central thrust of the arc. None of the side characters are badly written and their fights aren't poorly thought out they're just...extraneous.
Your argument is that there's nothing wrong, so to speak, with adding more layers to this story because you enjoy these additional layers (e.g. characters and plot lines). My counter position to this line of thinking is: well then what's too much? What's too epic for you? Suppose, for example, that the Chimera Ant arc was twice as long as it currently is, filled with twice as many perspectives of the conflict and storylines and fights. Would that be too much for you? How about four times as much? Eight times as much? Perhaps you can see where I'm coming from when I say that I feel like this arc is already four times longer than I'd like.
I could easily see them cutting the length of this arc in half, or more, and basically losing nothing of value. When you can remove that much material from a story and still have it function as before then you have to question why it was so long in the first place.
*You're certainly free to tell other kinds of stories than the traditional three act story, but you probably shouldn't break away from the formula unless you're confident in your abilities to do something interesting.
The Phantom Troupe episodes in this arc were pretty good though.
It was certainly enjoyable because hey, it gave us a bit more information about the Troupe and we got to see some more fights and it gives a scope to the conflict with the Chimera Ants. But it was also completely unnecessary. If we're going to get some time with the Troupe I'd much rather see them built into an arc where there get actually fleshed out (more so than here) and where the arc actually involves them insofar as their actions affect the wider story.
Here it just felt like fanservice, which I certainly enjoyed but which just filled the arc with yet more characters having more fights that really don't impact the story. We already have plenty of that here.
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