I would be shocked if any of that was actually easier than getting the landing right. Vertical landing without special arms or pads has been done a dozen times

I would be shocked if any of that was actually easier than getting the landing right. Vertical landing without special arms or pads has been done a dozen times by now - DC-X, Armadillo, JAXA's RTV, Project Morpheus, and especially SpaceX's F9R... that's just off the top of my head. The part that hadn't been done is getting from a fast, high altitude trajectory to the landing spot. Which they've managed to do.