Sounds like a pathing issue of follower AI, rather than UI issues. No matter how you interact with UX what kind of UX design it would have, if followers walk into dangerous areas on their own through following, well... Pathing issue. I'd rather fix that, than having to move four characters individually to circumvent it, no matter how intuitive or efficient it may be.
It is not one or the other. Yes, it is a pathing issue, but the lack of proper party control system makes it worse. For example, as of current patch, I've had companions climb up and down a ladder repeatedly, just because the the character I am controlling has climbed the ladder up and is now standing next to it. Sure, you can try to fix pathfinding, but you could also give the player full party control, so that I could click "hold/stop" on all characters in such a situation. This would also help with another issue that I have observed, when sometimes a companion would run around the character I am controlling, as if the pathfinding couldn't find a place to stop. Quite annoying when you try to buff your party.
