It does put a button on it to cut back to Hux, and helps sell the change. This edit changes emphasis slightly so that SKB is more strongly implied to be more Hux’s passion than Ren or Snoke; they’re chiefly interested in Luke and aren’t overly proud of their technological terror.
And I think it’s more effective to see Ren plead with Snoke to avoid using the weapon by helping him get the map from Rey without it already having been used to essentially blow up Washington DC.
I’m finding several small things to appreciate about what is a very simple idea of moving Hosnian Prime blowing up to right after Han dies. Another is that while in Vader’s case a father’s risk of love helped save the galaxy, in Han’s the same helped doom it. It’s a dark mirror of ROTJ’s eucatastrophe. But the thing I like best about this restructure is that it keeps Luke as more of the primary macguffin throughout the whole movie.