Earlier Multiplayer-Type Hub

Hey there devs, I know you're probably tired of seeing this topic, but I wanted to amend it for 0.5 and further, in regards to the multiplayer aspect of the game and how I think a change early on would benefit quite a number of things. Ranging from player retention, to accessibility, and even community focus.

THE IDEA
Create an area post or mid Abeyance, to make/give a card during an Abeyance mission to open a "connected" realm for a social hub, or multiplayer hub.
No, it's not connected to players, it'd be a public realm, that way safety isn't an issue, but it's like the Watch so to speak, without all the extra work.

The map could be like the tower in Abeyance, a cave, town, something that's a small-ish map, or a recreation of Nelly's camp with other traveling NPC's, a little "hole in the realms" and THIS realm would be players introduction to "multiplayer".

When entering, players could see people running around, and much like respite, or crossways, or The Watch, players could play a card to get into this realm set to maximum 20 people, they could chat about builds, show off clothes, etc.

The basis here would be players could learn to party up here, have a few trader NPC's, have an NPC explain how the POI's work in terms of completion with others, have a little zone of mobs, with a local area chat (not a map chat). The local chat alone would open the world up in terms of socializing instead of relying on outside sources, as well as hoping someone wants to tab back and forth between screens.

This would give players a few major benefits right off the bat:

1. They'd learn how party invites work, and how to use them later.

2. Players want more social items within the game itself, this would help here.

3. Players want more use for emotes, this could be a nice little "resting spot".

4. Players want a friends list? This could help expand on the social tab if it gets edited in the future.

5. They'd have a SMALL idea of what the Watch would be, with no spoilers.

6. It'd give that feeling of not being alone, and socialization. Along with being able to answer and help people in game if others so choose. "Can you help me with this main quest" or "How can I make better weapons".

Discord is nice, and it's easy to link people to the Help channels, but there are a lot of people who don't like feeling "forced" to join the discord. I feel like having community engagement in game, help in game, and more "liveliness" in game would benefit a ton. And as it'd just be a side quest, and choice based area to visit, if people didn't want to go there ever, they'd have that choice, if they choose to stay there 100% of their game time, that's again up to them, keeping with your vision of choice for Nightingale.

How would this benefit the game as I mentioned in the first part?
Simple.
It gives players a place to go to RP (activity), to ask and get help (accessibility), to party up and do content, it keeps them playing. (retention)

I don't have the statistics, I can only go based on Discord and Reddit posts, but players stop playing early, over one frustration or another, and I think this one could be rectified pretty early if given the chance.

I understand the game is about finding others, being stranded and the build up to The Watch is great! I feel it'd be the same with the eventual addition of Nightingale City, but there desperately needs to be something sooner for players.
A lot of people lately have been under the impression they'd see others running around, and yes I'll admit the argument is that they'd be able to open public realms, but that's heavily relying on other ALSO opening public realms.

The watch in 0.5 is empty, don't get me wrong it empties fast each update, but 0.5 was worse than any other update. Lots of complaints of "dead zone".
But I feel like even if there was the simple addition of local chat, this could help players a ton in giving them a space to connect and hang out when they want a break from grinding.