Well, best way to detail what led to me eventually no longer playing might be to share my total experiences with said game, i.e. the journey I had from the moment I picked it up. Obviously, this post is going to be long, and is just detailing my experiences on it, so no need to read if you don't like long posts. ;P
(Keep in mind, when it comes to 'Just try coming back a year or two later,' that's precisely what I'm doing, but even though the game itself has currently lost my interest, I still actually really like the forums, and the community, so I've been reading through the board more and more as of late. x3 )
So, starting off in the Sidewinder, there was a definite feeling of solid progression; learning the mechanics, performing small bounty and trading missions to earn that first upgrade to my jump drive. When I first started, I was all but trapped in a handful of relatively closely-positioned systems with my limited jump range, the vast galaxy map almost mocking me because of how little of it was accessible. But with each upgrade to my drive, the universe opened up to me, freeing me from that cluster of systems, and bringing the wider galaxy into my reach. And I had a great time, in those first few days; checking out the Empire, continuing to do missions as I passed through each system to accumulate money, happy to wander and see what I could find.
Eventually, though, something began to dawn on me. The more I traveled through civilized space, the more I was left with the feeling that regardless of where I went, I was more or less in the same place. Though moving to, say, Imperial space brought some changes- the colors of the stations, communication details, less or more Federation/Empire specific ships flying around- ultimately the core experience, the sights, actions, and narrative context remained identical. I was dozens, then hundreds, of light years from what I had considered 'home,' my starting region, yet in many ways it felt like I had never really left.
So that wandering urge subsided, and I decided to use the money I had accumulated to get a Viper and take a crack at earning credits through 'pew pew.' I hit Resource Fields, gravity wells, etc. Whether it was due to matchmaking, or just where I had ended up (Can't even remember the name, was one of those random letter/number deals,) I didn't really spot many other players, but it didn't bother me; I hadn't bought the game looking for a multiplayer experience. Fly in, shoot ships, claim bounty, upgrade Viper components, rinse and repeat, and the combat was ultimately satisfying enough to keep me occupied for a few days... but again, eventually I wanted to change the pace up a bit.
I moved on to mining, then. Bought and outfitted a ship, flew to a resource field... then twenty minutes later decided 'Oh HELL no,' flew back to the station and sold it all. The scooping. THE SCOOPING. T_T I did not last long as a miner.
At this point, I had scraped together enough money through bounty hunting and other assorted missions to afford a Type 6, and so I picked up what would prove to be the profession I'd spend the bulk of my time on; trading. I actually took to it quite well, but for a different reason than I had the fighting; it was incredibly relaxing, and (for the most part) not particularly demanding when it came to my attention. Once I found a route, and outfitted a docking computer because manually docking every six minutes was driving me CRAZY, I spent many an hour listening to podcasts or comedy routines while quietly running my back-and-forth route. Whenever I got the urge to wander, I'd switch to a Sidewinder and travel around, looking for better routes, 'following the money,' as it were. In a way, the game fit a perfect niche for me, as it gave me something to occupy my hands, occasionally my eyes, but in no way demanded the bulk of my attention, letting me enjoy other things as well. When Friends came on Netflix, I binged through three seasons of that while running my trade route. x3
Anyway, as I said, trading occupied the majority of my time spent playing, and in that time, plenty of interesting developments happened. The luxury run at Tenche, the infamous collision bug, the little pilgrimage to Planet Vulcan, etc. I worked my way up to an Anaconda, then spent a lot of time mixing up trading with combat and just minor socializing. I'd pick a highly populated system, park myself in the Nav Beacon instance, and just engage players in friendly chats when they flew closer to get a look at me. I tried to develop projects to hold my attention; once buying a Type 6, outfitting it with light gear, then literally seeking out the most player-pirate infested region I could find JUST to try and get a survey on how many would demand cargo, how many would just blow me up, etc. (As it turns out, I spent hours in a sodding system full of players, only to be pirated a single, solitary time. =P So that plan fell flat.)
Eventually, like before, I felt the luster fading. So I decided to try the last major activity; exploring past the boundaries of civilized space. I outfitted an Asp, then went forth. Initially decided to take a crack at thoroughly exploring the systems I passed through- scanning all planets and stars, etc- but eventually I decided to just make a jaunt towards the center of the galaxy. It floated my boat for a bit. But after awhile, being that far out, it felt like there was no... potential for an exciting twist of fate. The odds of running into another player that far out were so astronomically small as to be laughable, I stopped even seeing NPcs after awhile, (assuming this was due to how far I was.) Soon, the only thing I really had to keep an eye on was not being careless enough to run out of fuel in a system with no scoopable star. No chance my quiet day would be intruded on by a hungry pirate looking to steal my shinies, (chances were admittedly tiny even in civilized space.) Quiet and monotonous.
Keep in mind, trading was quiet and monotonous in its own way... but I think the two reasons exploring didn't resonate with me was 1) I didn't feel like I was finding enough interesting things to really justify the time spent, and 2) at least trading made me embaressingly large sums of money. And heck, even with my quick, efficient route, there was at least a small chance a pirate would surprise me. =P
So I returned to civilized space, my journey unfinished. Did a bit more trading, eventually decided the game, as it was currently designed, just wasn't for me. So I stopped. xP And when it comes to expansions, etc, I've decided to wait until the game has become, in its entirety, something I want to experience before putting any more money down.
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So there it is. I actually spent many hours playing the game, but in retrospect the bulk of that time was spent only because trading was so easy, I didn't actually have to give the game much of my attention. =P If the mechanics behind navigation or docking were more complex, and I hadn't been able to wile away the hours on podcasts and Netflix, I probably would have lost interest in trading, and by extent the game, a great deal sooner.
Ultimately I could list specifics elements that irked or discouraged me. Unidentified Signal Sources- both in and of themselves, and especially how they tie into many missions- were always something I thought to be a mistake, at least in how they were implemented.
But as has been said before in the forums, ten year plan, etc. Maybe I just need to give it another few years before the problems I had with it are corrected, or at the very least enough tempting content is offered to open my wallet again.
Join a minor faction and play with the BGS. Try and join one that doesn't tell you what to do either...will spoil the learning experience.
Most of the skills you've learnt will prove useful.
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